It isn’t even that athletes are put on too high a pedestal. It’s that they are on a pedestal at all. And our weird bond with them, the same motivation that makes fans say “we” when talking about the team they follow, means that we circle the wagons around our heroes to keep them from becoming fallen heroes. We have something invested in keeping the superhuman from becoming mortal. That the charges are often found not to be truthful shouldn’t assuage your feelings, not if your gut reaction was to defend your hero against the allegations. You still should be ashamed.