IN THIS ISSUE:

FRONT ROW

• Youth- and School-Based Sports: Should Money Go for Education or Drug Testing?
• Collegiate Sports: One-Eyed Ref Sues After Being Fired (no, really)
• Professional Sports:
  The Seven Greatest Steroid Excuses
  How High Will the Doping Threshold Go?
• Sportsmanship User's Guide: How to Speak to Your Kid’s Coach
• Michael Josephson Commentary: Teacher-Coaches Take Fewer Risks Than Win-At-Any-Cost Coaches
  

SIDELINES

• Jocks Behaving Badly:
  Talk About a Deer in the Headlights…
  Intentional Low Ball…
• Jocks Behaving Exceptionally:
  Losing With Grace…
• Trivia Test: In Which College Sports Is Hazing Most Common?
• Sportsmanship Forum
• You Make the Call: Should Little League World Series Players Get Paid?
• Principle of the Month: We Like This College Craze: Sportsmanship Campaigns
• Say What?
• Upcoming Seminars

FRONT ROW

YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS

Should Money Go for Education or Drug Testing?

Olympic, college and pro athletes are tested for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, but high school students are given a free pass despite research showing steroid use often begins there.
According to a 2003 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, as many as 1 million high school students have tried steroids – a threefold increase in just ten years.

"Equally distressing research shows that more than 40 percent of high school seniors claimed steroids are fairly easy to obtain," wrote Rick Wolff, chairman of the Center for Sports Parenting, in a Sports Illustrated advertising supplement. "They can get them over the Internet, through contacts at local health clubs and, for Southern California and Texas teens in particular, by simply driving over the border to Mexico."

But that may change. More than 50 school districts nationwide received U.S. Department of Education grants this year to give drug tests to students who participate in extracurricular activities, up from eight districts just three years ago. This fall, New Jersey is launching a statewide $90,000 steroid-testing policy, and Illinois may soon follow. Last month, the Zero Tolerance panel commissioned by Congress urged that steroid education begin as early as grade school.

Who’ll Pay for It?
The problem is not so much that schools don’t want to test student- athletes; they can’t afford it. Many high schools already randomly test for marijuana, PCP and cocaine because recreational drugs are more widespread and the tests are cheap ($15-$20).

One steroid test, however, can cost upwards of $175. Fort Zumwalt, a suburban school district of more than 18,000 students outside St. Louis, administers athlete drug testing with a steroid component. The annual cost: $20,000.

With state funding for education declining, many schools would rather their money go to education instead. "We’d love to have $175 to give to our classroom teachers, let alone for a steroid test," Todd Arnold, athletics director of Altamont High School in Illinois, told SI.com.

Others don’t see the payoff. "Random drug testing has not been proven to deter drug use," wrote Scott LaFee in The School Administrator. "In 2003, the National Institute on Drug Abuse funded the largest study ever conducted on the topic. Researchers compared 76,000 students in schools with and without drug testing and found no difference in illegal drug use between the two school environments."

It’s Worth the Cost
Principle 1.4 of the Gold Medal Standards for Youth Sports states that school policies should promote a healthy lifestyle and "discourage the use of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and other unhealthy substances." Mike Celizic of MSNBC.com, called for testing two years ago. "If you’re going to test for drugs that don’t enhance performance, you’re just playing to the bleachers: ‘Look, we’re testing the athletes for drugs.’ But you’re not testing them for the drugs that equate with cheating."

Another proponent, Bernard DuBray, superintendent of Fort Zumwalt, told The School Administrator that testing provides "another reason for students to say no. They can tell their friends they can’t risk it, that they could be tested at any time. You’d be surprised at how many kids just need that little something extra to resist peer pressure."

[Sports Illustrated, 7/15/02; www.si.com; www.msnbc.msn.com; The School Administrator, June 2006]

The Gold Medal Standards for Youth Sports are a common framework of requirements that all youth programs should meet. Read about them here.

COLLEGIATE SPORTS

One-Eyed Official Sues After Being Fired

"You’re blind, ref!"

"So, you got a problem with that?"

