IN THIS ISSUE:

FRONT ROW

Youth- and School-Based Sports:
    • Does Your High School Have Texas Envy?
    • "Tag – You’re Out," says Colorado
Collegiate Sports: Bear Bryant’s Lesson on Being Nice
Professional Sports: Apparently, the Patriot Act Didn’t Apply to the Patriots
Googling With: Bill Belichick
Jocks Behaving Badly:
    • When Ducks Attack …
    • Father Skating on Thin Ice …
Jocks Behaving Exceptionally:
    • Running in the Right Direction …
    • Touch of Character on the Court …
    • The Right Way to Settle a Score …   
Michael Josephson Commentary: Don’t Let the Barbarians Set the Standards for Sports


SIDELINES

Announcements
Trivia Test: Which Athlete Was Recently Accused of Using Advantageous Equipment?
Sportsmanship User's Guide: A Game-Day To-Do List for Parents
You Make the Call: Natural League or Robocop League?
Principle of the Month: Where Have You Gone Rick Ankiel, Our Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes to…Oh, Never Mind
Say What?
Upcoming Seminars
Trivia Test Answer
Feedback

FRONT ROW

YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS

Nila Purdue/Flickr

Does Your High School Have Texas Envy?

It’s not uncommon for Texas high school football programs to be bigger than, well, yours.

One example is the Denton Independent School District. In 2002, voters approved 23 new high school stadiums. Total cost: $305.4 million.

Today, one of those schools, Denton, boasts a $20.5 million state-of-the-art 12,000-seat football field, the same artificial turf the Dallas Cowboys play on, a three-story $900,000 instant-replay scoreboard, and a VIP skybox.

"I talk to educators, administrators, and coaches all the time," Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights, told the Houston Chronicle. "They tell me sports is careening out of control. Then they build stadiums with skyboxes and instant replay. My book has done no good at all."

His exposé of one Texas community’s obsession with its high school football team and of society’s misplaced priorities later became a movie and a hit TV series. He calls the stadium boom across the state – and now the country – an "epidemic" that benefits sports programs at the expense of academics. Those millions, he said, could be better spent reducing class size, encouraging physical fitness, and reducing obesity.

Proponents of improving sports facilities counter that such projects take up a small fraction of the educational budget. According to the Chronicle, voters in 108 districts passed more than $7 billion worth of bonds for construction of schools, classrooms, and extracurricular facilities during 2004 and 2005. Of that total, less than 1 percent pertained to football stadiums.

Not only that, but such projects, they say, generate enormous revenues from ticket sales, advertising, luxury suite rentals, and fees for hosting other events.

In the meantime in cash-strapped Illinois, football diehards have found a way to get skyboxes without spending taxpayers’ money. In Minonk, volunteers transformed a dilapidated old press box into a suite that’s regularly sold out, pumping more than $1,000 into the football program.

Other states are beginning to follow suit, raffling off their luxury boxes for $200-$300 and providing food by local restaurants, businesses, booster clubs, and even culinary-arts students.

[www.chron.com, 5/22/05; http://sports.aol.com, 8/30/07; www.pjstar.com, 9/16/07]

YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS

"Tag – You’re Out," Says Colorado

With P.E. classes nearly a thing of the past and childhood obesity soaring across the nation, one Colorado elementary school did the sensible thing: It banned tag on its playground.

Aaron Brown/Flickr

After some children complained that they were chased against their will, the activity was prohibited. "It causes a lot of conflict," said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus.

In 2005, two nearby elementary schools outlawed tag in favor of games with less physical contact. Running games in these schools are still allowed – as long as students don’t chase each other.

[http://news.yahoo.com, 8/31/07]

COLLEGIATE SPORTS

Bear Bryant’s Lesson on Being Nice

A CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition member forwarded us this story that legendary Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant once told. Every coach should take it to heart.

I’d just been named head coach at Alabama and was in South Alabama recruiting a prospect. Getting hungry, I spied an old cinder-block building with a small sign that simply said RESTAURANT.

I go in and every head in the place turns to stare at me. Seems I’m the only white fella in the place. A big ole man in a T-shirt and cap comes over and says, "You probably won’t like it here. Today we’re having chitlins, collared greens, and black-eyed peas with cornbread. I’ll bet you don’t even know what chitlins are, do you?"

