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November 27, 2005

Poor Sports

I rarely watch football, but this Thanksgiving I enjoyed watching the Texas vs Texas A&M football game with my family in Colorado.

It was an incredible game, which, although the Aggies lost 40-29, I thoroughly enjoyed while rooting for the Aggies. During the game I saw many instances of opposing players helping each other up after tackles. It was a well-played game, with good sportsmanship demonstrated throughout.

The Thanksgiving Day game in Texas was in sharp contrast on many levels with a game in Boulder, Colorado, the next day, November 25, 2005: the University of Colorado Buffs vs. the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The Buffs were favored to win, but the Cornhuskers triumphed 30 - 3. Unlike the Texas game, which was a very competitive, well-played, and exciting game, in the game played at Folsom Field the Cornhuskers looked like the only real college football team on the field.

In addition, starting in the 3rd quarter spectators in the CU student section started throwing objects on to the field, which resulted in game officials requiring that 2 sections be cleared before the game would continue. Although that was appalling enough, I was even more appalled when the CU coach made no effort to rebuke the CU fans throwing objects. But it also struck me as typical of CU, a school I don’t think much of.

(CU has a reputation as a party school, it has high-profile poseurs like Ward Churchill on its faculty, and a few years following the scandal of the sex-parties used to recruit CU football players. The school is a national embarrassment, and it could use a housecleaning on the academic and athletic sides.)

Unfortunately, such poor sportsmanship now seems to be the norm rather than the exception.

They don't shake hands anymore in the Northern Neck of Virginia.

Too many rude comments were made, too many people got spat on, too many fights broke out. So the principals of five schools in the Northern Neck District agreed to end the policy of having opposing high school athletic teams line up single file to shake hands after the game.

In theory, that was supposed to signal an end to competition and respect for worthy opponents. In practice, football, soccer and basketball teams kept turning into wrestling teams, grappling on grass fields and hardwood floors. Hence, the ban on handshakes, which went into effect at the beginning of the athletic season. That decision has been decried by parents, editorialists and others, but was freshly affirmed by the administrators earlier this month.

You might take it as a sign that These Kids Today have no concept of sportsmanship as we did, back in the day. I'd agree, except that my high school football team used to sprint for the buses whenever they won an away game, because they knew that if the fans and players of the losing team caught them, it would not be pretty. Makes it hard to mount the high horse.

Still, I'd be lying if I said I was not struck by the ban in Virginia. If the lack of sportsmanship is not a new wrinkle, perhaps you'll agree that this acquiescence to it is.

Granted, there's no way to quantify that observation. But can you imagine a principal, a coach, a parent or some other adult authority back in the aforementioned day backing down from an important principle simply because young people resisted it?

"Adults drop the ball when they fail to punish kids' misbehavior," by Leonard Pitts Jr., The (San Jose) Mercury News, November 21, 2005

See "Poor sporting behavior incidents reported to National Association of Sports Officials" up to 2003.

"U.S. coaches lead way in poor sportsmanship," by Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN, (and yet look how Larry Brown, who demonstrated such poor sportsmanship at the Olympics, is lionized by the NBA: "universally acclaimed as one of the greatest teachers the sport has ever known...." No, he's not. "Larry Brown? With a tirade in Sydney and a timeout in Athens, he created the very international incidents Iverson was supposed to deliver on a silver (medal) platter. Brown also distanced himself from the growing possibility of defeat by criticizing his fundamentally-flawed roster and the executives who assembled it." "Iverson's a winner for not making excuses for loss," by Ian O'Connor, USA Today, August 27, 2004.)

Posted at November 27, 2005 09:15 AM | Categories: Stupidity

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