Two Heroes Fallen

Thus far, 2009 has not been a good year for sports. At least not for the heroes. Once again, we have experienced dissapointment from that area.
Recently, Olympian Michael Phelps was caught smoking marijuana at party. To follow up Phelps's miscue, word got out that Alex Rodriguez had failed the 2003 steriod test. Though both apologized later, each has left a stain on the sports world.
Phelps's case is bad for sports in general because Olympians have generally had a knack for being better role models than players in the MLB, NFL, and NBA. Now, their answer to Tom Brady has fallen from his pedestal. This isn't the first time that Phelps has screwed up either. Following the 2004 Athens Olympics, he was caught drinking underage. Fans may not find it easy to forgive him a second time.
A-Rod's story is bad mainly for baseball. It seems to be the finishing blow for a battle against steriods that baseball was losing for a long time. It started with McGwire and Sosa. Then along came Bonds, Palmeiro, and others. Things got really bad when the Mitchell Report stated that over 100 players failed the test. In all this, A-Rod was supposed to be the exception, the defender of the Clean Age. Now we know he is no better than the rest.
The lone bright spot in all this is that both players came out the right way. A-Rod knew that it was easier to confess and be forgiven (Thank you, Jason Giambi), then continually deny what everyone knows to be true (Hello, Barry Bonds). Phelps did the same. Hopefully they have learned from their mistakes.