mr. nyc?

I find it interesting that we herald sports figures as heroes when in fact the reason we honor them has nothing to do with true heroism.  Case in point, Derek Jeter of the NY Yankees recently became the 28^th player in baseball history to reach 3000 hits, with a homerun no less, on Saturday, July 9^th.  A tremendous accomplishment for sure, but does it earn him the title of Mr. NYC as one local paper printed this morning?  On the other hand, this type of stardom can lead to bigger and better things.  In 1996, Jeter founded The Turn 2 Foundation, a charity organization that helps children and teenagers avoid drug and alcohol addiction.  It also rewards those who demonstrate high academic achievement.  As a result of Jeter’s history making homerun, Gillette plans to donate $50K to this worthy cause.  To me, the foundation speaks more to heroism than does being an incredible athlete.  But perhaps you can’t have one without the other?  In the end, I still say that society’s priorities are a bit skiwampus.