I want/need "Heroes"

[NeverSayDieFan]

Years ago, in the mid 70's, when I was (17), I had the chance to meet some of my "heroes". The Cards were staying at the Red Bull Inn in Waterbury, CT. and playing the Giants that Sunday in the Yale Bowl in New Haven, CT. (Yankee Stadium was being refurbished at the time). I remember the excitement of seeing the team bus pull up and I quickly spotted Jackie Smith. I congratulated him on the success of the season, we had started (7-0), and I shook his hand. A once-in-a-lifetime-moment. After the game itself I was able to meet Jim Hart, a real down-to-earth kinda' guy, and my dad gave a pack of "smokes" to "Mad-Dog" Conrad Dobler for the flight back to St.Louis. (...And NO, he didn't "bite" any of us, ONLY Giants' players under the pile earlier that day!! (LOL) Anyways, to actually meet my "heroes" was something I'll never forget. So, here I am (30) years down the road, and saying, "Who are my "heroes" now??". I'm old enough to be most of these guys "dad" (LOL) so the feelings a lil' different than being an awe-struck teenager. But the feeling of wanting to respect and encourage these "new" Cardinals is the same as back in the 70's. I say all this in regards to all the comments on who/ who's not attending mini-camp, and who we will select in the draft. I'm "old-school" and I still want/need heroes. YES, I want to win--BADLY!! BUT I also want to win w/character & class. Champions on the field & off. In return, I offer the loyalty of a NeverSayDieFan. Who, like Daniel of long ago, walked into a Lions' den (actually, they were GIANTS, (LOL) and yelled for the opposing team.) GO CARDS!! Hey, anyone want to share "special moments" of their own Cardinal history?? Might be a cool subject.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

You need a hero? Watch the Duke game later on today and the jackass CBS crew will pretty much nominate Chris Duhon for sainthood right in front of your eyes.

 

[Tangodnzr]

You need a hero? Watch the Duke game later on today and the jackass CBS crew will pretty much nominate Chris Duhon for sainthood right in front of your eyes.

...or George W Bush and his "administration" will enact new laws and find other ways to save us all from ourselves.

 

[Tangodnzr]

Actually to get this thread back on topic...good post neversaydie.

I totally agree, as a fan, I don't JUST want to see wins, I want to see some "heroes" and "good guys" succeed too.

Screw this win at all costs mentality that some promote.

I would rather see guys like Ron McKinnon, Josh McCown, Quan, etc. succeed than all the Meshawn's, David Boston's, or Sebastion Janikowski's dazzle us with their one-dimensional athleticism and missing moral fiber.

I'd rather see a team of "character" guys play competitively even if they sometimes lose, than a gang of thugs and moral misfits blow everyone in the world away.

To me Leo Durocher's famous line.."nice guys finish last" referred more to what Dennis Green recently referred to in being a good coach often means you have to be "stern" at times to be an effective leader.
And Jim Rome sucks when he says...."If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin' ".

To me, finally getting to meet Willie Mays at spring training at Scottsdale stadium was a lifelong dream come true. He was indeed my guiding inspiration and role model when I was "younger". The event itself was nothing newsworthy, but still a dream come true for me.

 

[vikesfan]

Heroes are the people fighting injustice around the world. The global corporate machine that is causing preventable suffering and destroying humans and our environment all in the name of the false and evil god they worship: MONEY.

As for football players: just win that is all I want.

 

[Tangodnzr]

Heroes are the people fighting injustice around the world. The global corporate machine that is causing preventable suffering and destroying humans and our environment all in the name of the false and evil god they worship: MONEY.

As for football players: just win that is all I want.

Just whose side are you on, anyway, there Lone Ranger?

As the Indians around here would say: "White man speak with forked tongue".

Do you burn witches too?

A member of the Hood?

John Bircher?

The Family?

Onward Jesse Owens, Jim Thorpe, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Red Grange, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Walter Payton, ....the guys in the white hats will still prevail.

 

[Red Air Force]

Heroes are the people fighting injustice around the world. The global corporate machine that is causing preventable suffering and destroying humans and our environment all in the name of the false and evil god they worship: MONEY.

As for football players: just win that is all I want.

I know I'm going to get this locked or moved, but just who exactly is the "evil" corporate machine causing preventable suffering to?

The thousands of workers who FLOCK to Nike and stand in line for jobs that are helping them to raise their familys from poverty? The thousands of workers who would otherwise be unemployed and starving?

The Corporate Machine is what lifts nations like Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Europe and America from the abject poverty of the masses, not the minimum wage.

