SPORTS Athletes are not sending good messages to youth

Children want to emulate athletes, but some athletes don't deserve emulation.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
America is in the superstar business, celebrating the home runs and touchdowns, 3-pointers and slap shots they produce every day. Nobody watches those heroes more intently than the next generation of kids aspiring to follow them.
Too often the message they get is a bad one, according to David Rosenker, executive vice president of treatment services at the Caron Foundation, an addiction treatment facility in Wernersville, Pa..
"Kids want to emulate athletes, without a doubt," Rosenker said. "They want to be like their heroes. When drugs come along, that's frequently an accepted part of the culture. Addiction isn't discriminating. It doesn't matter who you are. It can impact anybody at any time."
Youngsters are particularly vulnerable, Rosenker said. And the result can be just as serious for an anonymous high school kid as it is for a high-profile professional.
"For high school athletes, the whole culture of cars and drinking is part of the coming-of-age process," he said.
And if some big-shot pro is doing more adventurous activities, all the more reason to follow along.
Messages
"The messages kids get is it's OK, especially if the athlete is doing well," Rosenker said. "It's 'Look how well I'm doing. It will not hurt you.' They see them get off with no consequences, and it becomes a green light."
Not that leagues don't try to control abuse.
Testing is widespread. Dale Carter of the NFL New Orleans Saints sat out the season's first eight games. The NBA sat down Soumaila Samake of the Los Angeles Lakers for steroids. Theo Fleury of the Chicago Blackhawks was suspended for seven weeks for violating the league's substance abuse aftercare program. Even baseball has a limited drug policy as part of its new collective bargaining agreement.
But there are mixed messages. Samake claimed he tested positive because he had taken a dietary supplement that he did not know contained Nandrolone, a substance banned by the NBA. The same thing happened to Carolina Panther teammates Julius Peppers and Brentson Buckner.
Supplements blur the line. Other substances are less complicated.
Marijuana
Arizona tight end Justin Levasseur was pulled over for speeding in a car that contained 87 pounds of marijuana. That's about half the amount ex-Dallas Cowboy All-Pro Nate Newton was toting around when police caught up with him.
If addiction takes over, if somebody like Darryl Strawberry or Dexter Manley winds up in some rehab facility, his career up in flames, his life perhaps in danger, denial kicks in.
"Some kids see that and say, 'He's the exception. I can control it better,"' Rosenker said. "The kid who's at risk is the one who is using and says, 'That's not going to happen to me.' "
Too often, it does.
Recovery is no simple matter.
"Addiction is cunning," Rosenker said. "It never goes away. There is always a tendency to relapse. All it takes is one drink or one fix."
Strawberry and Manley can testify to that.