IN THIS ISSUE:
FRONT ROW
- Youth- and School-Based Sports:
• Some Thoughts on Sports and Life
• The New Bullies: Teen Club Fighters
- Collegiate Sports: College Fans Can Now Taunt Rivals on the Web
- Professional Sports:
• Should Sportswriters Be Allowed to Vote?
• Top 10 Signs a NASCAR Driver Is Cheating
- Googling With: Charles Barkley
- Sportsmanship User's Guide: 12 Ways to Model Good Sportsmanship
- Jocks Behaving Badly:
• Disabled Granny Gets Three Athletic Scholarships …
• My Wrestling Dad Can Beat Up Your Soccer Dad …
• And These Two Can Beat Up the First One …
- Jocks Behaving Exceptionally:
• Wrestler's Glory Was in Defeat …
• Wrestler's Sacrifice Earns Ovation …
• Wrestling Coach Awarded for Honesty …
• Teen Runs 34 Straight Hours for Charity …
• Jermaine O'Neal Takes Philanthropy Into Overtime …
- Michael Josephson Commentary: Do Sports Build Character?
SIDELINES
- Announcements: Josephson Institute Report: How Do Student-Athletes Feel About Cheating?
- Trivia Test: How Many States Don't Have an Anti-Hazing Law?
- You Make the Call: Is It Okay for Coaches to Teach Players How to Deceptively Foul or Bend the Rules?
- Principle of the Month: Athletes Shouldn't Be Entitled to Immunity
- Say What?
- Upcoming Seminars
Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what
looked like their greatest failure.
-- Brian Tracy, self-help author
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FRONT ROW
YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS
Five Thoughts on Sports and Life
 In his inspirational new guidebook, Strength In You, psychologist Dan Saferstein, Ph.D., compiles a wealth of wisdom and motivation for young athletes. We've paraphrased five of his truisms below:
1. Glory cannot be owned. You can only taste it for a while. Then it becomes time for someone else to have their taste.
2. Appreciate life's curve balls. Don't give up on yourself after a bad game or season. Your life is a long season, made up of many smaller ones. You never know what the next will bring. Who knows? You might turn out to be a better curve-ball hitter than you ever thought possible.
3. Make up with your inner coach. The coach inside your head can sometimes make you feel terrible about every little mistake. Mine got so angry with me I couldn't help but get angry at my opponents. I never reached my potential until I learned to forgive myself for my mistakes.
4. Success cannot ensure happiness. There are countless superstars who feel empty inside. You will always be yourself no matter what you accomplish. Fame doesn't change character. Too many athletes assume their success will serve as the foundation for their self-respect rather than their self-respect serving as the foundation for their success.
5. Opponents are not evil. Successful athletes don't waste time and effort rooting against anyone or trying to prove they're better. They don't have enemies. Once you respect the competition, the pressure is off. You can just play instead of stockpiling ammunition for some meaningless status war. Lay down your weapons and come in peace.
[Group discounts for the book are available for organizations at www.dansaferstein.com.]
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
-- George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer (1856-1950)
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YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS
The New Bullies: Teen Club Fighters
 Used to be, a club for kids was a good thing. Nowadays, you'd best ask what kind of club it is. Spawned by the Brad Pitt/Edward Norton 1999 cult movie, Fight Club, which glorified underground fist-fighting, real-life fighting rings have sprung up across the country in recent years.
The latest incident occurred in Southern California where eight former Murrieta Valley High School football players, who started a fight club in 2004 that drew crowds to park brawls and wore caps and dog tags emblazoned with FC, allegedly turned their aggression on others by waging a two-year crime spree. Last year a similar club in Palm Desert, California, led to a 16-year-old's death.
The activity is not limited to boys. In Long Beach, California, six girls in middle school organized a Ten Second Fight Club where cliquish "mean girls" settled their differences in a bathroom.
Locker Boxing
 A similar phenomenon is locker boxing among youth hockey and lacrosse players. Not content with fighting during the game, the players go at it again in the locker room afterward.
Videos of these bouts have proliferated on the Internet and feed the appetite for others to do it. Despite using gloves and helmets, the activity is not as safe as kids believe. Many suffer head trauma, lacerations, and broken hands.
