Professional athletes are dropping like flies these days.
I'm not talking about injuries or even retirement but creating a bad reputation for themselves and tarnishing their images. Many of these are the leading role models of our day.
Of course, we've all heard about the Tiger Woods' saga. I'm not one to judge, but he appears to have been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
That's another well-known public sports figure who made millions on his ability and image, and now must face the plunge in admiration that comes when reality slams head first into a fictional icon.
No one is perfect, and people make mistakes. It just seems that when big names like Michael Vick or Woods come up for notorious acts, it's another role model that has been taken from us.
We've all been on our front porch shooting some hoops, pretending we were Michael Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain — depending on how old you are.
I remember tossing a football with friends as one of us took on the role of Joe Montana, while the other was Jerry Rice. There, we were playing a stadium grander than our back yard and connecting for the game-winning touchdown.
Admiring sports figures is common place in the world we live in. They excel at something we all strive to be good at, in sports we love and make bundles of money we can only dream about. They win Super Bowls, World Series and the Masters while we watch from the sidelines.
These magical lives though must be like living in a bubble. How else can you explain the success they are willing to gamble for the most foolish of human frailties?
Dog fighting cost Vick most of his sponsors, so what's in store for Tiger? Will they stop making the Tiger Woods' golf video games? Will Nike and Gillette pull the plug on him?
But what of the cost for fans?
I grew up playing baseball as a youth watching Texas Rangers' great Rafael Palmeiro. I cheered on Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire as they battled for the home run record. Now with the shadow of steroids hanging over their performances, my memories and love of the game have been tarnished.
What is sad is there are professional athletes that do the right things but who go unnoticed. The biggest stories in the media involve athletes in trouble more than those who go home to their wife and give back to their communities.
Sometimes, but all too rarely, we hear stories like the one about New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi who stopped to help a lady who had just been in a car accident.
But we can learn from these mistakes. We all learned via former New York Giants' wide receiver Plaxico Burress how silly we will look if we shoot ourselves in the leg.
All kidding aside, famous athletes need to realize the impact they have on lives, especially those of our youth. Sure, they may never have asked for this scrutiny or this responsibility. But the reality is that it comes with cashing the check.
But maybe, we as fans should realize our heroes are human, and that means not only can they fail in our eyes, but we can succeed because in the end, they are no different than us.