A professional athlete isaprofessional athlete. He orsheshould not be taken to be anything more than this. An athlete with character and integrity isincidentalto what he orsheis. I think it commendable to see athletes with the utmost in character and integrity grace a given sport,but that is not why I, or anybody else for that matter, should watch them. I watch them strictly because they are good at throwing or hitting a ball, they can run like the dickens, they can shoot a puck at lightning speed, they exude almost inhuman hand/eye control, etc. They shouldnotbe viewed to see character and integrity. Please, for the love of God,stop complaining about athletes' tacky behavior!Understand what they are and consider it mere happenstance if ever they possessanyamount of character and integrity! If you want a good role model for your impressionable children, seek elsewhere! Find the "Mr. Rogers" of your neighborhood and have your young ones hang out withhim! Of course I know you won't do this because he can't throw or catch a ball as well as the top athletes and as a result is prettylame. So at this point it becomes clear you are not prioritizing your child's character development, you are prioritizing his or her development of athletic skills.And there is nothing wrong with this. I am merely pointing out whatis. Now it could be pointed out that athletes' contracts presumably contain clauses regarding behavior, but this simply necessitates they not engage in bad behavior as opposed to stipulating they behave well. In other words, there exists a huge chasm betweennotbehaving badly and behaving well! If it ischaracteryou seek, please, steer clear of athletes!

Many will likely be angry with this view. It will be claimed that there are plenty of athletes with exceptional character. It needs to be pointed out that I never claimed there were not! But like I said, this isincidentalto why they are watched! If an athlete was not good at throwing or catching a ball or whatever else, would hestillbe watched? Of course not! He is watchedonly becausehe is a good athlete! His exceptional character is but a fringe benefit to his amazing athletic prowess!

If society claims it follows an athlete because of his first class character, would society still follow him if he was the same personminushis athletic ability? If society says it would not follow him, at this point it is clear athletic ability is theonlyreason said athlete is watched. Of course if he had no athletic talent he certainly would not be playing a professional sport and as such would not be in any position tobe watched! If society says it would follow him even if he was not an athlete, then this suggests spectator sports to be obsolete. For if first class character was society'sonlyrequirement for watching people, there would be no need to assemble in stadiums to watchathletes! We could much more easily andcheaplycanvass our neighborhoods and hunt down people with first class character to "watch". Of course this is absurd! My point once again is it is athleticismnotcharacter that attracts us! If one claims he follows the athletes with the most integrity, this does not mean he prioritizes character, rather he simply prioritizesathletesthat happen to have the most character. Referencing other writings of mine regardingideals, I feel compelled to point out that prioritizingathleteswith the most character should not be taken to mean prioritizingcharacter. If it was, one should be compelled to watchanybodywith utmost character! I suspect we would find most of the first class characters out there to be overly dull and boring! So why would we watch them?

Is my viewnegative? I don't think so. If one stakes his hope in athletes being first class characters, he will be let downfrequently. This will inevitably lead to resentment, disappointment and complaining, of course in large part due to the ego asserting its self-righteous superiority. I seethisas negative. Watching athletes for their abilities, and nothing more, I can turn the other cheek when they engage in tacky behavior. I seethisas positive.