Athlete Worship and Role Models

There's are lot of people upset over the latest Super Bowl.  What's new?  Pro-death groups are mad at the Doritos commercial about a baby.  There are people upset over Beyonce supporting and pushing the Black Panthers.  Coldplay, though a great band, was pretty boring at halftime.  There's the terrible sex-trafficking issues that Super Bowls always bring.  There's lots that people are mad about, though clearly some are more warranted and important issues than others.

Since those things have all been written about extensively, I wanted to write about something else I saw.  It's something I've written about before a bit.  It's just never more clear than it is right now with the Broncos winning the Super Bowl and me living amongst Bronco fans.

A friend of mine recently wrote a blog about how Von Miller tended to troll and bully people online.  My friend was sickened when he thought about all the kids who look up to him and the poor role model he was being.  Miller's actions were teaching kids that bullying is okay.  If my favorite player does it, so should I.  It was a great article that made a lot of great points.  My buddy who works with youth had a really great perspective.

Reading the article sparked some thoughts of my own in a slightly different direction.  I think I'm more concerned with how fans worship players like MVP Miller and Aqib Talib.  Though I have a problem with the online trolling Miller has been doing throughout his time on social media, I'm more concerned with how they handle themselves on the field in front of millions, and how fans not only tolerate it but celebrate it.  They look the other way because they let winning become an idol over morality.  In that, it sends a terrible message to kids.

To my point, many Bronco fans would throw their arms up and say "Why are you picking on Miller and Talib?"  Many truly believe they are model citizens or something.  They'd probably call me a Chiefs fan troll.  Do they have a point or are they blinded by the idol of winning?  Well, let's discuss the evidence.

Miller, it seems, is constantly cheapshotting people and trying to hurt them.  There's plenty of video evidence to make that accusation.  He's tries to trip people he's not good enough to tackle, hits quarterbacks way late, spears them with his helmet, throws people down after the whistle blows, puts his knee on the throat of other players trying to crush their windpipe, and much more.  I'll touch on the more part in a bit.  The man seems to have some serious rage issues even for a football player.  It goes well beyond just being aggressive.

Talib has done the same kind of stuff with his latest offense nearly breaking someones neck by grabbing their facemask violently and twisting them to the ground. "One [penalty] I just did on purpose and I just had to show him." -Talib referring to the extreme facemasking penalty which he actually also called complete BS.  Well, it was.  He was only penalized one yard when he should have been thrown out of the game.  There was also the incident where he was going after another player's eyes and sight earlier in the season.  It's pretty despicable stuff.  He's had a long list of transgressions throughout his career.  Still, if you google him, you find people talking about him slipping on his backside jumping on the stage to be interviewed after the game.  Few seem to care that he just tried to severely injure someone, an injury that could have left the player dead or paralyzed.  I think we call that anything from aggravated assault to attempted murder outside of the football stadium.  Wouldn't be the first time he tried to kill someone...or at least been accused and indicted for it.  The other time, he "allegedly" used a gun.

Miller not wanting to be outdone adds, "I tried to lay on him a few times. I tried to rub my **** on his face."  Uh...I'm no lawyer but I'm pretty sure that if this were done off a football field, that person would be going to jail for sexual assault...unless you're Peyton Manning in college.  Miller later denied that he was the one who said it but unfortunately for him, there's video evidence of him humping others' faces during games.  So either Miller is a lying or the Broncos have more than one player trying to sexually assault other players.

With the Broncos, these two aren't the only players breaking rules and doing very questionable things.  There's a good list of other players who have as well, from dirty plays to past or present PED use.  You can find those lists on any team really, in any sport.  Obviously, some things are worse than others.  Trying to seriously injure someone's neck and dry humping faces are certainly up there.

Normally, I'm not a person who likes to go around airing other people's dirty laundry because we all have some sort of dirty laundry we're not proud of.  With Miller and Talib, though, they seem to be proud of it.  (With Peyton and the incident with the college trainer, he did put it in his book for the public to read...whether he was proud of it or not.)  They wear it as a badge of honor.  They're already putting it out there proudly for the world to see.

We write these things off as boys will be boys or it's just football.  We laugh it off and give their jerseys to our kids.  We turn the blind eye because they win.  We deny and pretend it never happened. We let winning trump morality.  The media loves them.  Fans love them.  It seems all of America loves them.  Even Obama gives them shout outs.

I guess that's why we call it fandom.  That word comes from the word fanatic, and fanatics don't usually think logically or rationally.  Case in point, there's no reason the Cubs should have any fans having not won a World Series since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.  But they have some of the most loyal fans you'll ever meet.  Heck, I've been a Royals fan my whole life and up until this past season, that wasn't really rational.

I don't just want to single out the Broncos and their fans in the football conversation.  We as fans, across the board, must be better and demand better from those we root for and support.  We must be careful to not glorify those not worth glorifying.  Let's not make role models for our kids out of those unworthy of being role models.  There are good guys in the NFL.  There's lots of them, I'm sure.  We just need to look a little deeper than their box score.  Don't follow blindly because of what the media or your buddies tell you.  Let's not sellout our morals for winning.  "For what good is it to gain the whole world if you lose your soul?" Mark 8:36.