Ultimate Fighting
 Experts disagree on what has sparked this alarming new trend. Is it peer pressure? A more brutal generation? A passing fad? With the immense popularity of cable TV's Ultimate Fighting events, in which mixed martial-arts fighters battle in cages with almost no holds barred, authorities don't see organized teen-on-teen brawls decreasing anytime soon. Today's thugs aren't your father's bullies anymore.
[Los Angeles Times, 2/17/07; www.badjocks.com, 1/21/07; www.ocregister.com, 2/15/07]
Whether you think you can
or think you can't,
you're right.
-- Henry Ford, industrialist (1863-1947)
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COLLEGIATE SPORTS
College Fans Can Now Taunt Rivals on the Web
They don't call it March Madness for nothing. Capitalizing on the popularity of YouTube, user-generated content, and the mania of this month's NCAA men's college basketball tournament (which CBS owns the rights to telecast through 2014), a division of CBS is offering students and fans an opportunity to create their own videos about their college team and/or rivals and upload them onto the Internet.
What could possibly go wrong?
The "Are You Fan Enough?" campaign is the brainchild of the CSTV Networks division of CBS. Viewers will be able to post their homemade video clips to a community section of the network's website (www.cstv.com/postup).
"America is experiencing the rise of a video filmmaker culture," Brian T. Bedol, president and chief executive at CSTV, told The New York Times.
And marketers are all over it. During the Academy Awards, Unilever ran a commercial created by a consumer for its Dove Cream Oil Body Wash. On the Super Bowl telecast, three advertisers ran spots by consumers. Anheuser-Busch plans to add a video-sharing feature to its new Bud.tv website.
In case you're wondering, the network will screen the video clips for language and appropriateness before going online. Nevertheless, as Bedol awaited the first video submissions, he may have unknowingly prophesied what could happen: "I can't wait to see the direction this goes."
[www.nytimes.com, 2/28/07]
It's always too soon to quit.
-- Norman Vincent Peale, Christian preacher, author (1898-1993)
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PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
Should Sportswriters Be Allowed to Vote?
Will Rogers once said, "Anything important is never left to the vote of the people." He was talking about politics, so his words could just as easily apply to professional baseball and football.
In this year's Baseball Hall of Fame voting, veteran baseball writers, who vote for inductees, overwhelmingly shunned Mark McGwire even though he's never tested positive for anything.
On Sports-law.blogspot.com, Rick Karcher wrote: "In essence, [they] seem to be permitted to make their own subjective determinations that McGwire did in fact take something. And even further, that the something they think he took is probably on the banned substance list that was developed and tested for after McGwire played."
What then is a sportswriter's duty in voting? "Should it be objectively defined?" Karcher asked. "Or is it sufficient for the writer to take on a broad moral police role? If so, what are the parameters?"
Less than 24 hours after the Hall of Fame vote, football writers and broadcasters voted San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman onto the first team and sent him tickets to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii despite the fact that he missed a quarter of the season for testing positive for a banned substance.
[www.sports-law.blogspot.com, 1/10/07; www.dallasnews.com, 1/11/07]
Perseverance is not a long race;
it is many short races one after another.
-- Walter Elliott, priest, missionary (1842-1928)
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PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
Top 10 Signs a NASCAR Driver Is Cheating
After the recent NASCAR cheating scandal, the crazy staff and contributors at www.littlefivers.com came up with these tips on how to spot a cheat:
10. His GPS tells him to "take the next left" at the end of each straightaway.
9. He refuels with Barry Bonds' urine.
8. His car sports a flux capacitor.
7. His pit crew chief is "Q."
6. His team secretly replaced his STP with Folger's crystals.
5. The French media are on their hands and knees on pit road combing through used lug nuts.
4. Earlier tests detected traces of Flubber in his motor oil.
3. He never signals before passing.
2. He's driving the BALCO car.
1. Hey, hey, HEY! No monster truck tires allowed!
Others can stop you temporarily.
You are the only one
who can do it permanently.
