Keep Faith in Athletes, Even through Tough Times

We, as fans of many various sports, tend to put our athletes on pedestals.  

“Oh, they wouldn’t do that! They’re athletes!”

Athletes are just like the rest of us. They make mistakes.

Steve McNair’s death has done plenty to highlight this fact.

Football fans know McNair for his tenacity and leadership. They remember the good times and bad times through his career, and how he never gave up.

Outside of football, however, there appeared to be another side of McNair.

I’m not here to gossip about what McNair did outside of his marriage or what kind of person he is, because, honestly, I’m doing exactly what this article will talk about.

Giving athletes the benefit of the doubt and putting faith in them.

I really shouldn’t, as the facts seem to point towards an extramarital affair, but like a lot of people, I have high standards for athletes, and I seem to believe that they all have morals, standards, and hold themselves with class and high character.

Of course, I often find my assumptions to be incorrect, and it has happened often.

How many people expected Michael Vick to be dog fighting? Sure, he wasn’t perfect, but dog fighting? C’mon, there’s no way people were expecting that.

When I found out that Donte’ Stallworth killed a man in an accident, I immediately made assumptions about the victim. “Maybe he wasn’t paying attention. Maybe he wasn’t in the right state of mind.”

It turns out that those maybes applied to Stallworth, not the victim.

It’s like my friend, a reporter from the USA Today, told me: “In journalism, you often times find yourself disappointed.”

I have something I’d like to add.

In sports, you often times find yourself disappointed.

In life, you often times find yourself disappointed.

Think about it. How many times have you hoped for your teams’ victory, only to watch them lose in a soul-crushing defeat?

How many times in life have you hoped for something, or put your faith in someone, only to have it completely backfire?

The same happened with Steve McNair.

We saw the tough-nosed quarterback. We wanted to believe he was as good off the field as he was on it.

So why do we continue to put our faith in athletes?

It’s as Batman says. “Sometimes, people deserve to have their faith rewarded.”
We put our faith in most, if not all, athletes. Sometimes, we do find ourselves disappointed. But ever so often, we find a diamond in a pile of rocks, someone to depend on.
 
Someone to cheer for.

Someone that deserves it.

So while we see another athlete leave us stunned and with a heart full of questions, there’s always going to be more athletes that we put our faith in.

Sometimes, we’ll be shaken by their actions, words, and appearance.

But through giving them the benefit of the doubt, putting them on pedestals, and watching their every move, we are provided with role models to look up to.

As The Dark Knight explained, Gotham needs its hero, its White Knight.

We do, too.