The term role model gets thrown around every day in sports media.
What does it mean? Tiger Woods was considered a god six weeks ago but now he is anathema to sponsors, tabloid fodder and a late night punchline.
But is that fair?
Shouldn't an athlete be judged by what he does in his field? Trust the art not the artist and all that?
My take is what we see, hear and crave as sports fans is excellence in endeavor. You think Ty Cobb was a nice guy? You think Wilt Chamberlain didn't spawn a thousand illegitimate children? You think Joe Namath was an angel?
Who cares, in my book. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone as The Bible says. Public figures are just that, people devoid of personal privacy whose business off the field is theirs and theirs alone. This media microscopic age magnifies all missteps, all blemishes, and we should all be grateful as sports fans that the same probing light is not shined on our own mundane existences. Because none of us would stand up to the glare either.
Star athletes make big money, receive constant accolades and adoration, but, like actors, politicians and corporate barons, deserve their own personal lives.
Role models are those who stretch their physical, mental and spiritual abilities and gifts to extraordinary levels, and their human foibles away from sports are irrelevant in my book.
With that said, I give you my Top Ten Athlete/Role Models of The Decade:
10) Dustin Pedroia/Kevin Youkilis
Both men symbolize the spirit and tenacity that has defined the Bosox this decade. Neither was a coveted draftee, an overnight success. To the contrary they both overachieved to embrace greatness. Like every man on this list they always hustle, always do their best, fueled by their outlier tendencies (with a big reference to Malcolm Gladwell's theory) and tenacious drive. Youk and Pedroia always give Red Sox faithful their money's worth. Neither was blessed with supreme talent and each serve as an example to young athletes everywhere with the key E word: EFFORT.
9) Michael Phelps
I could give a rat's ass if he smokes weed. I mean, REALLY. If we just legalize it, we'd kill the insidious Mexican druglord trade which, unchecked, will bring massive carnage across our border in the coming decade. But that's another story.
Phelps' success is purely based on drive. He's a big, rangy kid, an obvious natural in the pool, but he has shattered records set by mankind from across the globe and across the ages. He is a great physical specimen, of course, but swimming is work, and swimming fast is REALLY work, and nobody has ever done it better. And I'll take a guy with a bong over a guy with steroids anytime. Because smoking doesn't exactly help the lungs, ya think? He is The Aquatic God.
8) Tiger Woods
Like I said above, I don't care about his personal problems. He doesn't care about mine. We're even.
He probably should be ranked higher because his prowess on the fairways, roughs, traps and greens of the world is unparalleled. His work effort, like all on this list, is key. And he, a black man, ironically, has singlehandedly reinvented and reinvigorated an old white man's game with his genius. I see zero problem with him being named AP Male Athlete of The Decade.
7) Phil Jackson.
Knick fans like me remember the gangly, awkward Action Jackson. Read Bill Bradley's "Life on the Run" or Dave DeBusschere's "The Open Man" and you will see the real Phil.
And that guy is just good: Warm, fun, an average guy who elbowed his way to a solid career as a ballplayer before becoming one of the greatest coaches in hoop history. The Zen Master, The Montana Wildhack coach, who was the first ever to let his team chill during a timeout instead of haranguing them insistently (listen up, Van Gundys), he has rolled with the punches and ages to become the Red Auerbach of our lifetime. The modern athlete must be treated like a Stradivarius, and nobody does it better than Phil.
6) Bill Belichick/Pete Carroll.
While we're on the subject, let's include the two greatest football coaches of the past ten years, pro and college.
These guys have redefined Al Davis' Commitment to Excellence mantra. Forget about Bill's oft-criticized bedside manner; he just gets it done. Few teams without genuine superstars have maintained consistent glory and that's because the real superstar in the organization is the guy in the hoodie.
Carroll has brought college football's greatest franchise (sorry, Irish) back to glory. Go ahead, whine about the allegations of players accepting favors; you think college athletes don't get a free ride? Wake up. They should be paid. And Carroll has always been a class act -- just take a look at the inner-city work he has done from the crappy neighborhood that is USC. And don't tell me about throwing the bomb against UCLA the other day; Neuheisel is a punk and any competitor would have done the same thing.
Both these guys play in a cutthroat sandbox and do what it takes to win, and I'd bet my mortgage they've saved more souls than they've lost.
5) Kevin Garnett.
I've never seen a ballplayer sweat like this guy. That's because he leaves it on the floor every night and every practice. He slaved away for years in freezing Minneapolis and never dogged it, as so many others would have. Since joining Boston he has showed Russell-like fortitude. Now for his next act, if he can make Rasheed Wallace play hard and not implode in the playoffs, he will add the nickname Houdini to his resume.
4) Mariano Rivera.
Simply the greatest reliever in baseball history, a specialist whose surgical skills have carved the bats off numerous greats.
This religious, Panamanian import has been the dominant figure in his game since joining the Yankees. Yeah, he failed a couple of times against Arizona and Boston, but those hits merely renewed
his quest for perfection.
We will never see the likes of him again. Whatever Steinbrenner scout signed him deserves a luxury tax for life of his own.
3) Peyton Manning.
What can you say? Only Joe Montana is in the same sentence, and he had a better defense. Peyton is not only an offensive evisceration machine, he's hilarious on television (without doubt the best perf by an athlete in the history of SNL -- at least until we see Charles Barkley again in January) and an all-around good guy whose multi-talented brother Eli stands in the shadows despite himself being one of the greats of the decade.
2) Kobe.
I personally dislike The Black Mamba, but who cares? When I read that he had spent the offseason working on footwork with Hakeem Olajuwon, I could only shake my head. Didn't the same idea occur to Dwight Howard? No.
Regardless, this is a man driven to win like few others, and he never stops working. My admiration may be begrudging, but he works harder than any guy in hoop history with his God-given abilities, and the parades have only begun on Figueroa for the Lakers.
1) Derek Jeter.
Anybody who gets more hits than any Yankee in history is exceptional, but I won't remember him for his clutch hits and bat prowess. I, like you, will remember him for putting his body on the line going into the third base stands for a foul ball, emerging bloody and unbowed. I will remember him for his mental acuity, with his flip to the plate to get an astonished Oakland runner. I will remember him for running out every ball, always giving his absolute all, always honoring the game with unflagging effort and bravado.
Because that's what a role model is. Someone who embraces work. Someone who never gives up. Someone who cannot regret defeat because he has given every ounce of blood, sweat and tears he has to help his team, or himself if it's an individual sport.
Every man on this list personifies that American spirit, to be the best, to lift others and to be free.
That's what a role model means to me.
Now we got a series.
and in immediate retrospect it was his double slap on Howard in a game that was called close from the get-go that made the difference.