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A hero at 8 ... or 38

As part of Page 2's Heroes and Villains Week, Tim Keown explains what Roberto Clemente so worthy of our respect.

Updated: April 22, 2003, 3:15 PM ET
By Tim Keown | Page 2 columnist

Puberty ends the hero thing. It's just a personal opinion, but a sports hero is something you have as a kid, before you know about free agency and restraining orders and illegal supplements. It's a basic form of idolatry, loving someone for being able to do something you know you'll never be able to do.

Because even then, even at 8 or 10 or 12, you know. Somewhere deep inside you, in the unannounced recesses of your sanity, you just know it's never going to happen like that for you.

But ...

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