There is always a lot of talk about sporting stars and whether their abilities should earn them hero status.

I don’t know the answer to that.

What I do know is a lot of people look up to sporting teams and athletes with awe, pride and, maybe, a little jealousy.

Its shots of Willie Mason, Sonny Bill Williams, Darren Lockyer and whoever else you want to mention that put dreams in the heads of little boys and inspire them to pick up a ball and give it a go themselves.

It’s the emotion which comes with seeing your team hold up that elusive flag, trophy or cup which makes you paint stupid colours on your face and defend your team against all nay-sayers.

But sports stars are human. So they make mistakes.

And they get paid a lot of money. So we pay attention when they make mistakes.

And they are well-known. So when they make those mistakes, its public, ugly and revealed in all it’s glory.

But that’s not what this column is about.

What I want to know is, do these teams, these players, these people understand what they truly mean to us?

There are those of us who like to point their noses a little higher in the air when passing a pub where the match is on the big screen because they don’t care enough to make an ape of themselves in public.

Then there are those who love to pull out the soapbox over each and every little mistake Yes, I have been guilty of that from time to time.

And, yes, at the end of the day, it is just a game and shouldn’t be taken as a life and death situation.

But, sometimes, it is all we have in common.

I recently spoke to Jayden Watt’s lovely family.

You probably won’t recognise the name, but he was just your average good time boy with a heart of gold, taken too soon in a car crash.

He was on his way to a footy game when the accident happened. He had been over the moon at the thought of donning his boots and hitting the field with his mates.

Why? Because he loved the game.

It’s always hard going to a family during their time of grief – you are a stranger asking them to open up their lives and tell you about their lost loved ones.

Jayden’s family were lovely. Real down to earth people.

But it was while we were talking about the 23-year-old’s love of footy that we really connected.

He was a mad Bomber’s fan, thought the sun shone from Kevin Sheedy and would just stop short of kicking the television when they lost.

I mentioned I was a ’Pies supporter, which was met with laughs and jeers and started a general conversation about the game, the teams and how we were looking that season.

From then on, people were described by their teams, the mood was lightened.

Jayden became a person in front of me So let’s forget about all the debates about players, salary caps and all the other hoohah.

Maybe SBW and co need to go talk to their fans so they remember why they got into the game and what it really means.

It’s not the players. It’s the game and how it brings us together, no matter who you barrack for, that counts.

We love our sport because it’s a great leveller and something we can all relate to.

It took a dead man to remind me of that.

Let’s hope we all don’t need to have such a drastic reminder.