Author Topic: Heros (Read 1031 times)

rockbilly · « **on:** February 04, 2008, 07:42:22 AM »

I am sure many of you watched the Super Bowl yesterday. During the opening ceremonies I was amazed at the total disregard, or lack of respect for the Flag and National Anthem displayed by the players and coaches from both teams, one Patriots "STAR", had his hand over his heart, but it was the left hand. As the TV scanned the group you could see tail scratching, nose picking, or a bunch of overpaid jerks acting like they were in their favorite disco. Most of these punks never served in the military, so I place them in the "draft dodger" category that many of our athletes fall into.

Recently while having a hamburger in a local establishment I overheard a father telling his young son that Tony Romo was a real hero, I set and listened until I was ready to leave. I then stopped at their table and told the father he should provide his son with the correct information on a hero, that Tony Romo was indeed a sports STAR, but far from being a hero. I told him if he wanted to introduce his son to a real hero to take him over to the table where a group of young military members were setting and introduce him to true hero's.

Maybe I am just too much of a Flag Waver, but I think I know a real hero when I see one.

Dee · « **Reply #1 on:** February 04, 2008, 08:46:06 AM »

rockbilly, I would have to agree with you on all points. "IF", and it's a BIG "IF", there were any stars in the NFL, or any other sport, such as baseball, hockey, basketball ect? I would say it would have to be the best PHARMACIST, if you know what I mean.

rex6666 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 04, 2008, 08:54:04 AM »

I will have to agree with both of you. It is a shame that young people are seeing some of the things that go on in sports today. If it is from hollywood or sports it is all over the news
no matter how bad it is.
DOES THE NEWS MEDIA EVER SEE ANY GOOD TO REPORT!

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #3 on:** February 04, 2008, 09:04:53 AM »

i stopped watching all pro sports , the last pro baseball game i went to cured me !
when a drink , hot dog and chips bust a 20 dollar bill to piece's and the guy at the window wants a tip !
the guys on the field make more in a day than most in a few years !
no sour grapes , just no value for money spent !

Dee · « **Reply #4 on:** February 04, 2008, 09:09:18 AM »

I watch the PBR. In bull riding you cannot cheat, the bull will not cooperate. The rest of the sports, I haven't watched in YEARS (more than 20).

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #5 on:** February 04, 2008, 09:12:01 AM »

now i do watch that but consider it a job more than a sport like the lumber jack contest !
then i call hunting a way of life not a sport !
a cow puncher earns his money !

Dee · « **Reply #6 on:** February 04, 2008, 10:56:44 AM »

Ya know what SHOOTALL, hunting and fishing IS a way of life, a "life style" so to speak. The PBR, is about the only TV, I WILL watch. Those guys (bull riders) will climb on with a broke leg, and the linebacker will lay out of a game with an astro turf burn.

ironglow · « **Reply #7 on:** February 04, 2008, 02:05:52 PM »

Rockbilly;
I simply MUST echo a hearty AMEN !!
So many young folks, (and older ones that should know better)..try to make heroes out of sports figures, the Hollywood depraved that it is indeed difficult for a thinking person to understand.
Both Dee's son and my grandson have been to that REALLY tough arena called Iraq ! They, along with thousands of other Army & Marine troops have smashed in barred
doors, and faced a well armed, fanatical enemy that already "had the drop" on them...a "High Noon" moment..except the bad guy was much better armed and hiding in concealment, something Gary Cooper never had to face.
..And not just once, as Cooper did, but this was their daily job...day in..day out.

Now a simple question for that hamburger joint Dad:
A quarterback or fullback plunges forward into a crowd of big people..people who are well padded, protected and where NONE are armed..and get paid in the $millions$$ for doing it..

Who Really is the hero..that unnamed trooper from the 82nd Airborne and the "Devil Dog" Marine...or the very high paid , much adulated, much pampered athlete ?

That is not even to mention the overpaid, cry-baby drug addicts that haunt Beverly Hills..

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #8 on:** February 05, 2008, 01:52:55 AM »

Dee what other sport is there where you have less chance to win than bull riding ?
more don't make 8 than do ! where else does the guy with all the buckles stand just as good a chance of loosing as the rookie ?
never heard of a gay bull rider , can't say same for the rest !

