A definite “divide” exists when it comes to sports.

On one side, we have the antics of Antonio Brown, the NFL having to settle collusion cases involving Eric Reid and Colin Kaepernick, Anthony Davis demanding a trade from the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, multiple baseball free agents still looking for jobs because too many teams — including the Pirates — will not listen to what they have to say ...

And these are all things that have happened recently.

On the other side, we have Ethan Morton paying respect to and sharing a moment with Shawn Bellis after breaking the latter’s career scoring record at Butler High School, Butler’s junior varsity hockey team going out of its way to honor its five seniors for loyally staying with the program, the Butler Valley Dawgs youth hockey team voting to donate its funds to the Mighty Sled hockey team for the handicapped rather than keep it for themselves, the Mars varsity boys basketball team befriending an introverted youth and giving him a new outlook on life.

And these are all things that have happened recently.

You get the picture.

This is not to pretend there aren’t nice people involved in professional sports and there aren’t jerks to be found in amateur sports.

There are.

But at some point in the development of athletics, that divide still happens.

When the money takes over, the entire attitude seems to change for teams and players.

But why?

I seriously doubt that any pro athlete disliked playing his sport when he was in junior high or high school. Most pros cherish the memories of those days.

One would think that being paid tons of money — millions of dollars in some cases — to play the game they fell in love with as a kid would make these athletes feel like the luckiest people alive.

They should never tire of giving back to their hometowns, their alma maters, signing autographs or giving interviews to the media as a means of communicating with fans.

Some don’t.

Many do.

Morton would gladly hand back the Butler basketball scoring record in exchange for being part of the reason why a WPIAL championship banner is hanging in the Golden Tornado gym.

Mars graduate and basketball record holder Robby Carmody, now a freshman at Notre Dame, took the time to send a Fighting Irish shirt and tennis shoes back home to 10-year-old Ray Chase.

Seneca Valley and Slippery Rock University graduate Brandon Fusco — a longtime NFL offensive lineman — makes contributions to the SRU football program and paid for the team’s Thanksgiving dinner this past season.

At some point, these three guys will be tested by the “divide.”

My guess is they will stay as they are. Their roots will hold them there.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle