Many times in sports and life, the most significant downfalls come as a result of knee-jerk reactions that lack perspective.

Lack of perspective is why many of us will never become an NFL general manager or the manager of a Major League Baseball club.

The difference in perspectives often causes fans to disagree with management of their favorite sports franchise, whether questioning draft decisions, roster moves, or lineup changes.

No example of such a vast difference of perspectives has been more evident than when Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland asked Dez Bryant — since drafted by the Dallas Cowboys — if his mother was a prostitute.

While, on the surface, the question seems absurd and out of line — not to mention a question I would never ask myself — the context and perspective from which the question came shed more light on the situation.

According to Jim Trotter of Sports Illustrated, the question was a logical response to an exchange between Ireland and Bryant. When asked what his father did for a living while Bryant and his siblings were growing up, the following exchange allegedly ensued:

"My dad was a pimp."

"What did your mom do [for a living]?"

"She worked for my dad."

"Your mom was a prostitute?"

"No, she wasn't a prostitute."

When put into proper perspective, the question, although still brash and uncouth, doesn’t seem as absurd.

The same type of perspective should be taken into account when referencing records and achievements for athletes. The most recent big-name example would be Barry Bonds.

Bonds has been heavily criticized for alleged steroid use during his career. Many fans would like to see an asterisk put next to the career home run record Bonds obtained, all in the name of protecting the sanctity of the game of baseball.

Those same fans would likely hold their judgment with a simple step back to look at the larger picture.

For example, many fans would be slower to rush to brash conclusions if the body of work Hank Aaron — the former holder of the career home run record — was taken into account.

Not only did Aaron’s stats, such as his home run percentage, actually balloon as he got older, but Aaron was surrounded by athletes who used steroids, human growth hormone, and perhaps most likely forgotten, amphetamines.

Yes, many forget the era of amphetamines, also known as “greenies” because of the color of the pills. Their use was rampant throughout baseball starting in the 1960’s, many times by players simply trying to get through the rigors of a long season.

If a player was feeling tired or groggy during a stretch of six games in seven days, he could simply pop a pill, regain energy, and forget about aching muscles and joints.

Whether or not Aaron was juicing with any of these substances is a different story for a different day, but the fact remains that as fans, we have almost as much information about Aaron as we do Bonds.

If we take ourselves down to the level of scrutinizing one record, shouldn’t we scrutinize them all? What about pitchers that were juicing to get more strikeouts?

There are too many unknowns in the world of sports to play the what-if game: far too many to so quickly strip a man of an entire body of work, juiced or not.

I have become very interested in the 30 for 30 documentary series from ESPN. More specifically, I was very interested in the documentary featuring Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams. Having been somewhat critical of Williams in the past, I gained perspective on the life of Williams and suddenly found myself actually liking the guy by the time the special was over.

Seeing the real-life side of Williams helped me gain insight into what went into all of his decisions, while previously I had only seen the side that affected the outcome on the football field. Suddenly, instead of thinking he should be suspended from football for life, I found myself hoping that Williams is somehow able to put together a good finish to his football career and move on to do other great things with his life.

A small bit of perspective changed my view of one man completely. I saw Ricky Williams the person instead of Ricky Williams the football player.

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