It was only a matter of time. James Filson was a Big Ten football official from 1992 to 2000. In May of 2000 he lost the sight of an eye in an accidental fall against a table and had it replaced with a prosthetic. Surprisingly, Dave Parry, the Big Ten’s supervisor of officials, encouraged him to try and return to the field.

After consulting with medical experts, Filson worked spring basketball and football games to see if he could still cut it. He could. True to his word, Parry allowed him to return to the field. Fison refereed for the next five years, including an Orange Bowl. His performance ratings during that period surpassed all of his previous ones.

Blindsided
Then a reporter told University of Michigan coach Lloyd Carr about it, who informed the conference. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney had no choice but to relieve Filson of his duties for failing "to fulfill the minimum physical requirements" of the position. In an article by Wayne Drehs of ESPN.com, Delaney was quoted as explaining to Filson that if he ever missed a critical call and the public or another coach found out he had only one eye, Delaney would have "hell to pay."

Makes sense. A person with one eye will have diminished perception, which could increase the risk of collisions and/or injury. Which raises all kinds of issues: When is someone’s impediment too much? What are the minimum physical requirements to be an official? Who determines that? Based on what?

Section 4 of the Gold Medal Standards for Amateur Basketball (which applies to all collegiate sports) would seem to side with
the Big Ten, emphasizing that "outstanding vision and strategic
positioning" are essential and that those in charge of assigning
officials "are responsible for assuring that those selected to
officiate games are qualified."

An Eye for an Eye
On the other hand, Marsha Wetzel, who is deaf, sued the Eastern College Athletic Conference in 2003 under the Americans with Disabilities Act for letting her go. She won. The league now provides her with sign-language interpreters and other aids.

According to one former soccer referee, a veteran official such as Filson might be better able to adjust to such a disability because his added knowledge and experience would allow him to compensate by positioning himself differently and focusing more on where he knows he needs to, which could explain Filson’s higher performance ratings since the accident.

Filson has since sued the Big Ten, claiming his termination violated the ADA. Tommy Hunt, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s coordinator of football officials, told ESPN.com that "if the guy is performing on the field, I’m not sure if the conference is going to have much of an argument, even if he has only one eye."

[www.cbs2chicago.com; http://sports-law.blogspot.com; www.freep.com; http://sports.espn.go.com]

The Gold Medal Standards are a common framework of requirements that all sports programs should meet. Click here to read about them and the summit that led to them.

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

The Seven Greatest Steroid Excuses

Most major sports have a Hall of Fame. But there is one competition that has yet to honor its heroes: doping. Because so many drug scandals have occurred over the years, why isn’t there a hallowed institution to commend the skill and creativity demonstrated by the all-time greatest cheaters? Where are their signed syringes, their framed flaxseed oils, their original testosterone creams?

Patrick Hruby, columnist for ESPN.com’s popular "Page 2," recently presented his first Steroid Excuse Quiz. We thought we would share with you our top picks from his hilarious selection.

1. When police found EPO and other performance enhancers in the home of Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke, he claimed the drugs were intended for:
a. His anemic dog.
b. His arthritic cat.
c. His diabetic goldfish.
d. His SARS-infected pet rock.

2. Tennis player Petr Korda blamed a positive nandrolone test at Wimbledon on:
a. Chewing gum manufactured from pesticide-protected trees.
b. Wearing cologne produced in a chemical plant.
c. Eating veal made from steroid-enhanced calves.
d. Drinking water bottled in the San Francisco’s Bay Area.

3. Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor blamed a number of positive cocaine results on:
a. The CIA and the Cuban Mafia.
b. The KGB and the Hong Kong Triads.
c. The Freemasons, the Teamsters, Opus Dei, the Rothschilds, Skull and Bones and the sinister Jewish cabal that runs Mel Gibson’s Hollywood.
d. The rain’cause the rain don’t mind and the rain don’t care!

4. American cyclist Tyler Hamilton blamed a flunked blood-doping test on:
a. An inexplicable third nipple.
b. A silent Scientology birth.
c. Webbed feet.
d. A mysterious unborn twin.

