who cares about a legacy?

The dictionary defines the word legacy as something handed down from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. In this sports world today the most important phrase seems to be "what about his legacy?".. Does Mark McGwire care about his legacy. Does Barry Bonds care about his? What about Brett Favre? Tiger Woods? Serena Williams? Kobe Bryant? The rant today focuses on the legacy of two of our huge stars that have serious situations that need to be discussed. They are Alex Roduguez and Andre Agassi.
I was, am a huge Andre Agassi fan. I remember going to see him play in a tournament back in 1987 in Vermont. He was there, Pete Sampras was there and John McEnroe was their too. I believe Micheal Chang was their and so was Ivan Lendl. Agassi had on this bright yellow outfit and all of the women there were going nuts over his long hair and matinee idol looks. I have watched thousands of his matches throughout his near 20 year career. I rooted for him when they called him "gagassi," when he did his image is everything commercials and all the media kept saying "no Andre, winning is everything". I got up bright and early and watched him survive 8 million aces from Goran Ivanesivic and win his first Wimbeldon. I watched when he and Babs and Brooke Shields fawned all over him when he won the US open. I was an Agassi guy. I love Pete Sampras but I would always support Agassi over him. When Andre opened that school in Las Vegas I was overwhelmed. He was the first athlete that i thought finally got it. Oprah opening schools in Africa made little sense to me when the schools in this country need help and there needs to be more schools in this country than malls or restaurants. The news I heard today about Andre and crystal meth is disturbing. I have no other way to describe how i feel about the news. Is his legacy destroyed? In my opinion, his legacy is tarnished some because he lied to the ATP. My only question is why tell everyone now? You are a leader in your community and the past is the past. I have never done drugs so I don't understand the mindset in taking them,but Andre is a leader of young children now. If you wanted forgiveness or help, you should have admitted this back in 1997. The world would have never turned their back on you despite all of the phases of what you were going through. He was every one's brother, big or small. He is still one of my faves but this day will be apart of the Agassi story forever..
Today also marks the beginning of the world series. The new york Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies'. Two very evenly matched teams who have stars up and down each lineup. The focus of this series will be on two players: Brad Lidge and Alex Rodriguez. The Phillies are the defending champs so basically none of their players have to anything to prove. Raul Ibanez is probably the only Phillie starter that has something to prove but he is not the player that A-rod is. This world series will either destroy Alex or finally make him a New York icon. What kills Alex is that most of the Phillie players are so young and most their stars have performed on the big stage a year ago so no matter what happens they are going to be okay. Ryan Howard is a post season star and if he continues to play the way he has through his first 5 years, he is going to the Hall of fame on the first ballot. With the steroid scandal hanging over Alex's head, he has to have a memorable world series to make everyone forget what has transpired this year. Even if the Yankees win, Alex needs to be a vital reason why. Whether it is a walk-off home run in multiple games or clutch hits when the Yankees need them. Sounds impossible right? That is the kind of scrutiny he is under. He may finish his career as baseball first 800 homer guy. (Saduhara Oh has 812 but they don't count here).. He needs a defining series that will make his legacy worth leaving behind.
The irony for Alex is Barry Bonds had a defining world Series and his legacy is still tarnished. It wasn't Bonds fault that the pitchers gave up a 5-0 lead in game 6 nor it wasn't Bonds' fault that in Game 7 the didn't pitch to him. He was awesome in the series. He hit a ball off of Troy Percival that is still traveling..
Do athletes care about their legacies, in private hell yes!!! In public they pretend they don't but we know the truth. Why do you think Roger Clemens is fighting so hard to clear his name.?