My Kind of Famous

While driving to work this morning listening to the radio, the morning show hosts were asking the question, "If you could meet any celebrity...."  Actually I think their question was a little more X rated, but you get the drift.  It's funny though because I started thinking of who I'd want to meet and all those that came to mind were "famous" triathletes.  They may not even be "famous" by most standards...  

I have never been a "celebrity" follower.  I don't think if you showed me a picture of the most famous of famous celebrities that I could name more than 10% of them.  Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise maybe.  But that's about as far as it goes.  I certainly don't know the difference between Hillary Duff, Miley Cyrus, and Taylor Swift.   Do you?

I think the reason that I didn't care much for following celebrities was because most of them were arrogant, money grubbing, fame seekers.  Now, before you get all freaked out and email me hate messages telling me that you have full knowledge of celebrity XYZ and they aren't like that, please know that I realize that there are probably some wonderful examples of celebrities that aren't like that.  My problem is more that they get paid MILLIONS to act immature and spend $ on ridiculous things that any normal person wouldn't even consider spending their hard earned money on.  Why would I look up to them?

I realize that my idea of someone famous is really more of someone I feel has figured out what it means to be looked up to and acts accordingly to share their love of what they do.

Why am I talking about this today?  Well, I just read Swim Bike Mom's post about her meeting and Mc-ing the Andy Potts event at All3Sports.  Who is SBM?  Seriously, if you don't know and you are are female triathlete, you need to check her out.  Become a SBM Army member! 

Anyway, watching Andy Potts and how he handles being "famous" is so inspiring.  He truly believes it's his duty to give back to the sport and to share the passion with others- not to tell others why he is so much better than them.  

In Swim Bike Moms's Blog, she mentions something that Andy says.....  

 “In five years, no one will even know my name. I have absolutely no reason to not be nice to everyone. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but there is no disadvantage I see to being kind and taking time with people.”

WOW!  How impressive is that?  The truth is, his legacy will live on past that 5 years if he truly accepts that he may not be famous forever.  He will be remember as the athlete that didn't think he was better than everyone else, be on top forever, and was untouchable.   He will be remembered as the athlete who had so much passion for his sport that he was willing to share that passion with everyone at every level.  THAT is my kind of famous.  THAT is someone I want to look up to.  THAT is someone that I want to idolize.  

Forget movie actors throwing away millions like it's pocket change, forget the big TV sports stars who gloat in the glory, forget singers and bands who party so hard that they cancel shows.

My celebrity crushes comes in the form of little known athletes who work hard for little pay because they LOVE what they do and do it to inspire others.