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"I always turn to the sports section first. The sports section records people's accomplishments; the front page, nothing but man's failures."

It was former Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren who spoke those words in 1968. Were he alive today, he couldn't speak them now. Whatever line used to separate sports from news, accomplishments from failures, has been crossed over enough to erase it. There is no line, not anymore.

The other day, I read through the listings on The Salt Lake Tribune's online sports page and only about seven of the 25 headlines had anything to do with scores or actual games. The other headlines referred to individuals or groups of individuals dealing with issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, racism, drug policies, substance abuse, sexual assault, and other sad matters, including a headline over my own column about NFL running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancée unconscious in a casino elevator, then dragging her limp body through the door. All as reports later surfaced that Adrian Peterson, the best running back on the planet, is being charged for whipping his 4-year-old son with a tree branch.

It's been a rough week for the NFL. It's been a rough week for anybody who loves sports. It's been a rough week for the innocents. Enjoying the games is considerably harder, and a lot sadder, when images of a woman lying face down and a boy bleeding at the hands of star athletes can't be blotted out from the big screen in your brain.

It's an exaggerated reflection of society, they say. Athletes are part of that greater whole, vexed by the same issues that trouble too many others. And that creates a conundrum for the thoughtful sports fan who wants something to cheer for, who wants to get fired up for the big game, but is no longer completely sure for whom to root.

While leagues try to figure out how to properly handle such heavy issues, how to balance their own approaches to untoward and unlawful behavior by their players with a justice system that sometimes works and sometimes finds itself woefully lacking, and how to do all that without losing large chunks of money from corporate sponsors, it's left to Joe and Jill Sixpack to navigate their own way through churning waters.

It's too complicated to simply walk away from the games and those who play them because of the actions of a relative few. The same sorry problems afflict people in real life. You can't quit life because of the flaws and troubles there, including your own.

On the other hand, you can't ignore them, either.

You fix what you can, and you move forward.

Knowledge is a burden, especially when it invades a fantasy, and there's more invasion now than there's ever been. We get more glimpses of athletes' lives today than at any previous time. Everybody has a cell phone, everybody has a camera, everybody has access to the Internet and social media. There is a video rolling from the corners of streets to the corners of elevator ceilings. There might be video rolling in the corners of bathroom stalls.

What's going on in the world of sports has always gone on. It's not as though society is suddenly crumbling, so sports is crumbling, too. Hopefully, that's the upside, that the same awareness that pains us now, that interrupts the fantasy, will help confront and heal the real struggles that used to rear up only in the dark.

There are lessons to learn.

Charles Barkley made famous the notion that he, as an athlete, was not a role model. He was wrong. He was and is a role model, but only because society mistakenly made and makes him that. In the process of enjoying sports, celebrating sports, we make demigods out of those who are just really good at putting a ball in a basket, or throwing a spiral, or hitting a home run. Just because they can do that doesn't mean they have life understood and that their example should be followed. In fact, I've talked with athletes who laugh at the adoration that comes their way — not from young kids, rather from grown men and women.

For whatever reason, sports, the celebrity of sports, has that affect on some people.

Most of those athletes know they shouldn't be treated with such awe. Most of them also know it cuts both ways. If they succeed on the court, on the field, on the diamond, on the pitch, the quasi-worship continues, if they screw up, on the field or off it, they know that could get ugly.

So what are the fans of sports supposed to do in this era of increased information? Here's an idea: Treat athletes, encourage kids to treat athletes, like regular human beings.

That's pretty much what they are. Appreciate the physical gifts that set them apart, but don't put them on pedestals, don't worship them, don't model your life after them, don't exult at their demise, don't expect more from them than you do anybody else. If they make mistakes, let justice ring. Let the leagues figure and dole out their own consequences.

But don't let the headlines get you down. Remember, the very definition of news, on the front page and in the sports section, is that which is extraordinary, that which is out of the ordinary. The day that the good things are out of the ordinary is the day we should all worry. Until then, shake your head at the troubles that vex society and sports, make a move to action if you feel so inclined, let your voice be heard, but remember, be it good or bad, be it an accomplishment or a failure, what you read is not the norm.

It is news.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM/1280 and 960 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.