IN THIS ISSUE:
FRONT ROW
- Youth- and School-Based Sports: Equal Rights Rulings: Girls Win One, Boys Lose One
- Collegiate Sports: Quid Pro Dough-nors
- Professional Sports:
• Arena Corporate Names Polluting Landscape
• Five Sneaky Ways Politicians Exploit Sports
- Sportsmanship User's Guide: How to Inspire Sportsmanship in Your Public-Address Announcements
- Michael Josephson Commentary: No Matter How Prevalent, Cheating Is Wrong
SIDELINES
- Trivia Test: Which of These Actions Are Disallowed by the NBA?
- Sportsmanship Forum
- You Make the Call: Should Justin Gatlin Be Allowed to Play Football?
- Principle of the Month: Principle Nine: Administrators Must Play Fair, Not Favorites
- Say What?
- Upcoming Seminars
- Jocks Behaving Badly:
• Why Anger Management Doesn't Work With Volcanoes …
• Buckeye Rally Knocked ’Em Dead …
- Jocks Behaving Exceptionally:
• This Team Had a Different Goal in Mind …
• A New STAR in Sportsmanship …
• New All-Stars in Sportsmanship …
It's not true that nice guys finish last.
Nice guys are winners before
the game starts.
-- Addison Walker
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FRONT ROW
YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS
Equal Rights Rulings: Girls Win One, Boys Lose One
When girl's basketball coach Roderick Jackson of Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham, Alabama, complained that his players had to practice in a gym built in 1908 instead of the new one used by boys, he was fired. He sued.
The verdict…
The case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in Jackson's favor. In a settlement with the school, Jackson's job was reinstated and female athletes must now be provided with facilities comparable to those used by male athletes.
When Keith Bukowski, a junior at Stevens Point Area High School in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, could not compete in gymnastics (because his school doesn't have a boys' team and the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association prohibits boys from competing in girls' sports), he sued for gender discrimination.
The verdict…
Despite the fact that girls have been allowed to compete on boys' teams in football and wrestling, a state appeals court ruled against him, stating that females remain underrepresented in sports. If Bukowski were allowed to compete, the court declared, it would put pressure on WIAA to grant similar requests, which could further jeopardize opportunities for girls.
Principle 2.1 of the Gold Medal Standards for Youth Sports states that school programs "must be prepared to stand up for, promote, and defend its values with moral courage despite pressures to do otherwise." The standards are a common framework of requirements that all youth programs should meet. Read about them here.
[Associated Press, 11/30/06]
Let me win, but if I cannot win,
let me be brave in the attempt.
-- Special Olympics motto
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COLLEGIATE SPORTS
Quid Pro Dough-nors
Powerful donors waving potential multi-million dollar endowment checks in front of university administrators can be tempting, even if the strings attached are anything but.
"The prospect of donor interests crossing at times invisible, but nonetheless definitive and critical, lines between what might be reasonable and what could well place the ethics and core intentions of a college or university at risk is a highly sensitive subject," wrote Stephen J. Nelson, Ph.D., in the Journal of College and Character.
Nelson cited two incidents in which schools refused to adhere to a wealthy donor's demands. At Yale, a donor proposed to establish an endowed chair as long as it was tied to specific political qualifications and an agenda. The university turned the gift down. At Rollins College, an alumnus wanted a chair in a field that the school could not fit within existing departments. The donor awarded the endowment instead to a larger university that could more easily integrate it.
"Our graduate was disappointed but understood, and it was the right decision for Rollins," its president, Rita Bornstein, wrote in her diary. "Donor interests are important in fundraising, but an institution cannot compromise its mission or programs in the pursuit of financial support."
As T.S. Eliot wrote: "The last temptation is the greatest treason -- to do the right thing for the wrong reason." Two recent examples below starkly illustrate this dilemma:
If It Weren't for Those Nagging Ultimatums
A Houston furniture magnate and donor, angered over the firing of University of North Texas football coach Darrell Dickey just weeks after the coach suffered a heart attack, demanded that the school rename its new athletic facility after the deposed staffer, although his record over nine seasons was 41-62. If the school did not, he said he would redirect his proposed $1 million gift to the music department instead.
The university complied with the donor's request.
Anonymous Donor Honors Friend
Although USC is not known as a basketball school, it has its share of hoops legends: Bill Sharman, Paul Westphal, Tex Winter. So when they finally built their long-awaited basketball arena, what name did they engrave on the floor?
Jim Sterkel.
Who? Even his wife was shocked. "His name is on what?" she said to Los Angeles Times writer Bill Plaschke when he informed her. She had reason to wonder. Sterkel played only two seasons for the Trojans in the 1950s. His play was average, his teams were lackluster, he never graduated, he wasn't a donor. He spent his life selling Johnson Wax products and died in 1997.
As Plaschke memorably recounted in his column "Floored," it all began in high school when Sterkel met someone who would become a lifetime friend. They enrolled together at USC and were roommates. When Sterkel retired from Johnson Wax, his friend hired him at his company.
Then Sterkel was stricken with cancer. His friend's son contracted leukemia shortly afterward. As he lay dying, Sterkel wrote his friend a poem, sealed it, and instructed that he read it only if his boy died. When his friend's son passed, the poem was unsealed. His friend never forgot how Sterkel took time out of his final days to try to inspire him.
When USC approached the friend and offered to name its new court after him if he would make a donation, he agreed. He wrote out a check for $5 million, but instead of offering his name or his son's name, he gave them Jim Sterkel's.
USC officials were in a quandary. By "selling" the name of their court, they had just opened up a can of worms. Loyal fans would forever wonder why the court was named after an unknown instead of a Trojan icon.
