For lots of good reasons, I talk to people my age who worry there aren't enough role models for kids these days, and they wonder what that's going to mean.

I can’t help but think - did we really, like really really, have that many great role-models when we were kids, either?

A role-model models a role in some way that you think, “that’d be cool, for me to be that.”

I know I say this as a middle-aged white dude working in finance. I get all that.

But - hey now, I also get the significance, as its seared on my memory and has only been strengthened talking to people in the years since, of Brandi Chastain’s ‘99 World Cup celebration, and it exists in my heart and mind next to the ‘93 men’s defeat of England in that watch-through-your-fingers insanity.

These were people modeling roles and inspiring future generations to come.

The point here is - those people still exist and that stuff happens. In sport, out of sport, and everywhere in between. This is why you have to get kids out and into the world, or at least exploring it (beyond YouTube or where ever they’re spending too much time).

Beyond the iconic moments, the biggest impression on me was made by people who defied the role as everyone else defined it.

Maybe it’s because I missed living through ‘77? I’m not exactly sure. But I like an anti-hero so it would make sense why I love an anti-role-model.

The best, for my money, is still John Kruk.

It was a spring training session and Kruk came in… a bit overweight. The offseason was clearly taken off. He wasn’t hiding it either, and was apparently drinking beers and smoking cigarettes on premise.

A woman saw him. Probably a disappointed mom. I can’t fault her for this, but as the story goes, she says, “You should be ashamed of yourself. You’re an athlete!”

Ever the role-model, for me, Kruk told her, “I ain’t an athlete, lady. I’m a baseball player.”

What role is actually being modeled in that moment?

What expectation is baked into the way she frames, "You're an athlete"?

What internal, authentic version of practiced performance sneaks out when you refuse to stuff it back in?

Yeah, I worry about the kids.

If you're worried, too, then you've also signed up for a responsibility. That’s the sign - like really really - to live in a way that models what can be done, no matter how anybody else defines the role.

My only request is that you do it for good.

There’s some not so good versions out there, and I know that drives the reaction. Fellow decent people, we all see it. There’s more of us who see it than don’t see it, talk to your neighbors (not that one, you know which one, the other ones).

Despite Kruk’s critics and shortcomings, he was a pretty great baseball player.

And yes, this is partly me just excited he’s back in the booth calling games in the 2026-2027 season, but I also think this is a reminder worth thinking through.

All you can be is yourself. Don’t be evil.

Perform your role according to your standards and only worry what you sign yourself up for, not for how others frame you.