Football players are not, by and large, "heroes". Nor are most other professional sports players. This is not to say that football players (and other athletes) cannot be brave, selfless, heroic people...I'm sure that some indeed are...rather it is to say that referring to professional (not to mention amateur and even Olympic) athletes as "heroes" simply because they play a game well devalues the true meaning of heroism.
Some one running into a burning building to save someone else is a hero...someone running to catch a touchdown pass is a talented athlete...here in America, where hype and hyperbole too often hold sway in public discourse, we too often blur that important distinction.
All that said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating the achievements of athletes who reach deep within themselves and perform at the highest level that they can achieve.
It is in this spirit that we tip our hats to the gridiron "warriors" who opened the new NFL season with sterling performances. We tip our hat to the fire still in the aged (by professional football standards anyway)arm of Raiders Quarterback Rich Gannon...to the relentless grace and heart of Broncos running back Quentin Griffin, a diminutive (again by football standards) young powerhouse possessing an incredibly compelling combination of drive, skill, humbleness, speed, strength and intuition...to Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, back on a winning sideline after being away for a dozen years...to them and many others who took the field and left their blood, sweat, and tears there this first weekend of the campaign.
My heroes may be firefighters and police officers, soldiers in the line of fire and parents and teachers in the ongoing mission to try to guide and inspire our children...but I also have an abiding fondness for the men who play a sometimes brutal, sometimes glorious game and I tip my proverbial hat to them as the games begin in earnest.
No comments:
Post a Comment