A few days ago I posted about Tiger Woods' car crash and how the media was making such a huge deal about it. Since then it has come out that Tiger Woods cheated on his wife Elin Nordegren with a cocktail waitress. Many pro golfers have spoken out against Woods, condemning his actions.
My question is, what moral standard should we hold for athletes? The media portrayal of athletes as role models is questionable. The Tiger Woods incident is obviously not the first time something like this has happened, everyone remembers Kobe Bryant a few years ago.
Athletes are painted as team players, people who are responsible, they are considered the best in the world at what they do. Kids look up to them, they become idols. Nobody is perfect though and by painting a perfect picture it just makes things more disappointing when they don't live up to the expectations. Athletes should be admired for their athletic ability and the emphasis should not be on their character as much. Unless that athlete does something which is especially great off the field.
I agree. I don't think that professional athletes' private lives should be made public just because they are professional athletes. People should not make such a big deal about Tiger Woods cheating on his wife because he is a golfer and people should only really care about how he plays golf. This doesn't mean he isn't a good role model. He has good sportsmanship and he plays golf well so that is all that should matter. Many people have made the same mistakes that he has but people only care about his mistakes because he is in the public eye.
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