Athletes affect people either positively or negatively if the athlete wants to or not. People in today’s society have grown up idolizing athletes and have come to have expectations for them to be good upstanding citizens to almost a super hero status. Obviously, athletes are far from super heroes and make very human mistakes on and off the playing field. Athletes such as Tiger Woods, Michael Vick, and Barry Bonds have made major impacts in their perspective sports both positively and negatively. History shows that each athlete has overcome racial barriers, broken many records, and have capture the imagination of the youth of America. Tiger Woods rating as the number one athlete in sports since he entered pro golf has been a huge accomplishment and single handedly brought new interest of the youth of America to play golf. He also almost destroyed his career when he cheated on his wife with multiple women and let down his devoted fans. Michael Vick became the franchise quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons by using his amazing speed as a running quarterback. Practically changing the way the position is played in NFL today; Michael Vick also broke the racial barriers by dominating a position that is predominantly a white position. Michael Vick went to jail after his conviction for dog fighting. He lost the respect of most his fans and has branded the black culture with this stereotype of animalistic behavior. Barry Bonds broke the homerun record and has been rated