Though some ‘heroes’ land on their feet

What do you do with a leftover sumo wrestler?

You know, those 350-pounds of blubber and strength who have been mainstays of the sports scene in Japan for a century or more.

More than 65 of them have been caught in a scandal involving illegal betting on baseball. They have been disgraced, and a large enough segment of the shocked public vented its anger against the sport to cause Japan’s national television network, NHK, to cancel its coverage of last month’s national tournament after beaming it to the nation annually for 57 years, and on radio for 82 years.

Mass hari-kari is out – for physical as well as moral reasons – but Japan’s minister of education has asked the tons of talent to "stake your life on this and make a fresh start."

The sport has been facing hard times recently, plagued by both a shortage of Japanese wrestlers – its top performers now are Mongolians – and transgressions by a number of them, including one champion who was involved in a drunken fight outside of a bar and left the sport in self-imposed exile.

The New York Times, reporting on all of this, noted that the sport had religious overtones in its early history, and its participants had been "held to stringent standards of behavior and ethics."

There is a mafia in Japan as here, and ties to it have been reported. The Times story said two sumo coaches were demoted in May for giving ringside seats to "members of a notorious crime syndicate."

The story brings to mind the continued decline and dishonoring of Tiger Woods. He was involved in immoral but not illegal behavior, and the public shame that ensued had a strange effect.

It initially drew indignation and criticism, but respect remained for his huge talent. Then, as his game deteriorated, that respect diminished, and last week, as he headed to the scorer’s office in the Bridgestone tournament in Ohio, where he finished in a tie for 78^th among 80 competitors, a fan yelled at the world’s number one golfer, "You should quit, Tiger, you’re washed up."

Try to realize how that insult, and others from fans who may share that view, could destroy the self esteem of a man whom the sports world, and particularly the golf world, revered.

Woods need not worry about material things as long as he lives – there will be no benefits held for him – but the damage done to family and fame may haunt him the rest of his life.

With time and rest, he may bounce back. Or he may not.

His skills still should be there, dulled right now by the blows to id and ego. But given the need and desire for heroes, a few winning tournaments would restore the gloss to the image.

Suffering with him is Lance Armstrong, the all-American boy. Like Woods, he dominated his chosen sport, winning the Tour de France an unprecedented seven times, hailed as the greatest bike racer of all time. He beat cancer, but he cannot shed the shame that plagues him, more overseas than here, over charges that he used drugs to fortify his body in perhaps the most grueling sport of all. One fan, noting the good Armstrong has done for cancer research, expressed the views of many, saying, "Who cares?"

That reaction certainly prevails in New York, where fans were not fazed and seemingly could not care less about A-Rod’s admissions of past indiscretions. They figure anyone who can hit 600 home runs can’t be a bad guy.

Super heroes still live and thrive, despite the fall from grace of Woods and Armstrong and the sumo boys. The self-proclaimed Chosen One, LeBron James, may not be welcome in Cleveland, where he earned more than $60 million in the last seven years with the Cavaliers and then thanked them by letting them know he was leaving in a hoked-up television show. He remains, of course, a larger than life figure, literally and figuratively, in Orlando, his native Akron, just miles from Cleveland, and points east and west.

In all of these cases, oversize egos both sustain and annoy. But as the country suffers one indignity after another, in athletics and politics and international respect, fans will be quick to forget and forgive. They apparently think doping is so prevalent that they aren’t going to let it stand in the way of hero worship.

Heroes are needed in these dark times. Even in Japan, where the sumos will return, not as strong as they once were, but still no one to mess around with.