When Plaschke posed that question to Sterkel's friend (who has steadfastly remained anonymous), he replied, "If you have a friend for 50 years, isn't that big enough? Some people don't deserve to be forgotten. Maybe this will keep him around a little longer."
["Internal Journeys of College Presidents: Diary Reflections about Leadership and Values," Journal of College and Character, Volume 2, 2006; Los Angeles Times, 11/5/06; Associated Press, 11/16/06]
No matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shape the soul
and let the glory out.
-- Al Gore, vice president
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PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
Arena Corporate Names Polluting Landscape
For years, stadiums and arenas have mutated from team landmarks to corporate billboards. Philadelphia's once venerable Veterans Stadium is now Lincoln Financial Field. Cleveland Arena is now Quicken Loans Arena. The Houston Astros once played at the Astrodome, then it was Enron, now it's Minute Maid Park.
The upcoming college bowl season is even more ludicrous: Who wouldn't want to play in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, the Meineke Car Care Bowl, or the Chick-fil-A Bowl?
Perhaps the most inexplicable name change involves the Utah Jazz. They used to play at the Delta Center, but Delta's in bankruptcy, so they had to switch corporate sponsors. Their home court is now called Energy Solutions Arena. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. But the problem isn't the name; it's what the company does. Energy Solutions disposes of nuclear waste in the Utah desert. We're not making that up.
Fans and the media have learned to lessen the pain of annoying corporate names over the years by nicknaming their namesores. Gillette Stadium is known as the Razor, U.S. Cellular Field is the Cell, Minute Maid Park is the Juice Box.
You're already ahead of us. KSL-TV in Salt Lake City invited people to send in their proposed monikers for Energy Solutions Arena. We predict a long half-life for whichever one radiates the most interest (sorry):
The Glow Bowl
The Dump
ChernoBowl
The Big Bang
Tox Box
The Fallout Shelter
Melta Center
Radium Stadium
[The New York Times, 11/29/06]
If a horse has four legs,
and I'm riding it, I can win.
-- Angel Cordero, Jr., jockey
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PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
Five Sneaky Ways Politicians Exploit Sports
Whenever a candidate needs a boost in the polls, it's always a savvy move to use sports to his or her advantage. With help from the crazy folks at Littlefivers.com, here is how some do it:
1. When Dick Cheney shoots… he scores!
2. Switch sides as often as tennis players.
3. New England candidates always support the Patriot Act and the Brady Bill.
4. Best debate rebuttal: "GOOOOOOALLLL!"
5. Standard meeting closer: "… and did I mention free box seats at Laker games for every $10,000 campaign contribution?"
[www.littlefivers.com]
How do you know you have won? When the energy is coming the other way and when your people are visibly growing individually and as a group.
-- Sir John Harvey-Jones, British industrialist
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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 Inspire Sportsmanship in Your Public-Address Announcements
A public-address announcer is a sporting event's silent force. As the bridge among fans, officials, and players, the speaker is expected to create an unbiased, professional atmosphere that is entertaining, knowledgeable, educational, and authoritative.
The best ones encourage and highlight sportsmanship, especially toward the visiting team and fans, and remind the crowd to conduct itself properly. Here is an ideal sportsmanship script from the Arizona Interscholastic Association that you can use as a model:
"The team, coaches, cheerleaders, students, and fans of ____ High School extend to each of you a big welcome! We are pleased you could be here [tonight/today] as our guests. ____ High School and ____ High School are members of the ____ Interscholastic Association and abide by the rules and regulations as set forth by the Association to maintain and improve high standards of conduct, competition, and relations with member schools. They are friendly rivals as members of opposing teams; they are not enemies. This attitude of sportsmanship should be reflected by all spectators, no matter what their personal feelings of loyalty may be to one or the other teams in [tonight's/today's] contest."
Other good examples can be found in the Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit:
"Hello! ____ High School welcomes you to [tonight's/today's] game. The first person you should look at when evaluating sportsmanship is yourself. Please be a good sport today!"
"Hello! ____ High School welcomes you to [tonight's/today's] game. The educational value of this event is more important than its outcome. Respect for others, including opponents and officials, is part of that value. There are no excuses for taunting or trash-talking."
"Your officials for today's game are ____ and ____. Their experience and integrity qualify them to administer the rules of the game. All spectators, players, and coaches -- no matter what their personal feelings or loyalties -- should display respect for them."
Find more public-address announcements in the Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit.
[www.aiaonline.org]
I became an optimist when I discovered
I wasn't going to win any more games by being anything else.
-- Earl Weaver, baseball manager
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 COMMENTARY BY
MICHAEL JOSEPHSON
No Matter How Prevalent, Cheating Is Wrong
What's happening to our culture? Why are we so afraid to harshly judge people who cheat? Is it because there is a little bit of cheating in all of us?
Hundreds of top athletes are coming to this country just to play sports, and placing foreign students on college and high school teams by agents is becoming commonplace. Meanwhile, high-profile college programs spend great sums aggressively recruiting ringers -- athletes with dubious qualifications and no interest in getting a degree.
The high school athletic scene is just as bad. Athletic empire-building by private schools, including many with prominent religious affiliations, has become so accepted that few people even see the moral implications anymore. In addition, so many parents are finding ways to place elite athletes at particular public schools that rules against recruiting have become meaningless. As a result, leagues are becoming grossly unbalanced, and aspiring athletes who properly go to their local school are displaced, losing the chance to play because the team is filled with all-stars from all over.
I'm told that cheating to win is even prevalent in the Special Olympics where adults overstate the disabilities of athletes to get a competitive edge.
I accept this as a reality but not as a new norm. There is no victory without honor. Cheating is wrong, and people who do it ought to stop making excuses.
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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