who's your protag?

In a couple of submissions to Electric Spec recently, I think the authors missed the boat regarding their protagonist. The so-called protagonists are the buddy or sidekick of the person doing all the action. Said sidekick then describes what happens for the reader. The Great Gatsby notwithstanding, this generally doesn't work. It removes the reader from the action. One of the fabulous things about fiction is it enables the reader to become someone else. Why would we want to be the sidekick rather than the hero?

Please keep sending those stories in! Thanks!