[sctx]

The brawl at the Pacers/Pistons game Friday was just a sad event and it caused me to remember Charles Barkely's "I AM NOT your kids role model" tirade, years ago.
I felt Charles was right, that he wasn't obligated to be a role model, but still there is a sense that that is part of their job being in the public life. If I had a son, I'd love for him to play sports with the heart and intensity of Brett Favre or the all around skills of Michael Jordan... but would I want him to emulate Jordan's infidelity and gambling... probably not... so that being said, I have two ???'s:

1. Which retired sports figures figure do you feel really attained "role model" status, not only in their physical skills, but in their personal and civic life as well??

2. Do you feel there are any potential future role models in professional sports today?

My vote in #1 would go to David Robinson. He graduated from the Naval Academy and fulfilled his obligation to serve his country at a huge personal expense in missed salary. He was a dominating player that did succeed in taking his team to championship wins. He always exhibited class when talking about opposing players, giving them credit for their effort, he never took personal credit for a win but many times took personal credit for losses. He is a devoted family man as well as a devoted religious man. And he is devoted to his community (he spent 6 million of his own money to build a learning center for inner city/under privileged children in San Antonio). If my son said "I wanna be like David", I'd feel pretty proud

Picking out future role models is tough, but I'd say Peyton Manning, Tim Duncan, possibly Mia hamm and maybe a handfull of others may be on the right track