-- Zig Ziglar, salesman, speaker, author
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GOOGLING
with Charles Barkley |
40-yard sprint time, Joe Crawford
knighthood, application procedure
blackjack, beginners' mistakes
weight, how to maintain it
role model, definition
40-yard sprint time, Steve Javie
trademark rights, Round Mound of Rebound
ghost writers, autobiography
putting green installation, AL governor's mansion
40-yard sprint time, Violet Palmer
IRS, gambling loss write-offs
gamblers anonymous, 12-step shortcuts
Dick Bavetta, home phone number
comp suites, Las Vegas, Monte Carlo, Macao
40-yard sprint time, David Stern |
Great things are done
when men and mountains meet.
-- William Blake, British poet, painter, printmaker (1757-1827)
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SPORTSMANSHIP USER'S GUIDE
12 Ways to Model Good Sportsmanship
The NCAA's Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct has created a valuable compendium of sportsmanship best practices for administrators, coaches, trainers, officials, student-athletes, spirit groups, parents, and the media as part of its online Sportsmanship Tool Kit.
Below are a dozen tips to help administrators promote sportsmanship initiatives :
1. Develop a sportsmanship program and communicate your vision and expectations to all coaches, staff, and players.
2. Acknowledge and reward coaches, staff, and players who demonstrate good sportsmanship.
3. Address unsportsmanlike behavior by implementing strict accountability procedures.
4. Establish a sportsmanship page on your school's website.
5. Promote your campaign in all game programs.
6. Invite guest speakers on sportsmanship topics.
7. Provide police escorts for officials, players, and coaching staffs.
8. Enlist “ambassadors” to observe home-game management and help deter unsportsmanlike behavior.
9. Treat opponents as you would like to be treated.
10. Invite visiting teams to a pregame event and encourage respectful interaction.
11. Welcome visiting teams by playing their fight song.
12. Ask visiting teams to fill out a sportsmanship report card of your program. [www.ncaa.org]
Most people never run far enough
on their first wind to find out
they've got a second.
-- William James, psychologist, philosopher (1842-1910)
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JOCKS BEHAVING BADLY
Disabled Granny Awarded Three Athletic Scholarships …
Things haven't been going well at Bishop State Community College in Alabama lately. State auditors have cited problems with aid money since 2001, the school owes the government $155,000 for wrongly dispensed grants, and a recent audit found $438,000 in financial-aid abuses.
In addition, all files from 2002-2003 were destroyed and others from 2003-2004 were “inadvertently” trashed. The FBI is now investigating, the U.S. Department of Education has placed the college on "heightened cash monitoring" status, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has placed it on six-month probation.
The clincher was granny. A 67-year-old disabled grandmother of a Bishop State employee allegedly received athletic scholarships to play not one, not two, but three sports -- just months before she died.
According to Badjocks.com, school records showed she led the women's basketball team in scoring last year, was a catcher and cleanup hitter on the softball team, and threw the shotput for the men's track team.
Whatever granny was on, Major League Baseball wants to know.
[www.badjocks.com; www.al.com, 2/14/07, 2/19/07; Tuscaloosa News, 2/18/07; www.chronicle.com, 1/29/07]
My Wrestling Dad Can Beat Up Your Soccer Dad …
 So there you are, the proud father, filming your 11-year-old son about to pin an opponent during a wrestling match. A nice memory to cherish. But wait! Into the picture lunges Ray Hoffman, the opponent's father, who throws your boy off of his son, then angrily points a finger at you.
Hoffman, a part-time wrestling coach, later apologized. He said his son's shoulder had been hurt earlier, and he was just protecting him to prevent a more serious injury. The film, however, doesn't appear to show any illegal move being performed (click here for video). In fact, as Hoffman jumped into the picture, the referee is seen blowing his whistle to stop the match.
Hoffman has been banned from coaching youngsters in the Chicago area.
[www.sports.aol.com]
And These Two Can Beat Up the First One …
 Just days after the above incident occurred, two brothers were arrested for misdemeanor battery and disturbing the peace after they "entered the court of a professional event" as an opponent was pinning their younger brother in a high school wrestling meet in San Jose, California (click here for video).
Dain Davis, 20, and Blaiz Davis, 19, bolted from the stands when they thought their brother, Maisson, was being choked during his match. Both came onto the wrestling mat, and Dain leaped on top of the wrestlers, triggering a near rhubarb.
