HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
May 9, 2003 What do Marshall Faulk, Shawn Kemp, and Evander Holyfield all have in common besides being superstar professional athletes? Each of these superstars in their respective sporting arenas is the father of multiple children by multiple women. Falk, who is not married, has fathered at least 6 children by at least 3 different women, according to St. Louis Today. Sports Illustrated has noted that Kemp has seven children by six different women. But that amazing number is not even the highest child count – Evander Holyfield is reportedly the father of nine children – three with his first wife, one with his second wife, and five others born out of wedlock to four different women. These men are by no means unique in their behavior, rather they could be looked upon as symbolic of professional sports as a whole. That is, there are probably a large number of athletes who have similar situations and fly below the radar. At some point the value system has been turned on its head – athletes are idolized for the wrong qualities and not called into account for bad behavior. The entire system is starting to get out of hand. Americans idolize those whose chief claim to fame is the ability to play some contrived game, while the important issues such as raising a child, are treated as rubbish. The true value is in the child, and raising that child in such a manner where affirmation, protection, and love are known. How can you compare the life of a child with that of sports games? What is really more important here? Yet amazingly most athletes place a far higher priority on the games than they do a child. And the child is their own! They have to play the game; the child they can leave or take – and they usually leave the child. Having a child in every major city by a different woman, of whom you never marry or intend to marry, is not a good idea no matter how you try to explain it. Some top athletes point to the fact that they send a check for the child’s expenses frequently (probably as some sort of salve for their conscious). This may or may not be true, but what a child needs is far more than money. How do they look at a superstar athlete who doesn’t have the gumption to give his own child his last name? Children need both quality time and a quantity of time with their dad. The crux of the problem lies deeper than just the child and athlete. The manner in which an athlete treats a woman is frequently a mirror to how the child will be treated as well. Most athletes come up short here also. There are frequent stories of domestic abuse in the arena of the professional athletes and many of them deal with the same group that is noted for having children by various women in all corners of the country. How they treat the mother is an indicator of how the child will be treated in the long run. Certainly not all athletes father children and then emotionally (and/or physically) abandon them. There are many sterling examples of athletes who raise up children and take responsibility for their care – beyond just the financial aspect. However, it seems that their number is declining. All athletes would benefit if they took a true look at the direction their life is headed and the impact it is having on others – especially those closest to them. What an athlete does off the field or outside the arena does matter – a lot. One a side note, one of the bright spots concerning sports and true value is in the recent issues concerning Larry Eustachy and Mike Price. In both instances the universities did the right thing in choosing to feature morality over sports fame. Eustachy and Price made foolish decisions that have been exposed publicly and to their shame. They acted like high school students and ruined an example they could portray to their athletes. Mike Price has vowed to restore his reputation and is going to court to try and put things back where they were. That won’t be an easy road. He will discover that a reputation is of priceless value, and like Humpty Dumpty, not easily put back together once broken. ------------ About the author: Dwayne Hines currently has 12 books selling in major bookstores and writes for major magazines such as Physical and FitnessRX. Email Dwayne Hines: dhines@3dinet.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
