Making fun of Derek Jeter for giving out gift bags to his conquests?
Please, you’re just envious.
As boys, our heroes were the stars on the field — the biggest hitters, the Golden Glove winners, the perfect-game pitchers. We collected their cards and bought their jerseys. On the playground it was the bottom of the ninth, and for that one moment, we were our heroes — and they never let us down.
But boys grow up.
As we move on from sports cards to sports cars and from re-enacting games to working on having game, our perception of our childhood heroes changes, as does the way we idolize them. In our youth, our heroes were pristine, indestructible champions. As time goes on, however, we become more perceptive, more open until, finally, cracks in even the mightiest athletes begin to appear.
Suddenly, our heroes are more than just their highlights and stats. They are fallible men who live imperfect lives.
Sex scandals, alcoholism, drug abuse, doping, corruption, and cheating replace our conversations about batting averages, double plays and hitting streaks. Disappointment starts to set in. We were worshipping false gods. [more...]
