{image1}As the Green Bay Packers and the team's legion of fans salute the late Reggie White today, it's an appropriate time to reflect on the life and career of a man who changed the fortunes of a once moribund franchise.

But at what point does the line between good athlete and good person drawn?

Reggie White was, on first glance, an amazing human being. He was incredibly skilled as a football player, and blessed with the talent to captivate an audience. His tragic and untimely death last year made more than just a few people realize how short and precious life really is.

In Wisconsin, he was considered the final piece in what eventually turned into a Super Bowl Championship puzzle; dominating the line of scrimmage as one of the greatest defensive linemen in the history of the game.

When God told Reggie to go to Green Bay during his highly-publicized free-agent tour after the 1992 season, it triggered a new era in which the tiny outpost in northeastern Wisconsin was looked at as an attractive option for talented players looking to win, as opposed to a punishment.

But, it's not his three sacks of New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe that many people remember today. Nor is it White's "miraculous" un-retirement three days after he seemed to hang up the pads.

Its White's comments to the Wisconsin State Legislature, in which he used a number of racial generalizations to describe families that people remember. It's the thousands of dollars that the people of Wisconsin raised for White after his Tennessee church burned to the ground ... a church that was never rebuilt.

Nor was there outcry over White's decision to return to football with the Carolina Panthers after again retiring from the Packers.

Where were the political correctness police when White told state lawmakers that Asians can turn a watch into a computer, or that black people were given the ability to celebrate? How quickly have we seen people in sports get punished for using racial slurs, or making insensitive comments? How were White's actions any different? Why was he given a free pass around these parts?

State newspapers, television stations and talk radio -- so devoted to their year-round, cult-like Packers coverage -- have given little consideration of these issues, choosing rather to glorify a man for his ability to single handedly take over a football game.

In this state, where a majority of fans see the world through green and gold filters, a man's athletic greatness all too often overshadows his off-the-field faults.

When the Packers retire White's No. 92 at halftime of their game with the Cleveland Browns today, it's important to remember that the honor is an athletic one, and not a personal one.

White deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, as well as every other honor the team and league can bestow on him. In Philadelphia, he is still considered one of the greatest Eagles ever, and there can be no doubt that, aside from Brett Favre, he was one of the greatest Packers of all time.

But not for a second should his greatness on the field be mistaken for him being a great person off of it.