The dream for many kids growing up is to be revered. To be looked at as a monumental hero of some kind. Football season is upon us, and I’m sitting here looking at football cards that I’ve collected since I was a kid. Some worth hundreds, but most of them worth pennies. Thats because most of the cards I possess are of men you and I never even heard of. The card may hold no value to card traders and people looking to cash in on a hobby, but to the men—and their families, you can’t put a price tag on that card. Time spent training, sweating, fighting through injuries for dreams of glory.

Many days we, as kids have spent more times then we can remember, imagining scoring the game winning touchdown in our backyards, or scoring the game winning basket at the park, or even hitting that walk off homer to win the world series. Some made that reality, but so many people in life didn’t. Some had to get regular jobs, and to this day—mostly through social media, seek the credit they desired since youth. We watch men crash into each other every Sunday for 5 months as entertainment, and vicariously revel in the glory the victor gets. Championed as modern day gladiators. Not realizing the work one has to put in to maybe, have civilians want to be next to them is but a mere afterthought. A snippet in a magazine article. Kids want to emulate them. While Billionaire owners find new ways to cash in on their fame…err market them. However, so many of these guys go unnoticed. Role players. Key factors, yet forgotten memories. Like so many everyday citizens who go to work, make a living, put food on the table, and don’t worry about accolades. Do you know the name of the offensive linemen on your favorite football team? What about the seventh man in rotation on your favorite basketball team? Who cares, their all a bunch of rich men right? Wrong. Not everyone in the NFL is a millionaire, same in every sport. Some are hoping for a spot on a team, just so they can make it out the struggle like you and I. Same reason firemen and police officers put their life on the line. No one grows up to be ordinary, yet so many of us settle. But, a paycheck is in order for the sake of survival.

What’s it like to be great? To make it to the pinnacle of your profession. To have strangers commend you on a job well done—for doing your job beyond a strangers expectations. Something can be said if you go unnoticed being a manager at a grocery store. You contribute to society, yet no one cares. That may bother some, but if it were me I would love that aspect. Maybe because I enjoy flying under the radar, despite that ironically I want people to read my articles or listen to our podcast. In 2016 the minds of many are warped, thought processes are skewed thanks to Hollywood and reality shows. Planting seeds in your subconscious that your life isn’t good enough. Know one knows your name. Yet a couple of generations ago, when the middle class was booming, countless men and women put kids through college; and we don’t know theirs. Nor do we know the names of those walking around the planet next to us everyday, doing what’s not celebrated but needed…