5. American sprinter Dennis Mitchell blamed his too-high testosterone levels on:
a. Drinking five bottles of beer and having sex with his wife four times the night before the test.
b. Drinking two bottles of tequila and visiting the Gold Club with Patrick Ewing the night before the test.
c. Attending a Minnesota Vikings nautical outing the night before the test.
d. Downing a shot of absinthe and reading Wilt Chamberlain’s autobiography the night before the test.

6. German distance runner Dieter Baumann claimed his elevated nandrolone levels were the result of:
a. Contaminated body lotion.
b. Spiked toothpaste.
c. Tainted hand soap.
d. Extra-strength Listerine.

7. After testing positive for strychnine, Dutch cyclist Adri van der Poel faulted:
a. Eating a pigeon pie made from juiced racing pigeons raised by his father-in-law.
b. Eating rabbit stew made from road kill found next to an unlocked gate at an animal-testing lab.
c. Eating cookies baked by his absent-minded grandfather, who mistakenly used strychnine instead of sugar.
d. Eating a convenience-store hot dog. Really, who knows what’s in those things?

Answers: 1a, 2c, 3a, 4d, 5a, 6b, 7a

For the rest of Hruby’s quiz, “My Dog Ate My Urine Sample,” click here.

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

How High Will the Doping Threshold Go?

"Athletes are always looking for ways to improve their performance," Dr. Russ VerSteeg wrote in the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Tech Law. "Rule makers cannot foresee all possible circumstances that may eventually occur."

Although he was referring to pole-vault technology, VerSteeg’s comments ironically also apply to the latest controversy about altitude training. Athletes today commonly train at high elevations because it produces the natural hormone erythropoietin (EPO), which increases red blood cells that shoot oxygen to the muscles. Result: more energy, power, speed, endurance and faster recovery. In effect, it is legal blood boosting. Injecting EPO, however, is illegal.

Here’s the dilemma: Many athletes are now opting to sleep in simulated altitude chambers rather than live or train at altitude. The concept is not new. East German teams used hypobaric chambers at the 1968 Olympics to compensate for Mexico City’s 7,400-foot altitude, Scandinavians have been using "nitrogen houses" for more than a decade and U.S. Speedskating recently built a 24-room altitude dormitory in Wisconsin.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), however, is investigating the devices, claiming they violate "the spirit of the sport" because they enhance performance through passive activity rather than active engagement. A decision is due this month, and the ramifications could be huge.

Airing on One Side or the Other
Although technology has improved athletic performance and safety in many sports, the use of implements and equipment has often been regulated, such as baseball-bat composition, tennis-racket strings and golf-club shaft lengths. In other instances, advancements have been disallowed entirely to preserve the integrity of the game (e.g., metal bats in the major leagues).

Proponents of altitude simulation argue that it is no different than setting a treadmill on high. "Should runners be required to run only on real hills?" posed one altitude-room manufacturer’s position paper. A reader on Fasterskier.com added this: "Like all other forms of training, altitude simulation exposes the athlete to a stress, and gains are made in adaptation to that stress. The gains aren’t ‘free,’ as they are with various forms of doping." Another weighed in with: "There is no ethical justification to ban the body’s natural response to external stimuli. That is the definition of training."

What’s Next?
If altitude chambers are banned, we wonder if these other commonly used passive-enhancement activities and equipment might be next:

• Saunas
• Jacuzzis
• Cooling vests
• Cold-water immersion
• Ice treatments
• Heat treatments
• Massage therapy
• Electrical stimulation
• Pain-relief sprays
• Weight vests
• Spandex apparel
• Aerodynamic cycling helmets
• Swimmer’s bodysuits
• Synthetic tracks
• Special running shoes
• Fiberglass poles

Many swimmers use hypoxic training (holding their breath longer than normal while doing laps). We’re open for suggestions on how officials would outlaw that. As one Internet poster wondered, how would you determine if an athlete has "failed" an altitude test? If somebody denies using such a device, would WADA issue a search warrant? "I can just picture it: 'You won your race. We must search your home! And the homes of all your friends! And your parents!'"

