Several professional athletes have wrongly taught many young Americans by example that the only way to succeed in sports is to take steroids.

These days the temptation to use steroids in sports has become too great for many young athletes.

I had a great interest in sports. I had three older brothers who were great athletes. I was not.

We might not make what athletes in other sports make but we have greater longevity and we do have certain freedoms to do things they can't do. Like stay home one week and play the next week.

I would never encourage my children to be athletes - first because my children are not athletes and second because there are so many people pushing to get to the top in sports that 100 people are crushed for each one who breaks through. This is unfortunate.

A lot of athletes use sports psychologists.

Sports is a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and achieving against great odds. Athletes in times of difficulty can be important role models.

The families of many athletes - incensed at the sports leagues and hoping to make games safer overall - are increasingly making the brains of players who die prematurely and suspiciously available for study. Some athletes are even making the bequest themselves.

In the seventies we had to make it acceptable for people to accept girls and women as athletes. We had to make it okay for them to be active. Those were much scarier times for females in sports.

Americans' addiction to sports with the NFL at the top is based on the excitement generated by the potential for the unexpected great play which can only happen with honest competition from great athletes.