Some of you out there may remember the commercial above by basketball player Charles Barkley where he said, "I am not a role model." This stirred up a lot of press at the time and a debate on whether professional athletes have a responsibility and accountability for their actions - especially with children as fans.
Now, what people don't remember is that Barkley later in the commercial says that parents should be the role models and not athletes. He makes a good point here, but as the press does, they take things out of context can causes an uproar.
A study from United Press International Wednesday reported something really disturbing. It stated that 3 percent of 15-year-old kids admitted using performance enhancing drugs. This study involved a secondary school in eastern France.
Health problems, including becoming violent, change of voice and loss of consciousness, were experienced by 4 percent of the users, according to the researchers.What really bothers me is that this is probably an underestimation of the real number. Self-reporting studies usually gives an inaccurately low result. Much has been written about athletes taking (or allegedly taking) performance enhancing drugs from Barry Bonds to Floyd Landis to Ben Johnson to others.
I don't care what anyone says. Kids do see this stuff. In my opinion, kids are exposed even more now to the "win at all costs" attitude of sport. Being designated a winner means fame and fortune - just ask those kids going from high school straight to the NBA or kids like Michelle Wie who are balancing high school and being on a professional golf tour.
Finally, how about this. What if an accurate study could be done seeing what percentage of adolescents in the United States take performance enhancing drugs? What do you think the numbers would be? I'm kind of frightened to find out.
3 comments:
Me as well. Especially given the post WWII assumption by the U.S. collective consciousness that if you win you are right; if you lose, you are wrong. It's a concern worth considering given the current military catastrophe in Iraq.
Hi Dr A! Enjoyed reading your recent posts. You just have a knack of putting your voice across. You're back to your original form again. Keep this up. Thanks.
Doctor A –
By the time that I saw Sir Charles’ Nike Commercial, it was too late. My children were all adults (the youngest being 18 years old).
However the commercial made me think.
Unfortunately I was my children’s role model and a bad one at that. They have all acquired my bad habits and have the same cynical view of life.
As Barkley says parents should be role models, not athletes, movie stars or political figures. But we must first clean up our acts for our children’s sake. I learned this a little too late in life.
My three children are good kids that have inherited their parent’s good and bad habits. I hope that they will be good role models for their children.
The Beach Bum
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