The fact is that there is no defense for what any of those athletes chose to do, and their bad choices may define them much more than many people want to admit. A lot of us want to make heroes, role models, out of professional athletes. We count on them to say or do something important because of their high salaries and high profiles. We desperately want them around. But the reality is that many fans are actually much better people than their favorite athlete.
Many athletes are criminals.
Yet they receive respect and adulation they don't deserve. They get spoiled. They act like morons and get away with it. They are martyrs when they die and victims when they don't. Phills' death is a tragedy, indeed.