One example of the latter came in Melbourne, when this writer covered the 2005 World XI cricket series. A former flatmate-now-doctor was asked over a beer how his day had gone. He casually described a hospital scene where he had held the heart of a patient in his hand and pumped it to keep him alive. The achievements of such people should be celebrated more than Savea's rugby bravado. Yes, it's that doctor's job, just like playing rugby is Savea's job - but a life was saved in the process.
The public (and the media) has to bear some of the brunt for such a distortion in values. Rugby tends to become the be-all and end-all for many. Expectations are high. New Zealand sports fans need to realise their idols will never be a perfect image of themselves.
That is not to pick on Savea, who, until he was charged with common assault, had seldom been in the spotlight for anything other than his prodigious rugby talent and, of course, the odd bit of promotional work, like fronting an anti-domestic violence campaign. Ouch. That has unquestionably exacerbated his problem, not to mention he is the 11th top-level rugby player, according to the New Zealand Herald, to be charged with assault in seven years.
It highlights that representative rugby players, despite the privileges and support afforded them via their status, are just as fallible to irrational behaviour or temptation as any other sector of society.
Average Kiwis, who work solid 40-hour weeks, pay their taxes and mortgages and crave their sporting fix on the weekend will have difficulty relating to Savea's 'predicament'. Yet, in a way, many of them put him on his current pedestal because fans (and the media) demand their heroes have air-brushed reputations.
Consequently players are promoted as Supermen when society is full of kryptonite.
Players are often on the road with high disposable incomes and a lot of down time. Idleness can breed mischief. It is a hard cycle to break. One former Super Rugby player privately mentioned how hard it was in the early 2000s to study in a professional rugby environment because any sort of intellectual aspiration was frowned upon. Hopefully that attitude has changed. A nine-to-five job - where a qualification might be handy - is only a career-ending injury away.
Surely the pressure high-profile sportspeople face is minimal compared to what genuine heroes face in real life. Former Australian cricketer Keith Miller was once asked about the pressures of playing cricket. Miller flew fighter-bombers over Europe in World War II. He said: "Pressure, I'll tell you what pressure is. Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not."
We are a bit too quick to talk of heroes when we don't really mean heroes - we are really talking about people who achieve premature fame but who have the same feet of clay as the rest of us.
