Hero's come in all shapes and sizes. Sports hero's usually have bigger shapes and bigger sizes! The unfortunate side effects of our cultiure's glorification and hero worship of our Professional and Collegiate athletes these days has been completely blown out of proportion and has led to many misguided worshipers, tragic stories and  bitter sweet endings that completely expose the eternal fact; which is that we are all only human being in the end, regardless of how big our ego's and popular demand make us. The cheating, the lies, the deceit, the threats made to teammates and freinds,the bribes and bullying to official governing bodies of his sport,  the illegal use of drugs, and the elloborate cover-up and complete fraud of a Lance Amrstrong pales in comparrison to what a Jerry Sandusky has done. There are many examples that I could site here; just look at what Major Leagur Baseball went through with the likes of Rodger Clements, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez! Look at the recent suicide of Junior Seau, the cocaine overdose of Len Bias, etc. etc. True role models and educators are in a class by themselves. Educators and role models come in all shapes and sizes as well. A lot of them are not athletes at all. They are parents, teachers, police officers, fireman, community leaders.  I have had many teachers and coaches in my life, and in many different sports that I competed in throughout grade school, high school, college and beyond. I can honestly look back and say that at best, less than a quarter of them had a truly positive impact on my life. Some athletes can become great educators, there is no doubt. Competing in sports in general teach a young person many great lessons about life. I am completely behind promoting sports, creating  more young role models that are drug free, fostering healthy competetion and sportsmanship, and establishing a commitment to education and development. I just think we have to be extremely careful about putting any athlete on a pedestal, especially one with a label of educator. What's happening in Afghanistan and other emerging Countries give us a chance to not repeat the same mistakes that we have made in our culture. It all starts with the parents and or the people who are responsible for teaching our children. They are the true guardians, inspiration and educators. And they are the ones who need to be extremely vigilant with the balance of values, morals, lessons and level of integrity they impart.