Good thing Maisson wasn't a hammer-thrower.
To see the better side of wrestling, see "Jocks Behaving Exceptionally" below.
[www.nbc11.com/news]
If you want to share any videos, photos, or stories, e-mail us at CharacterCountssports@jiethics.org and put "Jocks Behaving Badly" in the subject box.
To report acts of unsportsmanlike behavior to the NCAA's Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct, click here.
Deeds, not stones, are the true
monuments of the great.
-- John L. Motley, historian, diplomat (1814-1877)
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JOCKS BEHAVING EXCEPTIONALLY
Wrestler's Glory Was in Defeat …
Undefeated high school wrestler Jordan Blanton's 111-match winning streak and the Illinois championship were on the mat when he faced Mike Benefiel and his 52-0 record. The much-anticipated match in Champaign last month drew fans from around the state.
Although Blanton had not allowed an offensive point all season until the semifinal match, he was nearly pinned in the first 10 seconds. Down 8-2 with the match coming to an end, Blanton abruptly stood up, approached Benefiel, and raised his arm in victory. As the final seconds ticked off, the audience roared at the unprecedented demonstration of class and sportsmanship.
Commenting on his gesture afterward, Blanton said, "I really respect [Benefiel] as a competitor. I wanted to show that. At that moment, it was just him and me on the mat, two people congratulating one another on a great match."
[www.mchenrycountysports.com]
Wrestler's Sacrifice Earns Ovation …
What would you do? Your team shows up for a wrestling meet, and the home coach informs you that one of his wrestlers has Downs Syndrome. He has no skill but loves to compete. You can pin him in seconds. He knows he'll lose; he just wants to roll around on the mat for a little bit. Would anyone on your team be willing to wrestle with him?
That's what happened last month when Ogden High School's wrestling team showed up to face Iowa Falls and Humboldt. After Humboldt's host coach made the unusual request, there was silence. Then a lone voice on the Ogden team replied, “I'll do it,” and wrestler Lane Brueland stepped forward to grapple with the boy named Brent.
The gesture alone was commendable, but what Brueland did next was exemplary. Instead of doing what the Humboldt coach requested, Brueland wrestled with the boy for the full six minutes. Not only that, he let the youngster score enough points to win the match.
When Brent's hand was raised and he looked up in wonder and said, “I won?” there wasn't a dry eye in the gym. Both boys got a standing ovation.
Afterward, Brent's parents wrote Brueland the following letter, a portion of which reads:
Dear Lane,
We would like to thank you for your kindness and outstanding generosity. The invaluable joy that this gave Brent will never be forgotten by him or by us.
We did not have the opportunity to meet you, but wish we could have to thank you in person. Your remarkable character shown that evening touched many of the individuals that were watching. Sportsmanship at this level truly reflects athletics at its best.
[The Ogden Reporter, 2/21/07]
Wrestling Coach Awarded for Honesty …
"Trophies are an extension of your character. The last thing you want to win is something you know you didn't deserve."
Arnold Alpert, co-wrestling coach of Temecula Valley High School in California, wasn't talking the talk when he told us that. He has twice won coaching character awards from the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section for sacrificing victory for honor.
At one meet, one of his wrestlers won a crucial semifinal match by two points. But Alpert noticed a two-point takedown of his wrestler had been omitted. He alerted the officials, and the correction made the match a tie. The other wrestler went on to win the match and the league championship -- the first ever for that school.
When asked if his honesty had upset his wrestler, Alpert scoffed. "You don't win like that. You cheat like that. What else matters but your conscience? Everyone here – the wrestlers and the coaching staff – have an across-the-board mentality on how to compete. We try to teach the kids values for life."
At the conclusion of another meet, in which Temecula Valley was awarded the championship, Alpert and his staff realized their team had gotten 10 points too many. They informed the scorekeepers, and the correction dropped Temecula into second place. Alpert had no regrets about doing that either. If they had ignored the error to enable their school to win, he said, the trophy would have haunted them.
"Life is about deferred gratification," he said. "Wrestling and sportsmanship teach that. If you hang out with cheaters, you're going to cheat. If you hang out with smokers, you're going to smoke."
