Where have all the heroes gone?

These days it often seems as if there is no one to look up to in sports.

Think about it, who would you have your son emulate in the backyard?

You could buy him a pair of LeBron sneakers; have him shoot hoops in the driveway. Maybe he will also sell out and leave his hometown and those loyal to him for more money.

You could roll him some ground balls, put him in pinstripes and teach him A-Rod’s checklist for success: suit up, D up, swing up, ‘roid up.

Or maybe you take him out to the driving range and teach him an acceptable four-letter word: golf. However, do not confuse him and tell him it is still a gentleman’s game – Tiger made sure to do away with that.

But then he picks up a pigskin, turns it over in his hands and inquires as to the greatest quarterback in the league. Let not your heart be troubled – instead, tell him of Peyton Manning.

Tell him about 1998’s No. 1 pick, the four-time NFL MVP who made the Pro Bowl 12 times. Tell him who holds the top spot in Colts’ history for career wins as well as passing touchdowns, attempts, completions and yards.

Show him some newspaper clippings with headlines like The Denver Post’s “For Peyton Manning, an Intense Work Ethic, Selfless Acts Define Him as QB” or, my favorite, “Peyton Manning Honored for Community Service, Being Awesome.”

Buy him a Broncos jersey and show him the Manning name on the back. Then show him the Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent’s in Indianapolis that also bears his name.

Show him the sign held by a mother at the Colts’ Lucas Oil Stadium last year that read, “My Child’s Life Was Saved at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.”

Maybe you could try to explain to him the magnitude of $233 million – that is Forbes’ estimate of how much Manning raised the value of the Colts in his 14 years.

For Peyton, though, his model status is based just as much on what he lacks than what he displays.

He lacks drama. How many times have the headlines read that Peyton Manning was arrested on battery charges or Peyton Manning failed a drug test? I can tell you the exact number – zero.

He lacks the need for the spotlight. He is not the guy doing the absurd touchdown dance in the end zone; he is not the guy who vents his frustration in the media.

As a matter of fact, he does not spend time at all on himself with the media, as understood best by the man who covered Manning for 14 years at The Indianapolis Star, Bob Kravitz.

“Whatever you read about, he does 10, 20, 30 times more things that you never read about,” Kravitz said. “I can’t tell you the number of emails I’ve gotten from people who said that Peyton did this, that or the other thing for a child or for a sick person that never made the newspaper, that wasn’t part of the PeyBack Foundation, that was just a random act of kindness.”

So rest easy Dad, your son is safe with Peyton.

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