[www.shns.com; www.jsonline.com; http://altitudetraining.com;
Denver Post, 2/27/05; www.mailman.srv.ualberta.ca;
www.fasterskier.com; www.wired.com; http://law.vanderbilt.edu; The New York Times, 7/26/06]

SPORTSMANSHIP USER'S GUIDE

The Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit is an all-in-one resource to help athletic programs achieve sportsmanship and character-building goals. It comes in two versions - youth and high school - and covers everything from mission statements and codes of conduct to evaluation tools and ideas for rewarding players and coaches.

How to Speak to Your Kid’s Coach

Sports parents no longer believe the old saw that kids are happy as long as they’re on a winning team. Youngsters don’t care that much how their team is doing; they just want to play. Seeing one’s child on the bench, therefore, can cause some parents to go after the coach. Not on the court. In court.

The latest trend is "disappointment" lawsuits, in which parents sue coaches for not doling out equal playing time. One group of high school soccer parents in Omaha, Nebraska, literally documented each player’s time on the field with stopwatches, then filed a lawsuit against the coach. He resigned.

In Union City, California, sophomore high school basketball player Jawaan Rubin tried out for the varsity team, but school policy ruled that sophomores were limited to the junior varsity. Rubin’s father sued because he said his family had already rearranged their schedules for varsity team practices. The lawsuit was for $1.5 million, based on Jawaan’s projected earnings in the NBA.

Here is a parent’s guide from the Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit on how to deal the right way with coaches:

What you deserve to hear from the coach:
• The coach’s expectations of your child and other players
• The coach’s policy on who gets to play

What the coach deserves to hear from you:
• Advance notice of any schedule changes
• Concerns about your child or the coach’s philosophy
expressed at the proper time and place

What concerns you can discuss with the coach:
• How your child can improve
• Your child’s behavior

What concerns you cannot discuss with the coach:
• Team strategy
• Play calling
• Each athlete’s playing time

Mike Brusko of Oldschoolsportsparenting.com offers these questions to ponder the next time your kid is cut or benched:

• Does your child use his spare time to put in extra work to
get better than the players ahead of him?
• Has she demonstrated in practice she can help the team more
than the players in front of her?
• Is the team failing when your kid sits and is it winning when he
or she plays?

Unless you can answer "Yes" to all three, you have little basis for
a complaint. "I once had a parent call me after a football game I
had coached (we won the game 14-0) to tell me how much better our
defense would have been if his kid had started at linebacker
instead of running back," Brusko says on his website. "I asked him,
'How many fewer points would we have given up if he had started?'"

Read about or order the Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit here.

[www.internationalsport.com; San Francisco Chronicle Magazine,
10/19/03; www.oldschoolsportsparenting.com]

COMMENTARY BY
MICHAEL JOSEPHSON

The following is adapted from Michael Josephson's Gabriel Award-winning radio commentaries airing daily on our flagship station, KNX-AM 1070 in Southern California, on American Forces Network worldwide and on other stations throughout the U.S.

Teacher-Coaches Take Fewer Risks
Than Win-At-Any-Cost Coaches

At a past National Association of Basketball Coaches meeting I attended, several coaches expressed a commitment to live their lives according to ethical principles and to use their position to positively influence the values of their athletes. But the majority adopted a much looser code of conduct. They refused to think of their choices in terms of right and wrong or moral duties. Rather, they adopted the view that getting an edge, protecting their jobs and moving up the ladder were not only goals but justifications for rule-bending and promise-breaking.

The principle-centered coaches were no less passionate about performance and no less desirous of advancing their careers, but they did not see winning as the be-all and end-all of their jobs. They viewed their role more broadly and proudly, accepting former coach John Wooden’s perspective that a coach is, first and foremost, a teacher.

The sad fact is, there is risk in this approach. Despite institutional rhetoric about the importance of character development, many of these teacher-coaches will be ultimately judged not by their effectiveness at imparting values but by the number of wins they post. Some will lose their jobs.

