Imrem: Sadly, it's too easy to believe anything these days

Please help me with this question.

When you heard that Peyton Manning was accused of using HGH four years ago, did you say, nah, the pristine P-Mann wouldn't do that?

Or did you say, yeah, so what else is new?

I'm not proud of this but put me in the latter category because over the past few decades the world of sports has changed … and changed me.

Generalizing about any group of people is wrong, and that's what instinctively indicting an athlete is: suspicion by association.

But sports have regressed from a young athlete being "Jack Armstrong, the all-American Boy" of the mid-20th century to "Lance Armstrong, the cheater" early in the 21st century?

At one time if you were told someone in his late 20s turned around his career, you'd think it was a great achievement.

Now you might wonder what the guy is taking.

At one time if you were told a quarterback completed a 99-yard Hail Mary, you'd think he was a freak of nature.

Now you might wonder what he injected into that golden arm of his.

At one time if you were told someone like Manning recovered from a severe neck injury, you'd credit medical science.

Over the weekend you might have wondered what role chemical science played.

The perception of athletes has plunged to the level of used-car salesmen, pro wrestlers and the media.

Sad to say, I didn't initially dismiss the report that Manning used HGH to help him back onto the field in 2011.

The Al Jazeera story soon was discredited by, of all people, the accuser … a guy named Sly, of all things.

But for that fleeting moment between Charles Sly's fabricating and recanting, I thought, "Sure, why not Peyton Manning?"

All-time great athletes O.J. Simpson, Pete Rose and Barry Bonds have been disgraced by one transgression or another.

Is there a college basketball or football coach who hasn't been suspected of indiscretions? Is there a referee or umpire whom fans don't suspect of manipulating outcomes against their teams?

So many great athletes - from Olympic stars to home run champions - cheated and lied.

So too have heads of sports governing bodies and commercial spokesmen we trusted to come into our living rooms to sell us everything from automobiles and soft drinks to sneakers and themselves.

Why, then, wouldn't I initially believe that Peyton Manning used HGH to help him make a comeback from a serious injury?

Don't be angry at me for suggesting this, but it wouldn't be shocking if even our local bastions of athletic excellence like Greg Maddux, Paul Konerko, the '85 Bears and the '90s Bulls eventually wrote books detailing how they got away with something.

Don't expect it, but don't be shocked by it either.

Wall Street traders, Madison Avenue advertising strategists and Washington politicians can't be trusted, so why should athletes be?

There's so much fame and fortune to be reaped from professional sports these days that the inclination to skirt rules and break laws seems only natural.

Sports will survive because a next generation of kids always will come along and look up to athletes that the next generation of journalists glamorize.

Then these kids and journalists will grow up to become cynics, skeptics and critics and make way for a new generation of believers and worshippers.

Now answer another question: How damaged is society by the benefit of doubt that has been squandered?

mimrem@dailyherald.com