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I stopped worrying about sports "scandals" when I read "Ball Four" as a kid in the 70s. It doesn't matter what today's athletes do or don't do, it is the enjoyment of the game that that has value. Everyone forgets that Mickey Mantle was a drunken womanizer, Pete Rose did 'greenies" (why do you think he was called Charlie Hustle) and Doc Ellis pitched on acid. I also remember a wife swapping controversy, Karras and Horning gambling, etc., etc. No era is free or particularily blighted by scandals.
Young people do stupid and dangerous things. When they have access to lots of money they are able to act on more of these stupid impulses.
Nothing has really changed, people just are ignorant about the past. There are no more or worse scandals now, we just forget or compartmentalize the past.
Sports figures are not heros, they are entertainers. Just like one grows too old for the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, hero worship should also end with childhood.
