history

In case you’ve missed it, it seems southerners, in particular, have gone bronze bonkers of late. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, they’ve unveiled a statue of Nick Saban, after just 43 wins there. In Gainesville, Florida they’ve unveiled a statue of their 23-year-old hero Tim Tebow and in Auburn there’s one now planned for 21-year-old Cam Newton – even though he played all of one controversial and highly suspect season at their school.

It used to be you had to serve a lifetime and die for your country or some noble cause to be immortalized. Now, it seems, all you have to do is generate some cheers and win a few football games for those who live and breathe for such things. If nothing else, you’d think they’d wait at least awhile to see how events play out because recent sports history has taught us that yesterday’s hero might quickly become tomorrow’s outcast.

You’ll recall that it wasn’t that long ago that the trusting citizens of Cleveland might have considered a LeBron James statue, or those in the Bay Area were eager to immortalize Barry Bonds. How stupid would a Roger Clemens monument look outside Fenway Park look right about now? And how many Tiger Woods likenesses will ever see the light of day, even though they once seemed certain to dot golf’s varied landscape?

Look, everyone’s got the right to honor who they wish and how they want. But as with everything else in these days of instant gratification, perspective and timing should count for something, shouldn’t it? I mean if someone’s truly deserving of a lasting monument, what’s the rush?