Presenting Brandon Marshall: NFL wide receiver, two-time Pro Bowler and University of Central Florida college graduate. And now: role model.
Less than a week after players and owners signed a deal to end the NFL lockout, Marshall announced and explained his mental health challenges with borderline personality disorder. You can hear the emotion in his voice. This 27-year old man just made a courageous move and is to be commended.
Charles Barkley once famously remarked, "I'm not a role model... Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids." Taken literally, this is obvious. But he also misses the point: an athlete's power - for good.
People have been attending sporting events and marveling at athletic feats for thousands of years. While there is certainly a pure entertainment value in it, what is most compelling in sports is the virtuosity with which athletics demonstrate the potential of the human body. (For team sports, of course, there is also the alignment of individual will and effort for a collective purpose). So when professional athletes use their platform and voice to bring attention to an important issue that the voiceless need the powerful to hear, they should be applauded. Applauded because it can represent represent courage, conviction and, even, compassion.
Now, Marshall's series of legal run ins, including allegations of domestic assault, cannot be excused or papered over. But watch the video. Voice full of emotion, no doubt striving to hold it all together, Brandon Marshall displayed courage, conviction and compassion. A reminder of the best in us. And if that isn't a role model, I don't know what is.
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