Dee · « **Reply #9 on:** February 05, 2008, 02:24:24 AM »

There ya go SHOOTALL. An INDIVIDUAL sport. Ya can't cheat, and no ride, no money. They aren't spoiled cause the rest of the riders won't put up with. If your in second place, and first comes down to your last bull, the guy in first place won't stab you in the back. He'll pull your rope for ya, and yell for ya during your ride. If ya win, he'll congratulate you, and say the best bull rider won that day. All the other sports have become so corrupt today, you never know whose pharmacist is the best until the investigation is over.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #10 on:** February 05, 2008, 02:31:24 AM »

yea a football huddle ain't much more than a drug ring these days !

beemanbeme · « **Reply #11 on:** February 05, 2008, 07:02:10 AM »

You people are a hard bunch. Pro athletes do indeed make a whole lot of money. But the fact of the matter is the money is there. If anyone had offered me a million dollars to lay bricks or saw a board or install a light switch, I would have sure taken it. But they never did. What we tend to forget is that for every "Pac man" that we read about there are countless David Robinsons and Michael Jordans and lesser known athletes that make tremendous contributions to the communities. That are very positive role models for kids.That give a lot of their time and money to help kids. Unfortunately, we don't hear too much about those guys. They're not the kind of news that sells newspapers or gains TV ratings in todays markets. So we get a steady diet of drunk drivers and druggies.
I don't know how I'd act if I was 20 years old and somebody gave me a Lambrageni (spl) car and 3 million dollars. Especially if I'd been raised where my role models were crack whores, drug dealers and pimps. As a young lad from a Christian home, I found enough trouble to get into on just the salary the Marine Corp was paying me.
It's kinda like hunters and shooters. I hate it when folks lump us all together and say we drool when we talk and drag our knuckles on the sidewalk and gut shoot animals to watch them suffer and so forth.........................

I totally agree with Rockbilly that the media needs to be straightened out on the difference between "hero" and "star". (A hero was Brady showing his face outside the door on monday morning

)

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #12 on:** February 05, 2008, 07:58:22 AM »

I could somewhat see your point right up to the strike and cover ups , they ABUSE the system !
hard ? you say that like its a bad thing !

ironglow · « **Reply #13 on:** February 05, 2008, 09:05:26 AM »

I don't blame the 20 year old kids for taking the money. I more blame the public for them trying to make "heroes" out of someone who is using God-given gifts to
play a sport which the public themselves lavish entirely too much cash upon..but that is just a sign of the times.
The only heroes I will ever recognize, are those who at great risk to themselves up to and including loss of their life, do or attempt to do something fine, great and noble.
Calling anyone else a "hero" is cheapening the term..especially against those I just mentioned.
As with Dee, About the only two "sports" I watch on TV (or anywhere else), are bull riding and "fair chase" hunting. Can't stand the baited, farmed animals being shot from a stand the animals consider part of their feeding station.
The beauty of bull riding is that the riders look to be in good physical shape, but not on steroids..and there is no way crooks can " fix it " with a bull to "throw" the contest.

I did watch football, wrestling and kick-boxing when my sons & grandsons were involved...but those are "cleaner' than most pro sports (IMHO)..

Beeman: Who is Brady, and how does he qualify as a "hero" ?

beemanbeme · « **Reply #14 on:** February 06, 2008, 05:43:09 AM »

Ironglow, it was something of a pun. Brady was the oh so perfect quarterback of the oh so perfect Patriots and the only thing standing in their way from a perfect season was the Giants led by a kinda inept redneck from Louiseanna, oh what's his name, anyway, he's not very good.
And for Brady to face the media vultures after his loss, would, imo, take a lot of guts.

And, of course, Beilin leaving the field before the game was over (and not congradulating the winning coach) showed a lot of class.

ironglow · « **Reply #15 on:** February 06, 2008, 02:45:45 PM »

OK ..I get it Beeman;

I said I don't watch those sports !....LOL

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #16 on:** February 06, 2008, 03:11:03 PM »

Quote from: beemanbeme on February 05, 2008, 07:02:10 AM

You people are a hard bunch. Pro athletes do indeed make a whole lot of money. But the fact of the matter is the money is there. If anyone had offered me a million dollars to lay bricks or saw a board or install a light switch, I would have sure taken it. But they never did. What we tend to forget is that for every "Pac man" that we read about there are countless David Robinsons and Michael Jordans and lesser known athletes that make tremendous contributions to the communities. That are very positive role models for kids.That give a lot of their time and money to help kids. Unfortunately, we don't hear too much about those guys. They're not the kind of news that sells newspapers or gains TV ratings in todays markets. So we get a steady diet of drunk drivers and druggies.
I don't know how I'd act if I was 20 years old and somebody gave me a Lambrageni (spl) car and 3 million dollars. Especially if I'd been raised where my role models were crack whores, drug dealers and pimps. As a young lad from a Christian home, I found enough trouble to get into on just the salary the Marine Corp was paying me.
It's kinda like hunters and shooters. I hate it when folks lump us all together and say we drool when we talk and drag our knuckles on the sidewalk and gut shoot animals to watch them suffer and so forth.........................

