A True Role Model

Any player who has ever been traded or has requested a trade should try to model themselves after Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay

           We all love following professional sports. Players become our role models and fans try to emulate everything about their favourite athletes. As great as this is, time after time, professionals take advantage of their rights.

            Trades and free agency will always be apart of sports. Players seem to forget that their current team signed them to a multi-million dollar contract and invested much more into them. I understand that athletes want to play for a certain team, but the way they come about doing this has at times been disrespectful.

            Think back to The Decision. For those of you that didn’t watch this absolutely preposterous segment last summer, Lebron James decided that he wanted to broadcast his decision on where he was going to sign all over the world.  Instead of just signing with the club when the date came, he showed the world that his ego is stupidly big. On a side, he also took his talents towards another playoff failure.

            There’ve been so many other scenarios in regards to players leaving their teams on terrible terms. However, one situation that is the complete opposite and is relevant to this time is Roy Halladay.

            The Blue Jays showed a lot of class when they decided they were going to trade Roy Halladay. Toronto wanted to give ‘Doc’ an opportunity to win after giving the club 11 years of quality service. They traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies, one of the powerhouses of the National League on December 15, 2009. Instead of bad-mouthing Toronto, Halladay and his wife Brandy purchased an ad in a Toronto newspaper and thanked the fans for their support. Just recently Halladay made his official return to Toronto. He received a standing ovation from fans when he first walked onto the pitcher’s mound. I was in attendance at the game and it was simply incredible to hear this cheer.

            Professional athletes will always have the right to request a trade to a different team, but to Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Dany Heatley, Eric Lindros, Randy Moss and Terrell Owens: leave your respective city with class. All of these athletes can learn so much from Roy Halladay. As my former hockey coach and dear friend Louie used to say, "Don't only win with class, but lose with class too."