Some of the world's most beloved sports are under duress these days. Soccer is in need of an acute overhaul. Baseball, basketball and North American football, for their part, need to clean up the negative image some of their stars are giving them.

It's easy to dismiss the antics of athletes as anomalies or isolated incidences. At what point does an anomaly become a norm?  

People can no longer grasp how millionaires can take their street mentality onto a basketball court or football field. The actions of celebrities in general are newsworthy because they sometimes act like a bunch of depraved and classless jackasses.

The complaints are somewhat hollow since we still pack the movie theatres and sports stadiums.

It still doesn’t detract that we have become a much more indifferent society in general. Everything we deem as civil and appropriate in society is optional now. We focus on the uniqueness of an individual as opposed to considering the collective health of our civility. The compass of morality has firmly been placed in the hands of our youths and this is a problem.

For example, NBA Commissioner David Stern is battling less a league problem but more a systematic social one. Somewhere along the line these kids and athletes are being told that it is alright to do what they are doing. Like anything else, you need to face the problem at the lowest levels. That starts in the family and in the schools. Yes, the perverse extreme of hip hop culture does not help but this affects both blacks and whites later on. He's on the right track in imposing some form of organizational standards on the NBA.

As such, professional organizations that represent the league are not to be given a pass. They need to set better standards for themselves. Terrell Owens and Allen Iverson may be great athletic specimens and are "great for the game" in terms of selling tickets and getting quotes, but they are failures in every other aspect of what we deem to be a decent person and athlete. This should and must reflect negatively on any team who take them on. Owners and managers need to ask themselves just who is benefiting from the antics of a Barry Bonds (or Joey Barton – let’s spread the love to Europe here) or his ilk.

 Somewhere, someone has to stop and think of the invisible repercussions. I have always been taught there's a consequence for every action. Are athletes getting this social mantra?

The irony of course is that multi-million dollar athletes want to be treated with respect. They want to be considered businessmen. By the actions of their own behaviour, they are nothing of the sort. They do not know how to give respect and they do not know the first thing about business. But, they were made to believe that they do.

While MLB, NBA, and the NFL have social issues that impact the image of their respective leagues, the NHL's problem is the opposite. Their athletes remain, for the most part, respectable. You hear very little about hockey players getting into trouble. What we do hear about hockey is the display of violence on the ice and that its popularity leaves it a fringe sport on the American sports landscape. In music and film, they say sex sells. In sports, I guess that bad boy images sell.

Values and the character of a person have always been a secondary consideration. It's human nature. I say this because it's always been this way. In Roman times, satirists like Juvenal often mocked women who worshipped Gladiators. How is it any different today? Many people worship false idols in some forms. The only difference is that we seem to be taking it to another level now since we can profit from it now.

In any event, someone needs to take these athletes aside and tell them their behaviour is not justified. It's just not cool.