Keller @ Large: Role Models Need To Fix Mistakes
BOSTON (CBS) - Maybe they shouldn't be, but let's face it, for plenty of kids and even some adults, professional athletes are role models, their every move closely watched, their behavior widely discussed.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
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Here in Boston in recent years, Josh Beckett is one of the players who's been justifiably praised for community involvement and charitable work.
Jon Lester has been much-admired for his successful battle with cancer.
The Red Sox owners have been lauded for their improvements to Fenway Park and for winning two World Series.
These guys have been the toast of the town for a good long stretch here, and I haven't noticed any of them rejecting the praise and rewards that have come their way as a result.
So it's only right that they now answer for their transgressions, appallingly documented in yesterday's Globe.
And kids, while I maintain that you ought not look to pro sports for role models, I know many of you do, so let's review what we've learned.
The Globe reports that Lester and Beckett were among a group of key pitchers who thought it was OK to ignore proper physical conditioning and team unity by picnicking in the clubhouse while the games were going on.
They put their egos above their professional obligations.
It may not cost them their jobs, but it cost them respect, and kids, that's worth something.
It would help to see them acknowledge as much.
And the Red Sox owners should answer as well for presiding over an organization that tolerated bad behavior, trying to buy their way out of it with gifts for their pampered players, and apparently enabling cruel innuendo about Terry Francona to become public.
Hey, everybody makes mistakes.
The role models are the ones who own up to them and correct them.
Kids of all ages, take note.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
