Who is your hero?

Growing up as a kid, I had different people who were my hero.  Back then sports stars were usually heroes to us impressionable kids.  It had been that way forever and still is somewhat today.  I think many pro players took their image seriously when it came to kids back in the day but as time went on it became less and less true.  Today we have any number of stars who do everything in their power to make sure they are not hero images to the kids of today and yet kids still emulate what their heroes do.  There are many who do take it seriously still but for every Steve Nash there are any number of Shawn Kemps, for every Tim Tebow there are your Rae Carruths and OJ Simpsons.  Baseball was probably where most of us found heroes as it was always THE game when I was young (not anymore, football has definitely supplanted it) and we had people like Mantle and Yaz and Rose to cheer for.  Turns out they really weren't people you wanted to emulate but back then you didn't hear about this as the media didn't report everything twenty four hours a day and in fact many of them actively went and protected the players.  Of course, for the most part the players back then were more interested in being peeping Toms and banging groupies than in doing any truly serious crimes.  I remember reading the first tell all sports book, Ball Four, when I was 11 or so.  Certainly opened my eyes some. 

So who were your heroes when you were young?  Mine were not the typical ones.  Though I grew up in RI and rooted for the Boston teams in general, I was never that big on the stars at the time.  Yaz was the biggest Boston star but I was a fan of Ken Harrelson who was definitely a free spirit back then.  The Hawk was a different guy for sure and I was really saddened when Boston traded him to the White Sox.  I also really cheered for Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins.  The man was big ole farm boy from the northern woods of Idaho who was really a tremendous home run hitter.  Few people remember that in 1967 when Yaz won the triple crown, he was tied for the home run title with Harmon Killebrew.  I also liked guys like Orr and Esposito for the Bruins but I was really a fan of Wayne Cashman who was a gritty little winger who did the tough dirty work in the corners so Esposito and Orr could score all those goals.  And in football, though Jim Plunkett was the star QB for the Pats, I really rooted for little wideout Randy Vataha and LB Sam Hunt.  Vataha was a teammate of Plunkett's from Stanford who did pretty well playing for the Pats.  Kind of a faster version of Wes Welker.  After football he became a nationally ranked racquetball player.  Hunt was a big middle linebacker who was a solid run stopper and tackler.  Back in my high school days, I was at Bryant College playing in a tennis tourney in June while the Patriots did their training camp there at the same time.  As the players were walking past the courts to the locker room I saw Sam Hunt up close and personal.  The man was like a walking refrigerator.  All I saw was this head and really broad shoulders.  The rest of him went straight down from there all the way to his feet.  A very large man. 

Nowadays we are told by many athletes not to emulate them.  Charles Barkley always said he was no role model.  And in that sense he's right but other athletes look at the fact that they are in the public eye now more than ever and take that into account.  Some relish the fact that they can influence young lives in a positive way.  Others just want to live the good life, get well paid, and not be bothered with their image as long as the party goes on.  Personally if I were famous and rich, I might be the same way.  I'm no great thinker who is gonna make the world a better place and the last thing I want is a lot of people all around me.  Ask my wife how much I like crowded places.  Nah for me, if I achieved fortune and fame, I'd drop out of sight as soon as possible, hope that people forgot about me, and try to live a life out of the public eye. 

My heroes today are a lot different than back then.  The people who put on their shoes everyday and do backbreaking work or risk their lives are my heroes today.  My wife is definitely my hero.  She raised our kids often without a lot of help from me, and has achieved an important position in the county where she has earned a lot of respect for her work and her management ability.  She is also a pretty damned good poker player.  She is the one who got us into playing locally years ago.  I got her into watching it on TV and from there she pushed me to take her to the local poker rooms then pushed to play in tourneys.  And she likes sports too. 

This woman is one of my heroes too.  Unarmed and naked she beats down a guy who invades her house with a bedpost.  Now that is some woman.  Any number of cops, firemen, coast guardsmen, military men, etc are heroes as well.  They risk their lives to save others and though it is their job, it cannot be easy to do it everyday.  I have no sports stars who are heroes to me though I do admire some.  I admire Tim Tebow for his faith and his unwillingness to stoop to other trash talking anyone else.  I admire MMA champion Jon Jones who on the day of his Lt Heavyweight title fight, helped subdue a robber.  And a number of others.  But these guys are well paid famous people, not people who often times struggle to get by.  So support your local hero, sometimes they can use a hand.

Well last night was kind of a restless night for me.  I'd sleep a few hours then wake up for a bit.  I wasn't in pain, mainly due to Vitamin V and Sodium Naproxen.  I kept drinking a lot of water when I'd wake so I was also making trips to the bathroom every few hours as well.  The Vicodin made me feel a little loopy and disconnected but at least I felt no pain.  About 6:30 I woke up and took the dog out.  I felt like I was floating out there instead of walking her.  The dentist told me not to bend over quickly as it would raise the blood pressure to my head and possibly blow out my stitches in my mouth.  I popped some more Naproxen this morning but have left off the Vicodin.  So far there is no pain and now that the Vicodin is mostly out of my system I feel mostly normal outside of the holes in my mouth.  The PQ wants to play some poker tonight so assuming I still feel ok, I may join her.  Gotta remember however no hot drinks and no carbonated drinks either.  Guess I'll have to stick to either iced coffee or screwdrivers.  Perhaps a pina colada or 2.  Get the guys to think I am a wimpy man at the table and then clean them out. 

Well think it's time for a nap now.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend.  Stay lucky you nuts and heroes.