And if you pursue victory with honor, you're going to win. Alpert has led his wrestling teams to 19 consecutive league titles.
Teen Runs 34 Straight Hours for Charity …
"The only way I'll give up is if my body gives out," 18-year-old Jesse Zweig told the Orange County Register the day before his attempt to run 200 miles (nearly eight marathons nonstop) in 48 hours which, if successful, would raise $20,000 for Children's Hospital of Orange County.
Aided by gummy bears, an iPod, a support team, and more than 30 well-wishers, he set out amid cheers. All went smoothly until the 22-hour mark. He had completed 90 miles but was suffering from multiple blisters.
They became so bad, he was forced to abandon his route through eight Orange County cities and run his remaining miles on the soft surface of a nearby high school track. His feet eventually became so swollen, he had to remove his shoes and run barefoot.
Then the temperature plummeted. Zweig's team wrapped him in blankets to keep him going. He had to stop every two miles and warm himself with a heater. Shivering and in excruciating pain, he could barely jog. On his last lap, he shuffled around the track with his arms around his brother Justin and friend Nate Mouzis.
At 1:15 a.m., after more than 34 hours and 124 miles, Zweig's team threw in the towel, although the boy wanted to keep going. "We stopped him so he wouldn't kill himself," his brother told the Register.
Zweig, who is awaiting an assignment for his two-year Mormon mission before going to college, still raised more than $13,000, and donations have been coming in from across the country.
[Thanks for the tip, Andrea!]
[Orange Country Register, 1/18/07, 1/21/07; www.abcnews.go.com; www.cbs2.com]
Jermaine O'Neal Takes Philanthropy Into Overtime …
NBA players' off-court affairs make the headlines , but the positive ones rarely do. Here's what just one player, Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal, does in his spare time:
• In December he hosted five separate holiday charity events, earning him his second NBA Community Assist Award.
• His five-year partnership with the Indiana Black Expo has provided more than $250,000 in toys, clothing, and electronics to nearly 3,000 children.
• His Jermaine O'Neal Foundation and the Feed the Children hunger-relief organization provided 400 Indianapolis families and seniors with holiday meals.
• He donated $30,000 to the Columbia Housing Authority in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, which treated 100 youths who got good grades to a holiday shopping spree.
• His support for a Prostate Cancer Foundation fundraising campaign enabled a prostate-screening mobile unit to serve low-income areas across the state.
• His Jermaine O'Neal Super Shootout affords 100 athletes each year with full scholarships.
If you want to share any videos, photos, or stories, e-mail us at CharacterCountssports@jiethics.org and put "Jocks Behaving Exceptionally" in the subject box.
To report acts of good sportsmanship to the NCAA's Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct, click here.
You win some,
you lose some,
you wreck some.
-- Dale Earnhardt, race car driver (1951-2001)
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 COMMENTARY BY
MICHAEL JOSEPHSON
Do Sports Build Character?
Your 18 year-old tells you she's just met the greatest guy -- a professional athlete. Do your spirits soar knowing your precious princess is in good hands? After all, sports build character, right? Well, if it were my daughter, I'd worry.
On-the-field antics certainly fuel my concerns, but recurrent off-the-field incidents such as recruiting violations, drug abuse, scandals, and criminal charges show the problem is much deeper.
Organized sports, at every level, are dominated by "anything goes," "win at any cost," and "whatever I can get away with" values that undermine, rather than uplift, character. And it's not just athletes. Just watch the conduct of parents and coaches at kid's sporting events. Ego and unrestrained aggression are often more evident than character-building or sportsmanship.
It doesn't have to be that way.
First, we've got to be much more careful about who we let coach our kids. I know that isn't easy; some youth leagues will recruit any warm body. The problem is, coaches are too influential to be allowed to ignore the values and attitudes they bring to the task. We've got to pick them more carefully and train them more thoroughly.
Second, we've got to establish and enforce reasonable standards of conduct for parents and spectators.
Third, we've got to teach youngsters to enjoy sports and competition for their own sake. Our obsessive pursuit of championships and trophies will inevitably corrupt their experience.
Sports can and should build and display character. But that won't happen unless we demand it.
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
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