I always laugh when I hear someone say that athletes should be role models.

PISCATAWAY, NJ - SEPTEMBER 06: The Rutgers Scarlet Knight looks on before a game against the Howard Bison on September 6, 2014 at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. Rutgers defeated Howard 38-25.
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
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The latest example as to why we shouldn't look at athletes as role models, is the scandal at Rutgers where current and former players got suspended for breaking a guys jaw on video.  Perhaps they weren't expecting the video to go viral? We won’t even talk about the Rutgers player in connection with the home robberies.

We should never talk about athletes as role models. Perhaps if they saw the bigger picture, they’d realize that being a role model can not only lead to being a good influence on the next generation but it can also lead to bigger bucks in the way of endorsement deals.  Maybe these athletes should be aware that while they're in college taking up a seat that they're not taking seriously, there's someone out there who really wanted an education that could have used that scholarship.

The relationship between colleges and athletes reminds me of the line in Bob Seger’s song 'Night Moves,' “I used her she used me neither one cared, we were getting our share.”

The athlete doesn’t need to go to college if all he wants to do is be an athlete. The pro leagues force them through that route as a way to give the colleges a piece of the huge financial pie.

In basketball, colleges and players rent each other for a year or so that they can turn pro. This makes the college coach of the big program lots of money as he keeps getting the future high draft choices year after year.

I love when I hear people reference student athletes with the phrase, “but they need an education”. That’s not the people’s decision, it’s the athletes' call and if they decide that all they want to do is play sports or pump gas, then that’s their decision and they have to live with it.

Instead of automatically crowning these athletes as role models, how about they just get through a few seasons clean, with no issues first and learn HOW to be a collegiate or professional athlete, first?

It’s not the athlete's responsibility to teach your children how to live, that’s your job and if you’re doing it, your child won’t care what an athlete does because they’ll have a bigger role model in you to look up to.

 

 

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