I THINK it’s time Australians chilled out a bit when it comes to sport.Our adoration of elite athletes so quickly makes way for condemnation and I just can’t understand why on earth we take it all so seriously. This week has been a prime example of how overly invested we are in the performances of our professional sports people.Nick Kyrgios went for a bevie after pulling out of Wimbledon due to injury and we’re not coping. After paparazzi shots of him out and about in London surfaced the “bad role model” cries started, again.Sunrise sports reporter Mark Beretta and host Samantha Armytage both said it was a bad look. “If he can put one foot in front of the other, he should be on the court,” Beretta said. “If you can be out at a nightclub you can play Wimbledon.”I’m not sure about the logic of that though because if downing jagerbombs in a nightclub took the same level of effort as playing in a grand slam then by rights I should be one of the greatest female tennis stars the world has ever seen.But it’s not just Kyrgios’s night-life that has got our collective goat, Bernard Tomic admitting he was a bit bored during his straight-sets loss to German Mischa Zverev has enraged the patriots.“I don’t know why, but, you know, I felt a little bit bored out there. You know, to be completely honest with you,” Tomic said in his post-match interview.
He’s now been charged with unsportsmanlike conduct and his racket sponsor, Head, has dumped him. Fair enough, there’s consequences for most of us when we don’t perform at our jobs but the rest of us don’t have to put up with half the nation losing it on Facebook.“I have a serious question: do tennis players have a licence or similar to be eligible to play in tournaments? This guy is an embarrassment to tennis and Australia and was wondering if his could be taken away from him?” Rod wrote.“You’re supposed to be a role model for our kids,” Sarah said.“He’s a spoiled, rude little immature twit,” according to Julie.Tomic and Kyrgios are two guys who are good at a sport, not elected representatives of our country.Why do we think that just because someone can smack/catch/kick a ball that should automatically make them humble, hardworking, gracious and kind? All the things we want our kids growing up to be, I guess.
There’s no logical reason a professional sports person would be a better role model for your kid than any rando off the street.We actually don’t know all that much about the personal attributes of sports people so we kind of make it up.When they’re winning, they’re heroes, when they’re losing, they’re zeros.And if they’re losing and don’t seem very sorry about it — well you don’t get much worse.The truth is they don’t owe you anything.How they behave is a reflection on them, not a slap in the face to you and certainly not the reason your kid will or won’t succeed in their life.Instead of sitting on Facebook telling perfect strangers that they’re not good role model for our children perhaps we should be focusing on teaching them things that really matter. Like life is short, way too short, to get so upset about a game.