Why do big sports stars make headline news when they do something illegal, but only receive a small block of print when they do something good for the community? Its things like this that make professional athletes bad role-models for youth all round the country. Although sports can be very beneficial to children of all ages, too often these want-to-be superstars can get caught up in too much of the negatives and not enough of the positives. Sports in today's society negatively influence children from the moment they watch their first game.
             Many of these children grow up idolizing people like Jason Williams, Randy Moss, and O.J. Simpson, but what do you think they'll remember about them when they get old enough to start playing college sports? I don't know a single stat of Randy Moss's career, but I could give you a detailed description of his criminal history. Jason Williams, for instance, was accused of fatally shooting his limo driver in the chest. Jeffrey Schrank in his article Sport and the American Dream says, "When I was a graduate student at Columbia, the school had a basketball team. The best player on the team became a degenerate gambler, a convicted criminal." What kind of example does this set for children? Although the players are the ones most at fault in these situations, the media and judicial system are easy to blame. If these ordeals weren't advertised as much as they are, people would forget about them, and when these players get away with the terrible things they do, the youth in sports get the idea that you can get away with criminal activity if you're famous and have a lot of money.
             Another common story on the news is about college sports players leaving school to go right into the NBA, MLB, NFL, or NHL. This doesn't show a good example for youth in any way. You hear the same thing all the time, "stay in school, and get your education so you have ...