QUESTION: Why Athletes and Not Actors, Singers, Etc

because our culture holds them up to a different standard. because it looks to them as heroes. we intrinsically expect more from michael jordan than paris hilton. we celebrate his selflessness when he passes. we celebrate his courage. we celebrate his will to win...his dedication. those aren't the same traits we're glorifying in actors and other celebrities.

 

Excellent analysis.

I think it is because athletes are more universally looked up to, at least early in life, than actors. This changes over time of course, but how many eight year olds want to be Kobe Bryant? Now how many eight year olds want to be Tom Cruise? I have no statistics to back up this claim, but I'd think the latter group is much, much, smaller.

Not saying it's right, just my guess as to why.

 

The only reason I can think of is that athletes are idolized more, at least more than actors. You go pretty much anywhere and there will be somebody wearing a jersey of some athlete, that's not the case for actors.

And anybody with any common sense knows not to hold rock stars up as an example to live by. A parent wouldn't really have a problem with their kid wanting to grow up to be an athlete, but probably wouldn't be too happy if there kid wanted to be Scott Weiland. And to a certain extent it's expected for rock stars to do dumb things and get arrested, it can actually help their image.

 

Maximilian is correct. Athletes are people we look up to and want to be like due to their very visceral athletic prowess. Actors (sometimes) pretend to be someone we want to be like, but as for the actors themselves, how many kids idolize Brad Pitt or George Clooney? Very few.

 

an athlete's performance "affects" our lives more than an actor's. we invest our emotions into athlete's results. they represent our city. they fill us with pride, or at least we hope that do.

when an actor makes a **** movie, who cares?

 

Athletes do while Actors pretend.

 

Totally... Athletes could easily act, just like at Shaq.

 

look at* or like Shaq*... wasnt sure which one I was going with there.

 

I think also there are a lot of people have this idea that.. oh it's not that hard to be a pro athlete.

So many people played high school and college sports that they don't think it is that hard to become a pro and they could play pro sports as well..

 

I'd say thats true.

No one looks up to the people in showbiz.. people might fawn over them, but they don't emulate them.. except for women and their fashion sense..

 

For once, I completely agree with RR.

I have always thought it very odd that people don't care about Tom Cruise, etc. making $20million for acting, something which has much less physical risk then pro sports, but scream and moan when athletes make the same.

I also think there is a huge double standard when people complain about basketball players from high school getting huge contracts but not batting an eye at tennis or golf prodigies. It definitely seems to me like there is some subtle (or not so subtle) discrimination being shown there.

 

It's true that being a pro requires a lot of work and dedication, but more often than not, the athletes that are screwing up are the ones that are talented enough to not have to work as hard as the journeymen.

 

I know no one likes to talk about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if race played an issue for some people.

I always find it interesting that people were so up in arms about high school basketball players jumping straight to the NBA, yet no one bats an eye at 14 year-old tennis phenoms or 18 year-old golfers. Even in baseball where the number of African-American players that are dwindling, you never hear anyone complaining about the huge number of players who jump straight from high school to the professional level.

I think a bigger reason is that many times, an athlete is paid for what he's done and a lot of times they do not live up to their contracts. We don't like to pay $20 to go watch a baseball player underperform when he's making $12 million a year. Add on top of that beers, hot dogs, souveniers and many times you're looking at a $50-$75 night. Meanwhile, we'll go watch a Tom Cruise movie and be out $20 at most for a one-time event. Not to mention, it's not always the actor's fault if the movie they're in is terrible.

Basically, I think we have more emotionally invested in sports than movies or music. When it doesn't turn out how we like, we're more likely to b**** about that.

 

I don't know, I got pretty pissed off at the last Matrix movie. I wanted to break stuff.

 

Not just that, but the whole concept that, with the best athletes, you know or see a large part of who they are,and what they do, at least on the court/field.

With the best actors, you don't know who they are, in fact you forget who they are and they become their character.