Kids who play sports almost always have a favorite player, someone they can look up to and try to emulate. Kids then invest time and money on everything from trading cards to autographed jerseys and equipment. Kids spend countless hours watching their superstars on TV or listening to the radio, hoping their favorite players will achieve great feats. And the kids often dream of performing those feats themselves.

Zeph Wiggins, a sophomore at Lawrence High, plays baseball for the Ice League team the Royals. But his favorite player doesn’t play for the Kansas City Royals. His sports hero, Alex Rodriguez, plays third base for the New York Yankees.

“I just like him because he’s good,” Wiggins said, of the perennial All-Star.

Wiggins watches Yankees’ games regularly on TV and said watching his favorite player succeed by making a diving catch or hitting a game-winning home run makes him want to work harder.

“It makes me feel good,” Wiggins said. “It makes me want to go out there and do it, too. He’s like a role model to me.”

But as successful as “A-Rod” has been in his playing career, he has had to endure some tough times as well. Playing in the Bronx is not easy for any player, no matter the skill level. And Rodriguez has struck out, made errors gotten off to slow starts and has been booed by fans. But seeing his favorite player fail at times on the baseball field, hasn’t changed Wiggins’ admiration toward him.

“It doesn’t affect me,” he said.

Kyle Grimes plays for the Ice League team the Cardinals. His favorite players growing up were Mike Sweeney and Rodriguez.

“Well, it’s nice to see Sweeney do good cause the Royals need someone,” Grimes said. “And A-Rod’s having an awesome season. It’s always cool to see guys go out there and perform their best.”

But when they don’t perform their best, especially in clutch situations, Grimes has a different take than Wiggins.

“It makes me think they don’t deserve the money they get,” Grimes said. “Everyone has bad seasons. It’s just how baseball is.”

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Chris Reusch, 13, and his brother Cameron, 11, are avid soccer players. While Cameron said he didn’t really have a favorite soccer player, Chris thought soccer star David Beckham was better than all the rest. He said one reason he looked up to Beckham was because the two have something in common.

“He plays my position,” Reusch said. “I think he’s a good forward. I love forwards. It makes me feel like I want to play like him.”

After years of playing soccer internationally, Beckham was signed by the Los Angeles Galaxy in January.

“I feel great about that,” Reusch said of getting the opportunity to watch his favorite player more often.

As for his own personal goals on the soccer field, Reusch said he hoped to someday achieve success similar to Beckham’s.

“I want to go as far as I can with it,” Reusch said.

Reusch’s grandfather, Dan Rebik, 50, said being able to watch Beckham on TV more often could only be beneficial to his grandsons.

“It’s important because whenever they watch him play, they can see his strategy and the trajectory of his career,” Rebik said. “It’s important for them to think they can do the same thing.”

Like his grandsons, Rebik had a sports hero growing up. His was Ty Cobb. Rebik said after reading Cobb’s book, “My Life in Baseball: The True Record,” he had a different view than most do about the controversial player.

“He talked about what it took to win,” Rebik said. “He had this reputation for being nasty and mean, but in the book he praised his teammates.”

Rebik said reading about Cobb’s determination to win, and how he thought playing sports was a unique mental process, were two things that he wouldn’t forget. But Rebik added that having sports heroes and favorite teams can be discouraging at times. He said his relatives in New York saw first-hand the painful affects, both financial and emotional, when the Brooklyn Dodgers left town and became the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958.

“They talked about it 10 years later,” Rebik said.

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Eleven-year-old Zach McNabb loves basketball. His favorite NBA team is the Cleveland Cavaliers. His favorite player: LeBron James.

“He’s a good leader for his team,” McNabb said.

McNabb owns a LeBron James jersey, and said he enjoyed watching him on TV, especially when James dominates the game, like he did in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals when he scored 48 points and led the Cavs to a thrilling 109-107 double-overtime win over the Detroit Pistons in May. James then led the Cavs to the NBA Finals.

“He just gets better and better,” McNabb said.

As for his own personal basketball goals, McNabb said he would like to someday play the same way James does, and he’d like to have a little better seat when he watches him play.

“I’d like to go to a game,” McNabb said. “I’ve never been to an NBA game.”

Like McNabb, Kyle McFarland, a quarterback and seventh-grader at West Junior High, enjoys watching his favorite player, Tennessee Titans’ quarterback Vince Young.

“I just like what he does,” McFarland said. “He’s good on the field.”

McFarland said he enjoyed watching Young play for the Titans, but it was Young’s performance in the 2005 Rose Bowl that fascinated him.

Facing the top-ranked University of Southern California Trojans, and his team trailing 38-26 with just over six minutes to play, Young led the Longhorns’ comeback. He drove them down the field twice and scored two rushing touchdowns, both of which were a result of Young’s ability to scramble and evade defenders. In the end, Texas emerged victorious with a dramatic 41-38 win. Young threw for 267 yards, rushed for 200 more and scored three rushing touchdowns to earn Rose Bowl MVP honors.

“Pretty cool,” McFarland said. “It was pretty amazing for a college player.”

McFarland said that as a quarterback, he sets goals for himself when he’s on the field of play.

“To have a good game and try not to throw interceptions,” he said.

And when the pocket collapses and McFarland is forced to scramble? Does he imitate the way Young runs?

“I try to,” McFarland said.

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Abby Gillam has played tennis for about one year. The seventh-grader at Southwest Junior High said that when it comes to tennis, her hero is two-time Grand Slam Champion Maria Sharapova. Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004 and the US Open in 2006, and Gillam said that one reason she looks up to her is Sharapova’s willpower.

“She’s really determined, and her strength, she’s very powerful and good for her age,” Abby said. “I think just how she plays, it’s really amazing. I picture myself hoping to play like that sometime.”

Abby played soccer and basketball until last year, but she decided to give up soccer so she can concentrate on becoming a complete tennis player, one with outstanding power and footwork like Sharapova.

“I try to perform my best at all times so when I’m older I can play like her,” Abby said.

And as for this coming tennis season, Abby has one clear goal in mind.

“Definitely in junior high to make varsity,” she said. “And hopefully be strong with that.”

Like Abby, her father, Jay Gillam, had a sports hero. His was golf legend Jack Nicklaus.

“It was everything about him,” Jay Gillam said. “He was powerful. He dominated.”

Jay was an avid golfer growing up and said that watching Nicklaus on TV was a thrill for him even when his favorite golfer wasn’t playing at his best level.

“He was never out of things because he’d seem to always be able to come back,” he recalled.

Jay said that kids having sports heroes today was a good thing. But there is one area he’d like to see parents do more of.

“I think it’s up to parents to pick who are good role models,” he said, noting the recent problems with athlete-steroid use, gambling and other issues. “There’s too many high-profile athletes who don’t want to be role models, but by the nature of the business they are.”

But despite the baggage that some sports heroes have, Jay said that kids having athletes whom they can look up to was really just part of growing up. And he said that even though some players today serve as better role models than others, the benefits of having a sports hero far outweigh the negatives of not having one.

“Fortunately, there’s still a number of players that understand that kids are watching them and emulating them,” he said.