Those who view high ethical principles as naive and inconvenient, however, take far greater risks. Some will lose their jobs because they crossed moral lines they never saw, but all will suffer an erosion of conscience that will demean their efforts and rob them of the true glory of doing their best while being their best.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

For an archive of Mr. Josephson's commentaries, with audio files, go to: www.charactercounts.org/knxtoc.htm

To receive free weekly e-mail, including all five of Mr. Josephson's commentaries from that week, please sign up at: www.charactercounts.org/newsletters.htm

CHARACTER COUNTS! Sports, a project of the nonprofit Josephson Institute of Ethics, leads the Pursuing Victory With Honor sports campaign, which is endorsed by the country's leading amateur athletic organizations. The campaign's purpose is to help administrators, athletes, coaches, legislators, officials and parents change personal and organizational decision making and behavior in sports.

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This newsletter reports on issues of ethics and character in sports to help you advance sportsmanship in your work in athletics. Please forward it to your friends. They can sign up to receive it regularly (see below).

Talk About a Deer in the Headlights…

Two Ohio high school football players share our Bonehead of the Month award, but the judge sentencing them should get a runner-up
trophy.

Dailyn Campbell, 16, and Jesse Howard, 17, of Kenton High School in Kenton, Ohio, stole a deer decoy, put it in the middle of a country road and watched drivers try to swerve around it. One vehicle crashed into a pole. The driver broke his neck and his passenger suffered brain damage.

The judge sentenced the youths to a 60-day sentence in a detention center and a 500-word essay, but because he said there are "positive things about participating in football," he delayed their punishment until after they completed the current football season.

[Associated Press, 8/16/06]

Intentional Low Ball…

It’s the PONY league title game in Bountiful, Utah, for nine- and ten-year-olds. The Yankees are up by one in the bottom of the ninth. The Red Sox are down to their last batter. There are two outs, a runner’s on third and their best hitter is up. On deck is Romney Oaks, their worst hitter, a brain-cancer survivor who has a shunt in his brain.

The Yankees coach and assistant coach signal the pitcher to intentionally walk the good hitter to get to Romney – the first free pass issued by any team in the league all season. Noticeably upset, the pitcher does as ordered. Sobbing almost before he gets to the plate, Romney strikes out. The Yanks win, the fans boo, the coaching staffs nearly come to blows.

Although Romney had been on the assistant coach’s basketball team earlier, the coach insisted after the game he did not know about his condition. "And even if I had," he said, "I’d have done the same thing. It’s just good baseball strategy."

[Rick Reilly, www.si.com; Bob Cook, www.msnbc.msn.com]


Want More?
For more examples of jocks behaving badly, check out these websites:

www.badjocks.com
www.donaldcollins.org
www.deadspin.com

If you come across any videos, photos or stories you’d like us to include in our next e-newsletter, or if you want to link your site
to ours, e-mail us at charactercountssports@jiethics.org and put
"Jocks Behaving Badly" in the subject box.

Losing With Grace…

High school softball pitcher Sara Murray will never forget the curve ball she witnessed from the opposing pitcher in the Class L tournament quarterfinal in New Hampshire in June.

Murray of Manchester Memorial had just shut out Pinkerton 2-0, outlasting her counterpart, pitching superstar, Alexis Souhlaris, the Granite State Gatorade Player of the Year who averaged 11 strikeouts a game and posted a 0.65 ERA.

After the game, Souhlaris took the victor aside, congratulated her and gave her some encouragement. But that wasn’t all. The next day, a friend of Murray’s who goes to Pinkerton called her saying Souhlaris had a two-page handwritten letter for her.

Souhlaris, who had struck out only seven times all season, wrote: "Your change-up pitch is sick. If you threw that to me on the two-strike count, you would have had another strikeout." She then offered Murray pitching tips for the semifinal game.

"What a classy act," Memorial coach David Hedge told the New Hampshire Union Leader. "The move on Alexis’ part really touched me,
putting my faith back in how high school sports encourages a healthy respect for the opposing players. Here’s a kid on top of her game taking the time to acknowledge a young player’s effort. She taught our kids how to handle yourself in a losing situation."

