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By Jim Caltagirone
For the Mirror
It's possible that a man who lived over 2,500 years ago is responsible for initiating our society's penchant for identifying heroes and villains in sports.
The man was named Pheidippides, and he is regarded as the inspiration for the marathon.
Pheidippides was a "day-long runner" in the Greek military who is credited with traversing a distance of nearly 25 miles from Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. to announce a Greek victory over the invading Persians.
The course for the marathon in the 1896 Athens Olympics replicated Pheidippides' legendary run.
Thus, history looks upon Pheidippides as one of the good guys who helped to repel an invasion force of bad guys.
In modern times, assigning labels to sports teams has become a temptation too great to resist.
Sometimes those labels appear on apparel like the "Catholics vs. Convicts" T-shirt that surfaced on the Notre Dame campus prior to a 1988 football game between the Fighting Irish and University of Miami.
At other times, a rivalry, stereotypes and mitigating factors, like a physical assault, distinguish the perceived hero from the villain. Such was the case with figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.
And sometimes, a biased view of a team's flair makes it impossible to resist attaching a tag.
A recent Los Angeles Times commentary that previewed a Sweet 16 matchup in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament was titled "UCLA-LSU is America's sweethearts vs. its basketball villains."
Even though the columnist issued a written apology and the online version was edited to delete "offensive" alliteration and metaphors, such as a reference to LSU players as "dirty debutantes," the original title of the column was retained.
Over the last half century, several teams have embraced the role of villain.
The pugnacious Oakland Raiders had a defensive back nicknamed "The Assassin" and the Stanley Cup Champion Philadelphia Flyers of the 1970s were dubbed the "Broad Street Bullies."
The Miami Hurricanes football team stoked controversy by traveling to the 1987 Fiesta Bowl wearing military fatigues.
In Detroit, the bruising physicality of the "Bad Boys" during their championship years in 1989 and 1990 transcended basketball.
"It was like we embodied what Detroit was all about," said former Pistons power forward Rick Mahorn. "Hard, working-class families."
Athletes from nations ruled by totalitarian regimes are often regarded as symbols and viewed with suspicion based on the guilt-by-association paradigm.
The Olympics have long provided a stage for dramas involving the good vs. evil script.
The concept of evil has maintained such a stranglehold on culture and public consciousness that, several years ago, Oxford University held a conference on evil's role in human experience.
The concept impacted so many disciplines that one of the organizers was moved to say, "It makes one wonder whether evil is a more interesting concept than good."
Like profanity, the word "evil" is loosed all too freely these days in connection with all manner of subjects.
Even the New York Yankees, who gave us the beloved Yogi Berra, have been referred to as "The Evil Empire."
That slight was uttered in a fit of disgust by Larry Lucchino, the then-president of the archrival Boston Red Sox, after the Yankees signed a free agent from Latin America who was also coveted by Boston.
When it comes to characterizing individual athletes and teams, maybe one of the rules that we learned in kindergarten should apply.
It's the one about not calling people names.
Jim Caltagirone writes a monthly column for the Mirror.