This column is timed to the start of school, so all you students and teachers, looking for living lessons, realize the most fundamental ones are told daily right here on the sports pages.
Take swimmer Ryan Lochte's story unraveling at the Rio Olympics. He went from a supposed robbery victim into an international clown defined by drunkenness, public urination, vandalism and sucking in teammates to his lie.
He was shamed everywhere. But every parent should say: Thank you, Ryan Lochte.
He became a classic, classroom role model in today's chaotic world for a basic lesson in life: Be honest. Tell the truth. The full, uncomfortable truth. It's always the best policy.
That's one lesson. And here, boys and girls, are 10 more simple lessons culled from these very pages.
1. Share. It's not hard. Each Dolphins training camp presents the oddest sight for a sport built on violence and athletic Darwinism: Veterans help rookies. The older players who know trade secrets help the kids out to take their jobs. Why? "Because that's what you do," tackle Branden Albert said. "That's just being a good guy out there."
2. Be nice. When New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin fell in the Olympics' 5,000-meter race, she tripped United States runner Abbey D'Agostino. D'Agostino helped Hamblin up. Then D'Agostino collapsed with a torn up knee. Hamblin stopped and helped D'Agostino across the finish line. They didn't know each other. They lost the race. But the way they were cheered said they won, too.
3. Follow your passion. Heat center Hassan Whiteside was cut from his high school team. He didn't give up and just signed a $98 million contract. Teammate Tyler Johnson wasn't drafted by any team. He just signed a $50 million contract. The Dolphins' best player over the past several years, Cameron Wake, was cut from his first NFL team. Dolphins great Jason Taylor was considered too skinny, and his great teammate Zach Thomas too small. Sports are a breeding ground of people who overcome obstacles and follow their dreams. Shouldn't all life be, too?
4. Say you're sorry _ and mean it _ when needed. There standard non-apology for athletes begins, "If I have offended anyone ... " That's weak sauce. Canadian announcer Elliotte Friedman showed how it's done after misidentifying U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps during a race and saying he'd lost. "I'm sorry everyone," he wrote on Twitter. "I blew it. No excuses." He was praised for doing so. More importantly, he did right.
5. Act respectful. Always. To everyone. Former Dolphins offensive line coach Jim Turner gave blow-up dolls to every lineman, except for one whom players joked was gay. He gave a male blow-up doll to him. Turner didn't learn even after losing his job. He made a series of double-entendre messages during a slide show to teach women football this summer at Texas A&M. He was suspended by the school.
6. Words are powerful. Common sense, right? U.S. Olympic goalie Hope Solo said in losing to Sweden, "We played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today. I strongly, firmly, believe that." That became her sorry legacy at the Olympics.
7. Dance like no one's watching, but use social media like everyone is. Because they are. People like nothing better than to hoot at someone else's misfortune. Ask Dolphins No. 1 draft pick Laremy Tunsil. He didn't put the photo of him wearing a gas mask smoking pot in the Internet. But he had that picture on his phone. He had to answer for it once it was released. He became branded by it in a way everyone is by what goes out via social media, for better and worse.
8. You can change how you're viewed. Dwyane Wade's career was fading to age and injury. "Change the narrative," Heat president Pat Riley told him. Wade lost some weight, worked into great shape and indeed changed how he was viewed last season at age 34.
9. Nothing lasts forever. Not good times (yes, kids, the Dolphins once were a winning franchise) or bad times (these years shall pass, Dolphins fans). Not youth. Not careers. Prepare accordingly.
10. Choose your friends wisely. Just ask Lochte's three teammates, who went through international and image hell because they followed him.
