What Sports Should Mean To Us

I wrote this article during the school year for a creative writing class I took, so most of these events are old, but I think the meaning is good and this a new kind of writing that I wrote. It isn't really quite an article but it's close. Hope you enjoy.

With professional athletes always being in the spotlight wherever they go, they have always been considered role models and always will be.

Sorry, guys and girls nothing will stop it, even if you get into a car crash and maybe even an affair, Tiger, or if you drink booze at halftime, Ron, or if you commit a handball penalty with a World Cup entrance on the line, Thierry.

But why do these guys have to be considered role models? Why do we dwell on the negative events or people rather than the positive?

Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints quarterback, has been in the spotlight since 2001, when he was drafted by the San Diego Chargers.

But he wasn’t in the spotlight because of having an affair or drinking booze or cheating to win the game.

He was in the news for helping rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, for leading the Saints to the playoffs a year after Katrina and making the people of New Orleans jump for joy even after one of the worst hurricanes ever.

But not only does he help New Orleans, he volunteers for the Boys and Girls club every chance he gets, he even has his own foundation, the Brees Dream Foundation who has partnered with international children’s charity Operation Kids to rebuild academic and athletic facilities, parks and playgrounds, after-school programs, mentoring programs for the disabled, neighborhood revitalization projects and child care facilities.

But not only does he help New Orleans, he visited troops in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and signed autographs. Oh, and he’s led his team to a 12-0 record with his MVP-like performance.

The NFL has 209 players who run foundations. Those foundations run food drives, help kids, build schools and many other important charities that can improve many peoples lives.

The MLB is partnered with Volunteers of America with players giving money and helping hands on with different people that need help.

The NBA has at least 60 players who run foundations. So we have almost 300 athletes doing positive things and that’s only the NFL, MLB and NBA.

So why do we focus on the negative events or the negative people of sports? Is it because we love the drama of peoples personal lives? Is it because we watch these people every night compete and do amazing athletic feats?

I am extremely confused on why we would want to burden ourselves with their issues when we have ours. So let's think about those questions for a bit.

I know I rather look up to some one who helps other people without being an idiot. I rather hear about someone who is doing some thing good for people rather than bad.

I don’t want to hear about their drama when I have my own. Why deal with their stress and not deal with ours?

So let's give the media a message, “we don’t care about these people's drama.”

But we would rather hear about Brees or Steve Nash, Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning and many superstar athletes that do something great for the people and can handle their personal lives without making mistakes.

So let's focus on athletes making positive impact in the world and not the negative impact.