Athletes are role models whether they like it or not.  They are always in the public eye.  They should be held at a higher expectation then everyone else.  This shouldn't be a problem they are well paid, its just something that comes with the fame.  Athletes have a lot of influence over people mainly the youth.  That's one of the reasons why they are so marketable.  Kobe Bryant let a lot of people down when he went through his sex scandal.  As fans we can't be to mad at him, He's only human.  It was a lesson that he needed to learned.  He was only 26 years old when it happen.  The lady that he had the affair with was only 19 years old.  She worked at the hotel he was staying at.  everyone in the world know she was lying she just wanted to get paid.  She wouldn't testified in court so Kobe case was dismissed.  She ended up settle in a civil case out of court.  I can't say that I blame her, she work at a hotel.  Kobe should have known better. this scandal caused him to lose a lot of endowments.

The Micheal Vick dog incident was bad too.  I understand why he did it.  They fight dogs all the time in the hood.  He just didn't realized that he not in the hood anymore.  He is a national super star quarterback. In 2006 Vick a young black man was the higher paid QB in the NHL.  He had a contract for 10 years $130,000 dollars.  I honestly think Vick just got to a point where he felt like he was untouchable.  Vick was 27 years old at the time. Him and Kobe was around the same age when they got into trouble. Vick was accused of dog fighting about 54 pit bulls. Vick admitted to funding dogfighting and he admitted to killing 6 to 8 dogs cause of them underperforming. This case was his first offense and he got sentenced 12-18 months of jail time.  Both Kobe and Vick learned there lessons and is doing good in there sports today.