I totally agree with Rockbilly that the media needs to be straightened out on the difference between "hero" and "star". (A hero was Brady showing his face outside the door on monday morning )

There is no comparison between what our armed forces do and a PRO ATHLETE. If we start a game with the other team shooting gun fire at our team then you could call them heroes. Till then they are over payed and want to be heroes. Dale

ironglow · « **Reply #17 on:** February 06, 2008, 03:17:31 PM »

Thank you, Dale !
Below is a USMC photo my grandson identified as one of himself on patrol.
Caption simply explains...."engaging an enemy sniper across the river"..

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #18 on:** February 06, 2008, 03:32:46 PM »

I would only rank Tom Brady as a great athlete. I bet he would crawl up in a little hole and cry like a baby if people were shooting at him. I am sure I would be just as scared myself but I would want to take out as many as those other guy's before they kill me. The deference is our guys on the front line are being paid peanuts for giving up their lives. Their family at home can't make ends meet without him. You tell me who the hero is? Dale

ironglow · « **Reply #19 on:** February 06, 2008, 04:01:24 PM »

I am not saying that my grandson was never scared; when I got a letter from him (Nov 2005)..following his first day in combat, he admitted then that for a short time he was quite scared..but then anger with the enemy and training took over.

note; poster edit

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #20 on:** February 06, 2008, 04:16:48 PM »

I surley hope you did not take take me wrong in any way. I am sure you grandson was scared as any normal human being. If you were not scared you would have to be a little off. Dale

ironglow · « **Reply #21 on:** February 06, 2008, 09:50:31 PM »

Dale;
No problem; I would have to say the same thing a person would have a problem to be concerned with if he weren't scared in a situation like that.
...And I want folks to know, his experiences there were not unique, our first line combat troops all have similar experiences as related to me by local
troops I know .
That is why I am always ready to thank them for their service.

beemanbeme · « **Reply #22 on:** February 07, 2008, 06:33:18 AM »

I kinda think you guys are putting too much weight on this thing. I've never heard one of these athletes refer to themselves or other athletes as heroes. That's some BS that the media talking heads dreamed up. And you folks don't seem to mind Jay Leno reading jokes off of a cue card making a gazillion dollars a year. Or some over endowed bimbo jumping rope on bay watch getting rich. So why the hostility toward athletes??
They are there to entertain. On Super Bowl Sunday, I'm not interested in watching the interview of Tom Brady's third grade teacher and how she "just knew" he was gonna be special or home movies of Eli Manning playing with his dog whilst he was in high school. I just want to watch the game. And on sunday, me and 97 million other folks watched a damn good football game I don't care which side your were rooting for. But that all there was to it. Entertainment.

ironglow · « **Reply #23 on:** February 07, 2008, 10:49:52 AM »

Whoa..I don't watch Jay Leno either...

Didn't say that any athletes call themselves "heroes"..don't know..don't listen to them. Guess if I heard one of them claim such a position, you would have already
heard me laugh from where you are.
In the original post in this thread, Rockbilly said he heard some guy tell his kid that Tony Romo (whoever that is) is a hero. That is basically, the idea I was commenting
upon. I don't blame small, impressionable children for considering such a person a hero..
But steroids, dog fighting and girlfriend killing and beating aside, I do question the thought process of an adult that lets this confusion continue.

If he (the burger guy) wanted his kid to have a courageous hero..there are at any given time, about 140,000 Americans in Iraq & Afghanistan that deserve the
title more..and if it were my child, I would square away his confusion..post haste..

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #24 on:** February 07, 2008, 12:05:03 PM »

A++++++++++++++++111111. Dale

frogjake · « **Reply #25 on:** February 07, 2008, 08:09:48 PM »

I think being a hero takes all forms. The dictionary says "a brave man" = Hero I suppose a man who works a job that he hates to make sure his family is fed,housed,clothed etc. is not "brave" but, to his family he could be a Hero. He certainly has the courage and drive to do the right thing. I agree that there are alot of folks out there that deserve hero status over football players.Military, Law enforcement, Fire fighters, EMT, Teachers, and the like, are heroic in my book. They don't get paid nearly what they should for the job they do in my eyes. Thats part of being heroic, doing good brave things because you know its the right thing to do. To do these things for love of the job and love of helping people and not for the big bucks is pretty cool in my book. It was stated that it is a" sign of the times" I agree. Kids expect too much, way too soon. It leads to very materialistic values.Instead of admiring a hard days work, it seems they admire the quickest way to bypass work to get the "stuff" I grow tired of the younger folks thinking they are above starting at the bottom and working they're way up. Patience is not taught as much as it should in my book. I've rambled enough, later