Monday, February 22, 2010

Athletes shouldn't be our role models


In the wake of the recent Tiger Woods apology, I thought I would give my two cents. Originally I was going to comment solely on the speech itself, but that has been done 3,000 different ways already. I think we can all agree that Tiger Woods isn't the person we thought he was, and that he will never truly recover from this scandal. Sure, the sponsors will come back and people will love him again, but this will be a cloud over him for the rest of his life. It's a sad state of affairs, but he has no one to blame but himself.

There seem to be two main camps people are a part of. One group thinks Tiger's personal life is none of our business and he shouldn't feel the need to apologize. After all it's not like he broke any law. The other camp think Tiger is a fraud and thinks his personal life is absolutely our business. I tend to lean toward this group because the personal lives of public figures are open to being scrutinized in this day and age. Plus, I can't defend or say nice things about a person who cheated on his wife. Just don't get married Tiger.

So, what does all this have to do with the title of the post? Well, the biggest reason this is such a big story is because of a huge problem in the world. That problem being that we look at athletes and movie stars as our role models rather than people we actually know. It's kind of sad isn't it? A lot of people in this country come from bad backgrounds where they don't have anyone else to look up but famous people they read about and watch on T.V. We treat these athletes like they are our own family, but in reality we know nothing about them. Tiger Woods shouldn't be anyone's role models besides his own kids. Its fine to look up to him and want to have what he achieved, but don't act like he is the person you want to be because you don't know him.

My dad is my role model and always will be. Even if a red headed NBA player that likes 2pac, Phil Collins, and kayaking comes along, my Dad will always be my role model. You know why? He's always been there for me and I can trust him. I love Larry Bird to death, but he wasn't helping me with my homework when I was a kid or going camping with me. Role models should be people you know and that have been there for you through your good and bad times. Sure, your mom and dad don't have millions of fans paying to watch their profession every night, but that shouldn't matter.

There's a big difference between admiring someone and someone being your role model. I admire Tiger for his incredible talent on the golf course, but I think it's sad that people who have never even met the guy lose sleep over this whole incident. I really hope those people can build actual real relationships with people so they can have something more tangible to consider a role model. Thanks for reading everyone!

2 comments:

  1. It would be pretty hard to not have his public image in the spotlight, and at the same time not have people idolize the man. Having his public image in the spotlight will eventually lead to people idolizing him. I don't agree with what he did, in fact I think its horrible, but all this media scrutiny is going to destroy his kids lives. What he did was far from ok, but bringing this much attention to it won't stop the fact that he screwed up big time. He and the people directly affected should be the only ones involved in the discussion. I guess all of this just comes with being a celebrity.

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  2. I am so tired of people idolizing celebrities. Especially people who think Oprah is God, in fact, Oprah herself thinks she is God. Ha,ha. It is kind of scary, in fact, the way some people actually respect these people when they don't even know them. These people need to get a life. And pursue their own goals.

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