[New Hampshire Union Leader, 6/10/06]


Want More?
For more examples of jocks behaving exceptionally, check out these websites:

www.nisr.org
www.sportsmanship.org
www.internationalsport.com/csp
www.heartofachampion.org

If you come across any videos, photos or stories you’d like us to include in our next e-newsletter, or if you want to link your site to ours, e-mail us at charactercountssports@jiethics.org and put
“Jocks Behaving Exceptionally” in the subject box.

Among college athletes, hazing is most common in which three of these sports?

Baseball
Basketball
Diving
Football
Lacrosse
Rowing
Swimming
Tennis
Track and Field
Volleyball
Water Polo

See the answer below.

Should Little League World Series Players Get Paid?

• Yes. Their parents have shelled out enough to get them there. The organization’s official name was not changed to the "Little League World Series: World Championship presented by Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes" to honor the game.
  
• No. The youth-sports industrial complex is already out of control. Paying Little Leaguers could ramp up their egos and feelings of entitlement even more and heap additional pressure on insecure parents who can never do enough for their child.
  
• I’m not sure. Little Leaguers, like child actors, are in the entertainment business, but would Dakota Fanning do her scenes for just orange slices? On the other hand, giving kids salaries just for playing may be sending the wrong message.

Click here to vote

PRINCIPLE OF THE MONTH

Principle Five: We Like This College Craze: Sportsmanship Campaigns

Sue Willey, director of athletics at the University of Indianapolis, will never forget one student in her sports ethics class. She told the NCAA News that he said to her, "'You’re just missing it. Ethics in life are different from ethics in sports.'"

Sports character has deteriorated so much in recent years that many people believe it will take a nationwide effort to improve the environment. In 2003, Virginia Tech became one of the first major institutions to attempt to empower its fans to become caretakers of their college game-day experience and promote stellar conduct by creating the "Hokies Respect" campaign.

And then the Marcus Vick incident spiked that. On January 2, 2006, the younger brother of Michael Vick, the former VT quarterback and current Pro Bowl quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, led Virginia Tech to a Gator Bowl win over Louisville. In that game, he stomped on Cardinals All-American defensive end Elvis Dumervil (see video clip ).

Afterward, athletic director Jim Weaver released a statement saying, "The unsportsmanlike conduct of quarterback Marcus Vick...is unacceptable behavior and contrary to the Hokies Respect Campaign. This athletic administration will not condone such acts." Four days later, Vick was kicked off the team.

In an effort to rebuild Virginia Tech’s reputation, the school is re-emphasizing the campaign this year to promote the Hokies as "a tenacious opponent, a tough place to play and a first-class host."

We applaud their efforts. Principle Five of the Arizona Sports Summit Accord holds that "sports programs should establish standards
for participation by adopting codes of conduct for coaches, athletes, parents, spectators and other groups that impact the quality of athletic programs."

Other notable sportsmanship campaigns across the country include:

"Texas Fans Make Us Proud"
University of Texas

"Sportsmanship Counts!"
Northeast Conference

"Be Loud, Be Proud, Be Positive"
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

If you know of others, pass them on to us and we’ll list them in our next newsletter.

[NCAA News, 3/14/05; www.collegiatetimes.com; www.hokiesports.com; www.texasexes.org; www.northeastconference.org
www.miac online.org]

Nearly 50 influential leaders in sports issued the Arizona Sports Summit Accord in 1999 to encourage greater emphasis on the ethical and character-building aspects of athletic competition. There are youth/interscholastic and collegiate/Olympic versions. Read the full texts here.

Update on "Treat Other Sports Participants With Respect" Item

In this space in our July issue, we wrote about Jack Cochran, the New London High School football coach in Connecticut whose penchant for running up the score may have led to the "Cochran rule" that suspends any coach in the state whose team wins by 50 points or more.

Well, Cochran’s in the news again. It seems he was arrested last month for throwing a punch at another coach after they exchanged words during a team weightlifting exhibition.

