Major League Sports has a new buzzword to bandy around the newspapers and four letter networks of their world … indictment. As I sit here this morning news of indictments in three major sports leagues is fresh on my mind, two of which relate directly to the foundations of the sport they’re associated with. Michal Vick, Barry Bonds, and Tim Donaghy have collectively served to disillusion sports fandom with their illegal shenanigans. I’m wondering where the true sports heroes of today are. Are there any left? With headline grabbing examples like the above can a kid really embrace a team, or even an individual athlete as a role model without wondering if he’s beating his wife or laundering money? Even manufactured heroes from the pseudosport of professional wrestling are busy killing their families and themselves.

Michael Vick 

One of the most dynamic players in the NFL has been brought up on charges of running a dog fighting rimg. Some of the details that have surfaced from this case are particularly heinous. Electrocutions, drowning, Vick’s participation since his days at Virginia Tech all point to some serious flaws in this young man’s life. At the very least he’s guilty of bad decisions and choosing to associate with folks (some in his own family) who have no interest in being loyal to him. The NFL will survive this scenario, but it’s definitely a stain.

 Barry Bonds

It looks like in the wake of the Balco scandal and with his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, still in the clink for refusing to testify, Barry Bonds will indeed be indicted for lying to the grand jury about his use of steroids. Ironically, at this point he is only two homeruns away from the all-time record held by Hank Aaron. Hammerin’ Hank is nonplussed to say the least about the accomplishment and has already stated he will not be there to witness Barry break his record. So Major League Basball is now on the verge of having its arguably most hallowed record held by someone who artificially enhanced his body. That would be like Icon joining the Negro Baseball League on his arrival to earth. Is anyone beyond the 415 and 408 area codes even remotely excited about this momentous occasion? There goes the luster of baseball.

Tim Donaghy

Tim who? Oh, you’ll get to know the name very quickly. He’s a referee in the NBA that is being investigated for betting on and “fixing” games he officiated. It turns out litle Timmy has a gambling problem. Once the mafia got a whiff of this particular vice they approached him and the rest is…well the rest may be the end of the game as we know it. We’ve always known that the refs have a tremendous effect on the outcome of basketball games. Up until now most of us just assumed the mistakes were due to incompetence rather than malicious intent. Nope, in this case the conspiracy theorists were right. The ref was on the take. Can we ever look at the game of basketball again without this aspect clouding our enjoyment?

And then there’s the heartbreaker….. Chris Benoit.

When you think of the phrase double murder/suicide this is the guy that now comes to mind. He was a user and destributer of steroids and other prescribed drugs. He regularly shot up his young son with an unknown substance. I doubt very seriously if we’ll ever know the details of precisely what went down in that Georgia estate over the course of a three day weekend, but one startling conclusion remains: Chris Benoit was not the good guy many people percieved him to be.

In fact none of these cats were who we first thought they were. Are the true heroes gone from sports and sports entertainment? Were they ever really there in the first place, or has this age of information we’re living in just shed light on the fact that these larger than life figures are sometimes lowlifes. Thank God we still have the Derek Fishers of the world who put family and team above personal gain. But are they too few? I’ve always been of the opinion that parents should be the primary role models in their children’s lives. That way kids get to see up close and personal that despite the humanity of the individual and the foibles that go with it the true essence of their hero is someone who truly cares and sacrifices for them.

Deac