Remember when it was okay, "To Be like Mike"?

Remember when Michael Jordan and some of the other athletes were talked about for what they did on the field?

Do you remember the days when most of us would run in from the backyard after making a diving catch to win the game and to tell our parents that we were going to be the next Jerry Rice?

I remember countless times when I hit the game winner from 20 feet with no time left on the clock in my driveway, thinking I was going to the great one.

We all did.

We all remember those days that certain players like Walter Payton, Magic Johnson, Joe Montana and Cal Ripken Jr. would receive police escorts from the ballpark, after leaving the crowd speechless.

We can remember the moves certain athletes made that left defenses gasping for air and the announcers saying, "That might be the greatest play I have ever seen."

These were the players our parents wanted us to follow.

Not only were they incredible athletes at their sport, but because they left their heart out on the field every time they played.

These guys were the good guys, who drank milk after each contest and went to bed on time.

These players signed autographs before and after the games.

They were ones bulletin boards were made for.

Well not anymore.

Those athletes are gone and can never be mentioned in the same breath as the athletes today.

Well, welcome to 2001 where "Being like Mike" could cost you 15 to 20 years in the penalty box¾ otherwise known to the rest of the world as maximum-security prison.

Today's athletes think they are bigger than the sport that they play.

These athletes have become a travesty to the game they play.

Since February 1, 16 athletes have been arrested for drunk driving, domestic violence, drug possession, disorderly conduct, and drug trafficking.

Then there is former Green Bay Packers tight end Mark Chmura, who was recently acquitted for sexual assault.

Although he was acquitted, he was quoted in the latest Sports Illustrated as saying, "If you can to jail for being stupid than I belong in jail."

Can you imagine what it is to be 9 or 10-years-old again and think that these "great athletes" that do so well on the court spend more time off it and in one where 12 people decide your fate?

I can see it now, 10, 15 years from now, having Junior walking around with the Detroit Tigers baseball cap on backwards.

He'll be dressed in a Latrell Sprewell jersey, with his long, baggy Michigan shorts somewhere down around his knees, listening to his favorite rap album that Allen Iverson created.

Oh the joy that would bring to me, listening to my son sing the lyrics of Iverson.

Telling me that he doesn't need an education, since he is going to be rich just like his heroes are.

The ones that have a criminal record twice as long as their playing record.

I can hear him say that he wants to be just like someone from this bunch of heroes.

Sorry son, I'd tell him, these athletes are far from being anyone's hero.

In fact, most of these guys are a bunch zeros.

Now granted Charles Barkley always said that he was an athlete and not a role model, and that may be true.

But how many 10 year olds grow up saying, "I want to be a rocket scientist?"

Message to the sporting world: You're an outright embarrassments to game you play.

The good guy image that once was in sports is now been filled with drugs, crime and greed and this has to change. Because it's no longer the example anyone wants to follow.