 

[cardsunsfan]

I know I'm going to get this locked or moved, but just who exactly is the "evil" corporate machine causing preventable suffering to?

The thousands of workers who FLOCK to Nike and stand in line for jobs that are helping them to raise their familys from poverty? The thousands of workers who would otherwise be unemployed and starving?

The Corporate Machine is what lifts nations like Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Europe and America from the abject poverty of the masses, not the minimum wage.

I totally agree

 

[BuckeyeCardinal]

Heroes

Pat Tillman.

 

[Brevity]

Heroes are the people fighting injustice around the world. The global corporate machine that is causing preventable suffering and destroying humans and our environment all in the name of the false and evil god they worship: MONEY.

"All the preceding classes that got the upper hand sought to fortify their already acquired status by subjecting society at large to their conditions of appropriation. The proletarians cannot become masters of the productive forces of society, except by abolishing their own previous mode of appropriation, and thereby also every other previous mode of appropriation. They have nothing of their own to secure and to fortify; their mission is to destroy all previous securities for, and insurances of, individual property."

Karl Marx

 

[CaptTurbo]

Pat Tillman.

ANy guy or gal who puts on a uniform to make life better for everyone around them should be your heroes. Sports players are fun to follow and cheer for.

Next time your about to spring for that quan autographed card or helmet send a care package to one of our boys in Iraq. They arent representing a faith or a person (bush).

They are doing what they are told and doing it with honour, integrity and loyalty. Same goes for all the nurses, the police, firemen etc.

I will go to my grave proud to have served my fellow americans, even if I didnt agree with the battles I fought.

 

[Tangodnzr]

And George Bush says Bryan Gilmore's bad hands are what's holding the weapons of mass destruction.

 

[BuckeyeCardinal]

Putting Your Life On the Line

ANy guy or gal who puts on a uniform to make life better for everyone around them should be your heroes. Sports players are fun to follow and cheer for.

Next time your about to spring for that quan autographed card or helmet send a care package to one of our boys in Iraq. They arent representing a faith or a person (bush).

They are doing what they are told and doing it with honour, integrity and loyalty. Same goes for all the nurses, the police, firemen etc.

I will go to my grave proud to have served my fellow americans, even if I didnt agree with the battles I fought.

Too many so-called Americans are too chicken shiet to even consider a Pat Tillman.

Simeon Rice and his comments about PT are a disgrace to our society. If Simeon doesn't like our society he should move to another country or sue for reperations.

My dads brother was 17 years old when he ran away from home to join the Army. Why? He was smart enough to figure out that his country was on the verge of being just a blip on the historical map if he and/or his generation failed to answer the call to duty.

The government sent him home and said he was too young. The next time he left home he was 19 and they said OK. AT 19 he lost his life just 2 weeks before the end of the war to end all wars.

We have sons and daughters dying for us.

Let's give them some respect.

 

[vikesfan]

You don't need to go to the 3rd world. People are starving and not getting medical care RIGHT THERE IN THE USA.

 

[SuperSpck]

You know, I've always asked myself the question of how professional football players could be heroes to me when I was growing up.

The guys I looked up to could have been jerks for all I know; and as the modern media takes a more personal approach in reporting on them I think the men who could have been deemed heroes are now just great players.
The truth is... I don't want to know... but maybe there are some guys left with shoulder pads or wooden bats who could be heroes. It'd be nice. I know I definitely want my kids to have sports heroes.

 

[AzCards21]

If your looking for heros in sports your desperate. Why not make the best cashier at a local grocery store your hero? She works just as hard.

These guys are gifted athletes that do their job very well. They have done nothing to warrant knighthood or saint status and would bet they don't even want it. It's a job that they are highly qualified to do and they do it exceptionally well. But to throw the tag of hero on them is a little much. I don't even consider the NYPD/FDNY as heros. They did the job they were paid to do. That's what I expect from them.

I do agree that I would love to win the superbowl with a team of exceptional athletes that are really great people. But to force the whole hero crap on them is unfair.

They are players that need to reach for Probowls and records and all of the stuff that makes them stand out as an individual in their profession.

That's all they owe us. Not life models, not heros, not saviours. Just competitors.

I would hope each of us in our own professions is at least worthy of the same consideration. Do you want to do your job and worry about being a hero on top of it? I don't.

