Heroes in sports are something that
has been talked about for years.
Are they actually Heroes or
are the just glorified celebrities? Drucker states his opinion in the book
saying, "Celebrities are manufactured
for the purposes of spectacle, whereas heroes earn public admiration by being authentic” (Billings, Butterworth, and
Turman 72). This is an interesting
thing to think about when looking at professional athletes, especially in the
NFL. Troy Polamalu is certainly one
of these players that have been called a hero. We have all watched him wreak havoc on offenses throughout
the past several years. In 2012 he
was number
nineteen on the NFL’s Top 100 players countdown, and in the video his peers
even considered him to be more than human. Jacoby Jones called him a “different breed,” and Rashard
Mendenhall said, “He’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a superhero.” This type of dialogue happens a lot;
apparently even players think of each other as superheroes.
If you actually think about it, we
allude to athletes as being transcendent of sport all the time. ESPN does it every Monday morning when
they’re recapping the top plays during the football season. Nike even played on people’s allusions with
this advertisement that was used to create hype when they were unveiling the
new NFL jerseys before the season started.
They depict players as
superheroes. When they put on
their uniforms – much like a superhero puts on his cape – it transforms them
into something greater. It ‘manufactures’
them into a celebrity, or does it?
The chapter also throws out a thought that we may have to adapt our
standard for a hero. Drucker and
Cathcart say, “…contemporary figures such as sports stars may meet a redefined
standard of heroism” (Billings, Butterworth, and Turman 73). It could be argued that the NFL was/is
actually playing on these emotions people have about sports heroes (ie. Nike’s
advertisement above). Even
magazines such as Time dubbed an
athlete, Mark McGwire, its “Hero of the Year” (Billings, Butterworth, and
Turman 73). Ultimately, McGwire
fell from the hero ranks when he was found to have been on steroids. And that really tells the tale for
almost all sports heroes. There is
a cycle explained in the book that says we identify, celebrate, destroy, and
rehabilitate a hero, and we are notorious for our unpredictable relationships
to heroic figures. We haven’t
given up on Polamalu just yet because we, as Pittsburghers, love our sports and
players no matter what.
As a culture seek to have people to
look up to. We put athletes on a
pedestal and regard them as ‘our hero.’
But it is still up for debate; are sport stars really heroes or
celebrities? You could paint a
picture to argue either way; however, kids and adults alike will look up to
professional athletes and deem them heroes. The thing is, they’re no different from any of us. They are human just like us; despite
that, we like to have heroes in our lives. It’s all part of the spectacle that is in fact sports.
