I’ve participated in multiple sports. I’ve played in many games. I’ve been a spectator at thousands of sporting events. I’ve coached a number of different sports. I’ve read hundreds of sportsmanship articles. I’ve never been more puzzled and appalled than I am now.
I feel
compelled this evening to give my thoughts on the societal in-accurateness of
the purpose of sport and activity. To
the fans applauding negative “on court” behavior in our high school gyms, to
the pro sports teams exhibiting unsportsmanlike behaviors in front of millions
of viewers – I’ve reached my limit.
My life revolved
around sports. I slept with a basketball
and knocked off the popcorn finish on my ceiling just about every night. I shot baskets until my fingers bled in
negative degree temperatures. I could
name every major league baseball player on every team in the late 80’s and 90’s. I idolized pro-athletes such as Michael
Jordan, Ken Griffey Jr, Don Mattingly, and Joe Montana. I wanted to be like Mike.
Unfortunately,
my love for sport seems to be fading.
The cynical mindset that exists in many that “we must win at all costs,” “my
child is better than yours,” “if you
wrong me, you can bet I will wrong you back.” We can think of many others. “the refs cost us that game,” “if only the coach would have played you,”
“you just don’t have the right last name.” I have a million more in my head, but you
know them all already. This is not
healthy! If you are at an event and
these phrases are rolling through your mind – please leave.
The purpose
of sport is to grow our character, not diminish it. I don’t care who you are. You can be the student athlete, pro athlete,
parent, fan, etc.; people are watching you.
Yes, somebody is watching you.
Somebody admires you. Kids are
watching you. They will practice what
they see.
We need to
change the picture. Competition can
yield the best of us, and it can certainly yield the worst of us. I have first-hand knowledge of this from my
coaching days. I allowed it to bring out
the worst in me. We have got to allow
competition to grow our character. When
we are able to embrace losing, forgive the enemy, and brush the chip off our
shoulder we will then be back on the road to healthy sport.
I would like
to send a shout-out to those that sparked this blog post. To the pro athletes and teams who let
negative behavior cost them the game – you got it wrong. To the fans everywhere that demean refs and
applaud negative behavior at our nation’s high school sporting events – you continue
to get it wrong. To athletes and their
parents that are out there for personal glory – you are getting it wrong as
well.
To the
Minnesota Vikings coaches and players – you got it right. You failed forward and embraced one of your
own with love and support after a missed field goal. You may have lost the game of football, but
you won in the game of life. You showed
to millions of fans that in the mist of all the glory that surrounds athletes
and big games we are all still human.
Thank you for growing the character of millions of young athletes. Also, thank you to the many others that do
practice good sportsmanship on a daily basis.
My hope is that people will start seeing the positive over the negative
and become stewards of the cause.
Please let
this be a “check yourself” moment.
There is more to life than winning.
Having anxiety as a parent/athlete/spectator is not healthy. Two wrongs, never make a right. When you have one wrong and a right follows…the
right always trumps the wrong.
Let’s get things
right again.