Thanks, Kobe

"Gods come pretty cheap these days don't they? You get to be one by putting a leather ball in an iron hoop." -- Barbara Hershey as Myra Fleener in the movie "Hoosiers."

The above quote has been on my mind lately since the hubbub surrounding the Kobe Bryant trial has become and everyday occurrence. It' not just true for basketball, but for all sports. We as a society put these men and women on pedestals and then wait for them to fall. What makes this situation more difficult to understand is the mere fact that few thought Kobe Bryant would.

Yes, even in this modern, cynical world of sports in which we fans live it is hard to wrap your mind around the fact that Kobe Bryant could be a rapist.

To many he is still referred to as "The Kid" The boy wonder who raised a ruckus not going to college and jumping straight into the NBA. Many believed he would fail. He proved everyone wrong.

Since joining the league, all Bryant has done is average 21.5 points per game in his seven year career, including 22.5, 28.5, and 25.2 points during Los Angeles' three-peat.

We have marveled at his ability, from winning the Slam Dunk Contest his rookie year, to scoring 40 points in nine straight games this past season.

We have watched him grow up from the whining youngster who believed he could carry the team on his own to the player who recognized his need to defer to his very large and dominant teammate.

We have seen him in the commercials- working hard or playing with children.

We watched him get married and become a father. All the while flashing that smile that could charm a cheetah of its spots. Yes he seemed to have it all. Furthermore he seemed to BE it all.

He seemed to always do the right thing. He was never in the headlines for being involved in violent acts or scandals at strip clubs, as some of his NBA co-horts have in the past. He was the 'ym-rat' who only wanted to win championships and go home and be the good husband and father some of us have to be on a daily basis.

In the world of millionaire cry babies, he seemed to be the one that just might deserve that extra large paycheck that the everyday Joe will never see.

And then came July 18, 2003 -- the day of the Bryants' press conference -- and our search for a hero returned to square one. This time it hurt.

Not because of the rape allegations -- he is still innocent at this point. But because he did admit to cheating on his wife. Is this the decision-making role-models are made of? Hardly.

The fact that he waited until charges were filed to come clean makes me wonder: is he sorry he cheated? Or is he sorry he got caught?

We will never know, but the fact that I question it is evidence enough that I've come back down to earth regarding my opinions of professional athletes.

Our need for these pedestals come from our inability to do the same things they do in front of thousands of people day in day out. Most of us have had some kind of fantasy about being a pro athlete at one time or another. And we realize just what kind of talent gap there really is between us and them and so the adulation is natural.

And when you find one that seems to be a good guy off the field, it becomes that much easier to behold them as a superior being. All too frequently we are disappointed, but that doesn't' stop us from looking.

Perhaps we've been thinking about this all wrong. Perhaps they should be the ones that look up to US. The common guy who gets up every morning and goes to work and makes sure the bills get paid and the kids have clothes and DON'T CHEAT.

Maybe it is time that we get what' owed us, because for everything they can do on a field or court that we cannot, there are just as many things we do off the field that they cannot.

That' where my next search for a hero will start -- right here.

Thanks, Kobe.