We put them on a pedestal.We praise their athletic accomplishments and we love watching them play.Football, basketball, baseball, hockey and for the terminally bored, soccer; we watch them and admire their skill and value the entertainment they provide us.It’s our recreation time, it’s their job.And they are amazing at it.It makes us forget, at times, that they are people, too.Just like us.
They have the same goals and desires, although we think theirs are more attainable for them.They have families and kids and the same worries we do about our kids.And…they are flawed, just like we are.
They come from varied backgrounds and they have a persona that they developed growing up, just like we did.Different for them is adjusting to fame and fortune and the trappings they bring.They are good, they are bad and they make mistakes of varying degrees.The smart ones learn from them.
I was dismayed at some of the rhetoric surrounding the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter this week.Immediately some began commenting on the rape allegation leveled at him years ago.He may or may not have been guilty and that is neither here nor there.It’s in the past and apparently Kobe was no longer the person he once was.He and his wife had stuck it out in a world where it’s all too easy to walk away.They had four children and from all accounts were enjoying his retirement and life in general.
From what I saw in sports media Kobe was a great dad.His three living children will miss that.So will their mom.
Yes, Kobe Bryant was wealthy, but it was wealth he earned.He was also famous and the fame was well deserved.But in the end he was as human as the rest of us, scars and all.And while the world will miss him for what he did on the basketball floor, his family misses him because he was, ultimately, a husband and father.He was human, just like the rest of us.
Are you sure you want to pick up that first stone?
CONGRATULATIONS Ron Trout.
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