PUBLIC HERO  

Every once in a while someone in the public eye offers hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people a leadership quality so great that we consider them one of our heroes.  I've had three (again, not including a family member or personal friend) that have inspired me.  Based on an accident that happened a few days ago which may possibly end the career of one of my public heroes, I'd like to tell you about him today.  His name is Mariano Rivera - from the New York Yankees.

As a huge Yankees fan, when Mariano tore his ACL the other day, my thoughts about him accelerated what this man epitomizes to me.  He, unlike the majority of sports stars today, always demonstrates the truest sportsmanship.  How many times have we seen an NFL star dancing around after his first down or touchdown or a MLB hitter drop the bat and admire the flight of their anticipated home run?  There are so many examples that I could mention, but you've all seen them and know exactly what I'm saying.

Mariano Rivera is considered by most baseball players, coaches, and fans as the greatest at what he has done for over 16 years - close and/or save games.  In fact, he has achieved the most closed games and the most saved games in MLB history.  Additionally, he has the most closes and saves while giving up the lowest earned runs in playoff and World Series history!  Yet, for each one of the aforementioned successes that he has accomplished, there has never been a display by him in which he's rubbed his success into the faces of his opponents.

So much has already been accomplished statistically by this man and yet he continually demonstrates true humbleness.  That's my favorite thing about him.  Of course I love the stats he carries, especially since all of those stats are also attributed towards my team's success.  But, again, it's the character of such a man that is his greatest achievement.

Furthering his character, after being carted out to the ambulance and after his hospital tests, this man insisted to return the next day to support his team for a few games so that he can help boost the bad morale he accused himself of causing.  So, while in physical pain and prior to more testing and his inevitable surgery, once again he has demonstrated putting others ahead of himself.  He has also reached out to his fans to let us know that he intends to be back after the recovery.  He said that with strict confidence, knowing that the odds of his return to success are against him.  Mariano will try his best to change our lingering tragic view of his career suddenly ending and, instead, work extremely hard behind the scenes to return and offer each of us more positive views of his great pitching and sportsmanship.

So in my "closing" of today's blog, I am very proud to say that my current public hero is not only one of the greatest baseball players of all time, but also one of the greatest demonstrated human beings of all time, Mariano Rivera.