Anytime you get away from writing regularly you are going to miss major stories.  A lot of happened since my last post.  Many interesting stories that involve positive uses of psychology, troublesome off field issues for athletes, and general situations that at the time can always benefit from some added analysis.  While I would like to put more time into writing my schedule currently doesn’t allow for it. What does interest me and the reason why I am writing again is the issue of morals in athletes. I hope to have a  few posts on different aspects of this.

Morality in sports is very difficult situation.  The easy answer is that the player is off the field is not related to the person who’s on the field.  While there is some truth to that when it comes to performance, the line is a lot more blurry in reference to being a fan of someone or believing they are a role model.  Most obvious example was last week’s Masters tournament where the more “family and wholesome” Phil Mickelson beat out the now “vilified” Tiger Woods.  From the surface the situation seemed like a perfect outcome for what many believe to be good triumphing over evil.  Clearly though, it is not that simple and is incorrect to make these assumptions.  While we know a good amount about the Mickelson and his family life, including the struggles that he’s dealing with his involving his wife and mother, we just don’t know really who he is and what he thinks about or does.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it’s important to understand that just because an athlete does multiple interviews and makes themselves accessible to the public it doesn’t mean we know who they are.  Not too long ago everybody thought they knew who Tiger Woods was but clearly people’s perceptions were wrong.

Photograph: Jeff Gross/Getty Images

I would encourage fans to look into why they cheer for individual athletes.  Is it about with athlete performs or is it more about who that athlete is?  I think in some sports and in some individual cases it might be either/or for different fans.  As youth athletes we often encourage the life skills that we can learn sports but then as we get a little bit older it becomes much more about performance.  This dynamic going from focusing on learning to competition but the definitive change in perspective of how we view sports and what they do for individuals.

I don’t think there is a right answer when considering whether to cheer for in athletes performance or for who they are as a person.  I just think it is important to reflect and look critically at why, as a fan, we are rooting for individual players or teams.