"Heads Up" - Athletes don't always align reputation and judgment

I knew that Ben Roethlisberger cracked his skull when he crashed into a car last month not wearing a safety helmet, so I wasn't completely surprised by his latest unbelievable comments about helmet safety. Talking to USA Today, Roethlisberger said he has parked his bike for the season, but still believes that "people should make their own decision about whether to wear a helmet on a motorcycle," and that he "doesn't plan on doing public safety announcements for motorcycle or helmet safety."

Atta boy, Benny. Way to be a role model. Why seize the opportunity to communicate directly to the hundreds of thousands of kids who idolize your every move about a way to help save their life? Why actually use your popularity as a way to show that, yes, even superstars make mistakes?

And then there is Zinedine Zidane, the French soccer star of World Cup 2006, who rammed his head into the chest of an Italian player after words were exchanged about the integrity of Zidane's mother. Didn't we learn in gradeschool that saying about sticks and stones? Here is Zidane, arguably 12 minutes away from forever being remembered in the same light as Pele and Michael Jordan, and he can't control his emotion. Now all that's talked about is his temper. Yes, he apologized, 'to the kids,' but not for his actions. He apologized that they saw him do it. That's like apologizing that the cops caught you robbing a bank, but not being sorry for stealing the money.

It's sad for me, as a father, to watch when idol athletes only step up to the plate in stadiums.