Sometimes I think that we probably place our athletes on too high a pedestal. So much so that when they slip and make errors we are hard put to either understand why or to even try to forgive them.
Sometimes I believe that we may be guilty of letting off our athletes a bit too easily when they do petty things. Sometimes I believe that the athletes themselves believe that they can do no wrong. Then sometimes I believe that it is a combination of both.
Being a top or popular athlete does not give one the right to be careless with their behaviour. It does not give them the right to do such things as try to bend the rules, get around the law, or seek special privileges. Being an athlete on the whole does not entitle them to special treatment.
For athletes often become role models and they need to remember this. Many of them are idolized, looked up to, and emulated especially so by the younger ones. This is what our athletes need to member.
Their lives are inspected, speculated on, examined, criticized and there is no getting around this. We all need to remember this.
They live in glass bowls so to speak and everything from their sneezes and coughs to the food they eat and the clothes they wear are scrutinized on a daily basis and with the advent of social media it only makes things even more challenging for them to avoid the public eye.