sports, yo
...touchable" (Reaching Out). The program also shows that good athletes can also be respectable students, this is really good for the young kids to see (Reaching Out). When these athletes talk to the kids in the classrooms it helps inspire the kids to strive towards their goals and dreams. Part of being a role model includes setting a good moral standard for the people who watch sports on television especially the kids that watch them. " Athletes can deeply affect children at a critical stage in development. Many kids from about 8 to 12 years old, looking for examples of success, fantasize about becoming athletes and identify with them" (Wilstein B1). It is obvious then, the things that the athletes do on television do affect the way the children will act. "Fighting, taunting ,and trash-talking among the pro and college players, shown repeatedly on television, lead to similar actions in football, basketball and baseball in high schools" (Wilstein B1). It seems as though there has been a lot of negative examples in sports world lately. One of the negative examples was published in the December 23rd issue of Sports Illustrated of last year. The material that was published was an interview with Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker. In this Article Rocker used some rather vulgar language. He also made some very negative remarks about the New York subway system. Rocker complained about having to sit with "some kid with purple hair next to some queer with AIDS right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time next to some 20 year old mom with four kids" (Rockers Arrival). Another example of the negative occurrences in sports was when hockey player Marty McSorley hit fellow hockey player Donald Brashear on the head with a hockey stick, which gave Brashear a concussion. Today in sports there is a large amount of violent attitudes and actions, this example is just one of them. Ken Keiper, the chairmen of the NCAA's Division II baseball, talked about the brawls in major league baseball. Keiper said, " I don't see the mound-charging brawls yet in the youth leagues, but if they continue at the major league level, the kids will emulate them and it will definitely come" (Wilstein B1). Some athletes set good examples by doing good things for others. Deion Sanders is one of these athletes that has done something positive for the people. Sanders gave food, toys, and other goods to the community for an organization called Feed The Children. Sanders said in a brief interview," I'd like to point you to something everlasting. I'd like to give you peace, give you joy, and love" (Baker 1D). He also wanted to remind people that after he gives this food to the people that there will still be hungry people in the world, and it is our job to help these less fortunate people out. Sanders also mentioned how he used to be the bad mouth Deion, but he never really liked that part of him so he changed his ways. Deion spent hours passing out food to the people in his community. Sanders is faithful to his community and he is also faithful to God. Deion is a dedicated Christian (Baker 1D). This shows how caring, giving, and unselfish he is as a person. Our society needs these types of role models for people to look up to. One issue that seems to come up quite often with the mention of athletes is Drugs. " Of all the major athlete drug testing programs, only the NBA does not test for marijuana, because the NBA drug policy does not include marijuana in its list or banned drugs"(Athletes With). This is probably the main reason they have had such a problem with marijuana. It's not good for young kids to see such big names as Chris Webber, Kareem Abdul Jabar, and Isaiah Rider arrested for the possession of Marijuana. "Evidently, players rarely say no these days amid reports show that as many as 70% smoke pot at least on a recreational basis" (Athletes With). In previous years the NBA had its problems with cocaine rather than Marijuana. " In 1983 (when the first drug policy was implemented), 70 percent of the NBA players used cocaine, and marijuana wasn't on the radar screen" (Athletes With). When cocaine was big in the NBA the players would love playing Golden State because that area a hot spot for cocaine. In the 1986 draft the NBA had a number of draft picks that had cocaine problem. Len Bias was one of the draft picks with a cocaine problem, and the night of the draft Bias died of a cocaine overdose. Chris Washburn, William Bedford, and Roy Tarpley all had their basketball careers ruined because of their cocaine addictions. That year there was four out of the top seven picks in the draft that saw their careers just deteriorate (Athletes With). The sad thing is that the bad guys aren't always the ones who get caught. Allen Iverson, the Philadelphia guard, has had some bad influences around him. On one occasion Iverson and one of his friends were riding in Iverson's car when they were pulled over and were found with a marijuana cigarette and a gun were found under the seat. The friend that was with Iverson in the car was involved in a shooting and drugs a year before the incident in the car. Most of the people who spend time around Iverson say he is a good guy and is very well liked (Athletes With). These are some of the problems with drugs that could have a negative affect on the youth in our society. There are some good programs that have athlete role models that help kids live a drug free life. One of these programs that does keep kids drug free is Athletes Against Drugs. It not only helps keep the kids away from drugs, but it also helps the kids to learn to lead a productive life. The program is made up of 200 professional and Olympic athletes (Athletes Aga...