 

[NeverSayDieFan]

Clarifying-- a "hero"

I agree 100% w/ the posts about military personel, and for that matter, ANYONE who is trying to make this place better for all of us. They are the REAL HEROES!! BUT strictly talking "sports", Tango picked up on what I was referring to. Remember when Batimore won the Super Bowl?? If you watch Art Modell (sp??) in the locker-room after the victories he seems very un-comfortable w/the "Hey, look at us" attitude of his team. I'm guessing he's "old school". Win?? YES!! BUT win w/style, class, even being gracious & humble. Those adjectives/descriptions seem so "archaic" by todays' standards. I just hope that WHEN we win (Notice, I didn't say if) we do it in a way that makes us all feel proud to be loyal Cardinal fans. GO CARDS!!

 

[SuperSpck]

This is fun!

Ok, you're completely right on a lot of what you said. To push something onto a person is always unfair. But I wonder what drives those players to play? A truckload of cash, I'm sure. But how bout the guys a perverbial generation or two before the cash got too crazy. Some of those guys wanted to play to play, and to be stars (I think a lot of people want to be stars, maybe even everyone) and in America, stars of any kind are subjected to a kind of worship.

There's also nothing wrong with throwing the word hero around either. Especially if it makes someone feel good. For example most parents are heroic (sometimes by not strangling their kids, most times just by loving them).

In fact if a person tried hard enough you could find all kinds of reasons to label someone a hero. The same could be said for the word villian too. It's just different levels of the words we use.
Sure, Aquaman and Spider-Man might be the most conventional heroes we have, but I'll tell you what, when my toliet busted the other day and I had to call a plummber to fix it before I could poop... well that man was a hero to me in that moment. And when my favorite athlete does something that makes me happy to be a fan, well he can be a hero too.

Back to you...

 

[Crimson Warrior]

You know, I've always asked myself the question of how professional football players could be heroes to me when I was growing up.

Thats an easy one. Guys like quan, ronnie mac DJ, Big, Ray Thompson, etc., wear cardinal uniforms. They fight like heck every Sunday to bring glory to the team that we hold near and dear to our hearts.

When Quan hauls in another TD pass, or when Thompson smashes an opposing QB, they endear themselves to us because we want so desperately for the Cardinals to win.

They're our heros because they fight for our team.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

To me, finally getting to meet Willie Mays at spring training at Scottsdale stadium was a lifelong dream come true. He was indeed my guiding inspiration and role model when I was "younger". The event itself was nothing newsworthy, but still a dream come true for me.

Everyone I know, including my late Uncle who worked many spring training games and met many baseball greats, says Willie Mays was a jerk when they met him in person.

 

[KingLouieLouie]

Everyone I know, including my late Uncle who worked many spring training games and met many baseball greats, says Willie Mays was a jerk when they met him in person.

I must concur with you from my personal experience....I met him at a baseball card show when I was around 10 and he seemed rather distant (aloof).....Just kept to himself and didnt acknowledge anyone whatsoever... I met many other "greats" who seemed to possess better interpersonal skills than he did, however, it was just one brief encounter and I should judge him by....

Going though back on the original topic..... This might be too cliched, however, your parents should be your hero(es) first...Perhaps proceeded by your grandparents or whoever raised you....Following that....should be your teacher/professor and then later on your "mentor" or one who you're an apprentice of in whatever capacity....

I just always feel Charles Barkley was correct when he said that athletes shouldnt be your "idol"/"hero" since most somehow encounter some form of controversy throughout or after their careers.....

Also, why athletes arent revered as they once were was because they no longer play for the same franchise for 7+ years like they once did...One begins to identify with an individual player, to have him/her immediately sign for another team because the obvious point many have driven home on this topic is that they're only concerned about image, money, or some just are in it to "obey their thirst".....

So, it's best to maintain an esteemed level towards the "constants" in your life rather than people who just vanish for their own personal "fulfillment".....

 

[dopleganger]

...or George W Bush and his "administration" will enact new laws and find other ways to save us all from ourselves.

Hunh? Yea, OK, your a genious.

 

[dopleganger]

Heroes are the people fighting injustice around the world. The global corporate machine that is causing preventable suffering and destroying humans and our environment all in the name of the false and evil god they worship: MONEY.

As for football players: just win that is all I want.

I assume you mean your heroes are fighting the "global corporate machine" not that they are the "global corporate machine" or do you???

 

[dopleganger]

Pat Tillman.

Yes!

 

[dopleganger]

I know I'm going to get this locked or moved, but just who exactly is the "evil" corporate machine causing preventable suffering to?

The thousands of workers who FLOCK to Nike and stand in line for jobs that are helping them to raise their familys from poverty? The thousands of workers who would otherwise be unemployed and starving?

The Corporate Machine is what lifts nations like Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Europe and America from the abject poverty of the masses, not the minimum wage.

I responded to this post just so everybody would see it again.