Sports heroes

[MikeWaters]

One man in particular was my sports hero growing up. Dale Murphy. He has LDS, he was good, and he was available to watch on TV almost everyday. Where I grew up, the only national teams on TV were the Cubs and the Braves. And regionally, maybe the Astros. I watched the Braves.

As I grew older, he meant less to me. That's just the nature of growing up, not any reflection on him. I saw good times, I saw the bad times. Both for the team, and for Murph. He was really, really bad at the end and it made me sad. But that's not the point.

I just happened to settle on a high-character guy that I can still point to and say that as far as I know, he is a person that can be modeled both on and off the field.

My other sports hero was Danny White. I was a Cowboys fan, and Danny was the QB. He was also LDS (notice anything in common?). Danny White is probably the least appreciated best player the Cowboys ever had. Still to this day no one in Dallas has any love for Danny White. It's sad.

What is the purpose of the sports hero? What is the purpose of sport? Why play sports? Why watch sports? I'm not sure I have the answer to these questions. Growing up, I was the only one in my family that really cared about sports, both watching and playing. I was definitely swimming against the tide.

I love competing. Just today I was so upset at a teammate that I couldn't speak straight and threw my mouthpiece against the wall. It's times like those that make me think that perhaps all of this competition is not so healthy. But what can I do? I love it.

[Archaea]

I don't remember any real heroes in sports or otherwise. I admired the performance of certain individuals but that is all. The first sticking out in my mind was Billy the Kid and Jean Claude Killy. I knew nothing about their personalities other than what the Olympics showed.