Lately, a topic of great controversy has been whether or not athletes should be looked
upon as role models by their fans. Does an athletes' responsibilities pertain solely to his
performance on the field of play or does it also extend to his personal life as well? There
are many who claim that it is wrong for a sophisticated society to impose a set of
behavioral expectations on fallible people who just so happen to excel in sports. Some
players themselves agree with the fact that they do not and don't expect to be considered
role models, such as stated at a press conference by Charles Barkley
(www.yaleherald.com/archive/xx/9.8.95/sports/mantle.html). It is my argument that
athletes are not only role models but, in today's media driven world, it is their
responsibility to exhibit extraordinary judgment and exemplary actions off the field as
From the beginning of time, man has looked outside of himself for examples of strength,
leadership, and guidance. For heroes. Perhaps it is an acknowledgement of a human flaw.
Even the mythological gods possessed powers beyond those of mortal men. Legends are
told of men with superhuman strength, endurance, and wisdom. So why would it not
seem natural for that same kind of idolatry to be transferred to other human beings with
ultra human physical traits? Even fictional characters such as Superman and Paul Bunion
had such enormous strength that their contemporaries held them in higher esteem than
any mortal. Idealizing may be a sign of a human flaw, but it is natural for someone to see
a character performing extraordinary feats and pretend, even for the slightest moment,
that themselves have that kind of power. This is the reason why our civilization is so
drawn to sport figures, because we see people who are mortal and similar to us do things
with their body that we cannot do. As children, we all ran and swam and played bal...