The world turns to sports for the summer. Between the Tour de France and the Olympics, we get a solid month’s worth of sporting events you can discuss with your cab driver, no matter what his first language is. But is it worth it this year? I don’t feel a great coming together over these events this time around. Maybe I’m lacking awkward silences to fill, but I haven’t felt the need to discuss either with heavily accented strangers.

I enjoyed the Tour and I’ve watched some of the Athens games, but there should be a sense that these games we play are bigger than our petty differences, shouldn’t there? Am I just missing it? The games feel smaller now, and I don’t feel compelled to defend our athletes from our country against attacks from fans from other countries, even if it’s all in good fun.

I feel like we’ve reached an end of the line on athletic endeavor for the time being. Individual athletic achievements seem far less heroic these days. It’s especially true for those sports that are more carnival or TV show than contest. Baseball, football, basketball and hockey (did I forget wrestling) are solid entertainment and a good reason for Bostonians to hate an interlocking NY, but with a new unbreakable record or unreachable milestone falling every year it’s harder to get up for the big programmed moments where we interrupt a game to bow to a player. It’s like stopping the circus to note that this is Clown Bob’s 10,000th pie to the face.

Back to the international competition: there’s a sense in America that sporting events are amateur contests when the US pro athletes aren’t playing. I suppose if there isn’t any obvious bling, it isn’t pro sports. Here’s my personal cut off: if the athlete has to bag groceries on the side, it’s amateur; if not, pro. And to me pro vs. amateur isn’t even the issue. It’s the extent to which these people dedicate their lives to a sport. Remember when that was as a virtuous prospect?

The problem I have with making heroes of elite athletes is the scale of dedication to their sport. Track and field athletes and cyclists reportedly make baseball and football players look like Christian Scientists. What made this very clear to me is Lance Armstrong’s defense against accusations of doping. He drew a line between “exploring a pharmacological grey area” (his words) and risking his health by performing acts such as blood doping. Anyone who survives cancer can be forgiven for thinking of his body as more chemistry lab than temple, but his unapologetic stance toward using drugs as part of the game plan shows where that sport is at.

I’m one of the people who admire Lance Armstrong, but I feel like you have to understand his sport before you call him a hero. He has battled using the tools of his game, within the rules and with complete focus on winning. He’s created an unmatched record for winning one of the worlds most demanding contests when the demands of winning might be at their all time peak. He’s one of the greatest athletes of all time. But would I want to do what he does? Would I want my daughter Hannah to be the first female to win the Tour?

When I was little in the ‘70s, I remember adults telling me not to eat the snow, even if it wasn’t yellow, because it was probably acidic and dangerous to my health. That’s what had changed in their lifetime. I feel the same way now about sports. Kids, don’t dream about playing that game professionally. It might be acidic.

I suppose the environmentalists cleaned up the atmosphere and made it safer to eat the non-yellow snow. There may be hope that the spoilsports (or is that the wrong name) and witch hunters harping on about performance enhancing drugs and doping will make it safe to pursue the life of an athlete sometime in the future. My guess is the fun will be taken out of sports for a while as the populace learns where all of this overachievement comes from. Then, at some point people will remember what made sports fun to watch or play in the first place – the game.

Until then, here’s my strategy for helping Hannah along when she’s watching SportsCenter with her dad, cheering the runners at the Boston Marathon or watching me play a game:

· Don’t make heroes out of people who risk their lives for money or glory.

· Let her know that my personal heroes are the good fathers I know.

· Help her admire the selflessness of team players and the personal bests of individual athletes at every level.

· Use sports to show how people can overcome obstacles to achieve a goal.

· Remind her that being a fan of a sport is more important than being a fan of a particular athlete or team.

· Demonstrate a healthy and sportsmanlike pursuit of victory.

· Keep a sense of humor when someone beats me at a game — especially if it’s her far more athletically talented mother.

· Don’t ruin sports for her by bringing all of this up when she decides whatever sports star of the day is the coolest thing on the planet, even if it’s a member of the Red Sox.

Last 5 posts by Greg Wind

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