Superintendent of Schools Christopher Clouet promised "a significant response" following the incident. A few days later, Cochran resigned.

"You play to win. Anything less than that is losing."
-- Washington Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson on baseball strategy

"Someone started trouble, and I ended it."
-- Baskeball player Ron Artest defending his actions to a group of children as part of his community-service sentence for his actions that triggered the November 2004 Indiana-Detroit brawl at Auburn Hills, Michigan

"Americans speak about democracy and teach the world how to live,
but they engage in sport terrorism and steal people."
-- General director Gennady Velichkin of the Russian pro hockey team Metallurg Magnitogorsk after his star player, Evgeni Malkin, defected and signed with the Pittsburg Penguins

"This is not a defense contractor. These people are making hot dogs."
-- Fenway Park hot dog vendor on the new requirement that all concessionaire employees must be fingerprinted

"Now that Pluto has lost its designation as a planet, will scientists declare Barry Bonds' head part of the solar system?"
-- from St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Jeff Gordon

"Bacteria: check. Mold: check. Fungi: check. Algae: check. DWI and
indecent exposure: oh, well."
-- Caption submitted by reader Peter Magnuson for a Minneapolis Star Tribune photo showing workers fumigating Minnesota Vikings’ locker room

"Cross-country skiing is great if you live in a small country."
-- Comedian Steven Wright

JOSEPHSON INSTITUTE OF ETHICS: Nonsectarian nonprofit organization, active nationally and based in Los Angeles, that develops ethics and character-education programs for corporations, the professions, schools and government agencies. All Institute projects promote consensual values called the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

CHARACTER COUNTS!:
Founded by the Institute, this is the nation's most widely implemented approach to character education, reaching millions of youth through the almost 4,000 schools, communities, nonprofit groups and businesses that make up the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition.

PURSUING VICTORY WITH HONOR: This is a sportsmanship campaign organized nationally by CHARACTER COUNTS! and run locally by schools, teams and municipalities seeking to build character in youth through athletic competition. This newsletter is one way the Institute supports the campaign by sharing news about sportsmanship and what readers can do to promote it in their work with youth.

ARIZONA SPORTS SUMMIT ACCORD: Nearly four dozen leaders in American amateur athletics developed these 16 principles at a 1999 Scottsdale, AZ, conference. Endorsed today by virtually every American amateur sports organization, the Accord serves as the foundational document for the PVWH sportsmanship campaign.

GOLD MEDAL STANDARDS FOR AMATEUR BASKETBALL: Developed with the National Association of Basketball Coaches, this document advances the Accord's principles in the basketball arena. It also applies to many other sports.

GOLD MEDAL STANDARDS FOR YOUTH SPORTS: The Gold Medal Standards for Youth Sports are a common framework of requirements that all youth programs should meet.

PVWH ULTIMATE SPORTSMANSHIP TOOL KIT: This resource, the core product of the PVWH campaign, helps you set up or enhance a sportsmanship component to your athletic education program.

Diving, Lacrosse and Swimming

"Hazing is a behavior that defines exclusivity," Dr. Nadine Hoover told Education-world.com. Hoover was the principal investigator for the landmark 1999 Alfred University (New York) survey, "Initiation Rites and Athletics for NCAA Sports Teams."

"Hazing is a high-class phenomenon," she said. "Among college athletes, it is most common in swimming, diving, and lacrosse -- sports that are most common at more exclusive schools."

Please let us know what you are doing -- or what you see others doing -- so we can share your stories to strengthen character-building efforts everywhere. Go to: CharacterCountsSports@jiethics.org

To begin or cease receiving this newsletter, please go to:
www.charactercounts.org/newsletters.htm

The mission of the Josephson Institute of Ethics Sports Division is to work with sports leaders (administrators, athletes, coaches, legislators, officials and parents) to improve the ethical quality of society by changing personal and organizational decision making and behavior in various sports cultures.

Josephson Institute of Ethics
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Los Angeles, CA 90045
310-846-4800 / 800-711-2670
JI fax: 310-846-4857
CC! fax: 310-846-4858
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