I’m twenty-one, but I’ve still got heroes: my parents, Jim Koch – the founder of Sam Adams, and athletes from Maine who have made it to the pros.
I’ve always loved seeing people from Maine make an impact at the highest level. I’ve always held people like former Cy Young nominee Billy Swift of Scarborough and former gold-glover and Winterport native Mike Bordick in the highest regard.
I’ve spent hours tracking the progress of Mainers like Nik Caner-Medley and Tip Fairchild who are on their own grueling quest towards the top.
Because it’s people like these who give people like me hope.
It’s guys like Bordick and Swift who inspired me to play in my first Little League game and aspire towards the Major Leagues, even though I was from Maine.
Over the years my affection has grown to include people who have played college sports in Maine and gone on to athletic glory.
Mostly hockey players, this list also includes a few football players who have graced the fields in Orono: people like Lofa Tatupu of the Seattle Seahawks, Brandon McGowan of the Bears and, until just a few days ago, Stephen Cooper of the San Diego Chargers.
But since the former UMaine standout tested positive for a banned substance — ephedra, which he claimed he didn’t know was banned though it has been since 2001 — Cooper has lost my respect and made me take a second look at athletes just like him.
When Cooper was coming out of college he was by no means a lock to be in the NFL, let a alone be a starter.
But through apparent hard-work, determination and sheer will he worked his way onto an NFL roster and his player profile became permanently bookmarked on my computer so I could track his stats.
In 2006, when he inked a $15 million deal that would keep him in a Charger uniform until the 2011 season, it seemed like we’d be seeing him as an NFL starter for a long time: not bad for a kid from Wareham, Massachusetts and the University of Maine.
By no means do I want to run Cooper’s name through the mud. He’s still an inspiration to anyone who wants to play in the NFL, lead his team in tackles and make big-time money.
But he’s not my hero anymore.
He’s burned me twice and made me even more cynical than I was before. I think that justifies losing idol-status.
While he was at UMaine, Cooper got pulled over on I-95 and 1,000 steroid pills were discovered in his duffel bag. He later claimed he had never taken steroids, but was planning to in preparation for making a run at his lifelong goal of playing in the NFL.
Maybe I should have known right then and there that Cooper wasn’t the type of guy I should look up to. But I gave him the benefit of the doubt, like I hope someone would give me.
After his draft-stock plummeted and he was forced to sign as a free-agent, I jumped back on Cooper’s bandwagon and became one of his biggest fans.
But after his second offense in six years, I just think of Stephen Cooper as someone who cheated to get to the top, someone who manipulated the system to fatten his wallet, someone who let me and the people who invested their faith in him down.
In an era when the greatest athletes are turning out to be cheaters — Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Marion Jones to name just a few — it’s really too bad that even the humble heroes, the guys living the American Dream, the feel-good stories, are falling subject to the cynicism they have forced unto me.
It’s too bad when even the underdog can’t be my hero.