The influence athletes have on our lives; Gary Carter's passing

Growing up almost every kid has a role model or someone they look up to. Hopefully that someone will be their dad or brother, but for most of us there is that athlete, coach or team that effects the decisions we make in our lives.

You can try and downplay this as much as you want, but the fact is our lives are directly influenced by the actions of athletes, whether they’re good or bad.

After the recent passing of Montreal Expos and New York Mets catcher Gary Carter, the example of how we’re influenced by athletes was never proven better. I listened to MLB Network on my way home from work and heard caller after caller talk about how much Carter influenced their lives. One guy even saying he had to pull over on the side of the road to console himself once he heard the news of Carter’s passing.

Luckily Carter is one of the great examples for how athletes can have a positive influence on our lives, because we all know good and well about the bad ones. I had a similar experience when I went to a Braves game where they “celebrated” Bobby Cox’s retirement. It wasn’t much of a celebration for me. The man who led my favorite team for over two decades and taught me what the game was all about and how to play it the right way was retiring and it was devastating. No one will ever replace him and the childhood memories he provided for me.

I think it’s great that we have these players and coaches that are set on a national stage and are able to mold future generations through their actions. It’s important that these athletes recognize this and know how much their actions mean to the children watching them on TV or in the stands.

In today’s society where bad news and criminals are praised in the mainstream media, we hardly hear the good stories about the positive influences athletes have on people’s lives. And unfortunately as fans we enjoy hearing about the latest arrest or fine that players’ receive instead of focusing on the ones that do good work through charities and other great organizations.

Just think about when you were little. You probably put your hat on backwards for batting practice because you saw Kin Griffey Jr. do it. You probably wiggled your bat a little faster once you saw Gary Sheffield do it. You probably wore a wristband because you saw Derek Jeter wearing. And I know you bought Nikes because Michael Jordan did.

We praise these athletes and look up to them like they were sent straight from Heaven. And I’m not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing, I just think it’s important that we make sure kids choose players that will have a positive influence on their lives.

These athletes are given an unbelievable stage where they are able to touch so many lives. People like me and you, no matter how great of people we might be, will never have that opportunity. That’s why I think it’s great to have people like Gary Carter and Tim Tebow to send a good message to kids of what it takes to be a good person in this world. No matter how popular they may become, keeping their positive influence is of the upmost importance to them.

It’s not always the best player or the most gifted athlete that have the most positive influence, but it would be nice to see the ones that do be recognized more on a national level. When I have a kid, if he doesn’t model himself after me, I hope he picks a great athlete, and I hope that athlete is great because of what he does off the field and not just because of how he performs on the field.

You can follow Jake on Twitter at: @j8a1k0e or on his MLB Braves blog at: http://bravesandmore.mlblogs.com