Yzerman Was My Role Model But Are Role Models Dead Today?
Posted 1:26 AM ET | Comments 7
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In a previous blog post I talked about the holy grail of sports cards, a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card, which sold for a record breaking $2.35 million. The holy grail of hockey cards is considered to be the 1911-12 Georges Vezina hockey rookie card which sold for a record breaking $100K. You can read the article at:
http://www.hockeyheadquar...ticles/vezina-rc-100k.php
While this post may be a little off topic when it comes to hockey, I chose to post it because I just read an interesting article about Michael Vick that mentions Honus Wagner and a tabacco company that sold baseball cards with him on them. It also reminded me of my childhood NHL role model.
The article is called The Death of the Sports Role Model. This article says that, "at the dawn of professional athletics in America, professional athletes considered being a role model part of their job description. In 1909, Pittsburgh Pirate shortstop Honus Wagner ordered a tobacco company to stop selling baseball cards bearing his likeness because he did not want to promote tobacco products to children."
The full article can be found at: http://blogcritics.org/ar...ves/2007/08/24/210734.php
Does the Michael Vick case merit considering sports role models as a dead concept? It sad too see one bad apple ruin the bunch especially when many great sports role models do exist. My favorites growing up were Steve Yzerman, and Wayne Gretzky. Today many youths have players like Sidney Crosby.
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In a previous blog post I talked about the holy grail of sports cards, a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card, which sold for a record breaking $2.35 million. The holy grail of hockey cards is considered to be the 1911-12 Georges Vezina hockey rookie card which sold for a record breaking $100K. You can read the article at:
http://www.hockeyheadquar...ticles/vezina-rc-100k.php
While this post may be a little off topic when it comes to hockey, I chose to post it because I just read an interesting article about Michael Vick that mentions Honus Wagner and a tabacco company that sold baseball cards with him on them. It also reminded me of my childhood NHL role model.
The article is called The Death of the Sports Role Model. This article says that, "at the dawn of professional athletics in America, professional athletes considered being a role model part of their job description. In 1909, Pittsburgh Pirate shortstop Honus Wagner ordered a tobacco company to stop selling baseball cards bearing his likeness because he did not want to promote tobacco products to children."
The full article can be found at: http://blogcritics.org/ar...ves/2007/08/24/210734.php
Does the Michael Vick case merit considering sports role models as a dead concept? It sad too see one bad apple ruin the bunch especially when many great sports role models do exist. My favorites growing up were Steve Yzerman, and Wayne Gretzky. Today many youths have players like Sidney Crosby.
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25 Yzerman Was My Role Model But Are Role Models Dead Today?
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I like your blog. Unfortunatelly too many sports athletes these days are beyond everyday people because of the ridiculous amount of mone ythey get paid. Back in the day, athletes WERE everyday people. I think that football and basekball are the worst though. It's no wonder that NFL stands for National Felon League. Vick was an a-hole from the day he came to the league. He is a good athlete, but he does not deserve to come back and play professionally ever again. BUt I don't think that sports role models are dead. There are still many who give back to the community and it is those type of players that should be rewarded for their work.
Good ones are still around, but I do think they represent a smaller percentage of the total number of pro athletes. However, I still think there are far more good ones than bad. It's just that the behavior of the bad ones seems to be getting worse...they have no shame, no honor. Add in saturation of every negative story by the media (that's what sells), coupled with humanity's inherent attraction to sensationalism, and it's no wonder good stories get drowned out. Also, remember that the bad are not limited to athletes...just consider all the sensational celebrity meltdowns as another example...a new story every day it seems. Here's the good news...while there are good athletes in every sport, I think hockey is by far the most representative of what we would like our athletes to be like. In general, I think they are more down to earth, they do more for good causes, they care about their families, and, for the most part, they stay out of the negative spotlight. They're classier people and classier athletes. Next time the media is blathering about a bad athlete, try to remember the barely noticeable five-second soundbite on the news or the two paragraph, backpage newspaper article about someone who did something good. There are a lot of good athletes and good people out there, we just don't here enough about them.
Joe Sakic. Jerome Iginla. Mats Sundin. There are still a few around.
there are a few still around... you just have to look harder to find them. besides the change in culture( whats accepted,etc) and with 24 hour coverage( espn) internet, etc we are bombarded by all the bad.it seems the good guys never get any coverage. that has certainly been a topic here in nashville. hainsworth and pacman have been all over the news for a couple years now , but almost without exception in the nearly 10 years no predators have made the police blotter
I don't know if you can call Crosby a role-model... not yet at least.... maybe when he matures... but for now he's just a whiny kid... who happens to be one of the greatest hockey players ever
There are still a few around. clicker heroes on the App store!
nice