The Ray Rice situation tarnished the NFL’s image even more than it already was and opened more Americans’ eyes to the serious issue of domestic abuse in this country. Only a few weeks later, the Adrian Peterson saga reared its ugly head and opened up a whole new can of worms in the debate over a parent’s right to discipline his or her child and the acceptable methods for doing so. This got me thinking about the image that some people have of their favorite athletes, the penchant people have for thinking of them as role models, and whether or not this inclination is always a wise decision.

Before his contract was terminated and he was suspended indefinitely, Ray Rice initially received a two-game suspension that essentially amounted to a wag of the finger and a “tsk-tsk” by the league. In Peterson’s case, he was only deactivated for the Vikings’ Sept. 14 game against the New England Patriots at first. He has since been deactivated indefinitely and placed on the NFL’s exempt list. In both of these cases, the same cliché phrases were given as justification for the light punishments handed out: “He’s really a good guy,” “He does so much for the community” and “Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.”

In most fans’ eyes, these phrases accurately reflected what they think and how they form their opinions of their favorite athletes. Ray Rice did make an impact in the Baltimore community through the Ray Rice Charitable Fund and events such as “A Ray of Hope: A Pro-Kindness, Anti-Bullying, Teen Suicide Prevention Outreach.” Adrian Peterson’s All Day Foundation (recently taken offline in the wake of Peterson’s legal issues) does great work helping at-risk children and focusing on girls’ empowerment. There is no doubt that both men gave back to the community and will most likely continue to do so, but charitable work, admirable as it may be, does not tell the whole story of someone’s character.

According to livestrong.org, Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation has done fabulous work to “unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.” Lance Armstrong was a cancer survivor himself. He showed that it is possible to come back from such an awful disease through determination, hard work and an unflinching drive to be the best. Sadly, that wasn’t the whole story. After years of vehemently denying claims that he was using performance-enhancing drugs and throwing countless people under the bus for coming after him, Armstrong made a lot of enemies in the cycling world and anti-doping community. Armstrong’s supporters stood by his side in the wake of mounting evidence. We now know that Lance Armstrong was essentially Bane (the Batman villain) on a bicycle – a superhuman being pumped full of substances that fueled his incredible strength. It was difficult for people to separate the Lance Armstrong who has done so much good from the Lance Armstrong who cheated and lied in his quest for a then-record seven-straight Tour de France titles.

How do we balance off-the-field issues with what an athlete accomplishes on the field? In this day and age of social media, we may think we know athletes because of increased exposure and availability, but the truth is that all we know about them is gathered from a distance – their on-field accomplishments and public appearances. No matter how many factoids and personal tidbits of information we have (Hey! Alex Rodriguez eats at Quiznos! What a normal and well-adjusted guy!), we can’t treat athletes as perfect role models. We simply don’t know enough about them.

Charles Barkley is a former NBA player who has consistently drawn criticism for his stance on upholding athletes as role models. Barkley has maintained his position that parents should be role models to their own children rather than look to an athlete to raise their kids. Does that mean that athletes should be free to run around acting irresponsibly because they don’t have to care about other people’s kids? Of course not. They still have a social responsibility to act like decent human beings and conduct themselves in a manner that paints their league, organization and teammates in a positive light.

I’m not saying you should race home and tear down your little brother’s Zach Parise poster because your brother is a big fan of his, and I’m not suggesting that Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Lance Armstrong are terrible human beings that need to go away forever. Let’s just not act surprised and personally offended when sports stars find themselves in hot water and disappoint us. Let’s instead resolve to become better role models ourselves.

Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.