I looked him square in the eye and said, "I’m from Arkansas. I’ve probably eaten a mile of ’em. Sounds like I’m in the right place."

They all smiled as he left to serve me up a big plate. When he comes back, he says, "You ain’t from around here then?"

I explain I’m the new football coach up in Tuscaloosa and am here to find whatever that boy’s name was. He says he’s supposed to be pretty good and gives me directions.

I leave a tip -- not too big to be flashy but a good one. He told me lunch was on him. I told him for a lunch that good, I should pay. The man asked if I had a photograph he could hang up to show I’d been there. I was so new I didn’t have any yet. I took a napkin and wrote his name and address on it and told him I’d get him one.

When I got back to Tuscaloosa that night, I put the napkin under my keys so I wouldn’t forget it. Hell, back then I was excited that anybody would want a picture of me. The next day we found one, and I wrote on it, "Thanks for the best lunch I’ve ever had."

Now let’s go a whole buncha years down the road. I’m back down in that part of the country scouting an offensive lineman. He’s got two friends going to Auburn, and he tells me he’s got his heart set on Auburn, too. I leave empty-handed.

Two days later, I’m in my office and the phone rings. It’s the kid who turned me down. He says, "Coach, do you still want me at Alabama?"

"I sure do."

He says OK, he’ll come. I say, "What changed your mind?"

He says, "When my grandpa found out I had a chance to play for you and said no, he pitched a fit. He told me I wasn’t going nowhere but Alabama and wasn’t playing for nobody but you. He thinks a lot of you and has ever since y’all met."

Well, I didn’t know his granddad from Adam’s housecat.

He said, "You probably don’t remember him, but you ate in his restaurant your first year at Alabama and sent him a picture he’s hung in the place ever since. That picture’s his pride and joy, and he still tells everybody about the day Bear Bryant came in and had chitlins with him. He said when you left, he never expected you to remember him or send him that picture, but you kept your word. To Grandpa, that’s everything. He said you could teach me more than football, and I had to play for a man like you."

I was floored. I learned the lessons my mama taught me were always right: It don’t cost nuthin’ to be nice. It don’t cost nuthin’ to do the right thing most of the time. And it costs a lot to lose your good name by breakin’ your word.

When I went back to sign that boy, I looked up his Grandpa. He’s still running that place, but it looks a lot better now. He didn’t have chitlins that day, but he had some ribs that woulda made Dreamland proud. I posed for a lot of pictures and don’t think I didn’t leave some new ones for him, along with a signed football.

I made it clear to all my assistants to keep this story and lesson in mind when they’re out on the road. If you remember anything else from me, remember this: It don’t cost nuthin’ to be nice, and the rewards can be unimaginable.

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

Rob Friesel/Flickr

Apparently, the Patriot Act
Didn’t Apply to the Patriots

When New England Patriot coach Bill Belichick finally leaves football, which may be sooner than later, let’s hope he joins the Department of Homeland Security. Then any snooping on innocent folks will at least be in full view.

What was he thinking? What was the commissioner thinking? And where is sports headed?

After a Patriots staffer was caught flagrantly videotaping New York Jets’ signals on the Jets’ own sideline – one year after he was escorted from the field doing the same thing against the Green Bay Packers – the NFL fined Belichick $500,000 and penalized the team $250,000 and one first-day draft pick.

First, Belichick. He’s favored to win his fourth Super Bowl in seven years. Why would he risk it all to spy on the lowly Jets? "It reminds me of Nixonian paranoia," USC professor William Morgan and author of Why Sports Morally Matter told The Boston Globe. "Nixon had the election won. It makes me wonder about Bill Belichick."

Former Pittsburgh Steeler coach Bill Cowher, now a CBS analyst, told the Globe that stealing signals is part of the game, but Belichick crossed the line. "You see walkie-talkies, tape recorders, but when you take the camera on the field, that’s just arrogance."

Belichick’s meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss his "interpretation" of the rules amused Northeastern athletic director Peter Roby. "People keep wanting to rationalize," he told the Globe. "That’s like Bobby Knight saying he didn’t know what zero tolerance is. You’re insulting people’s intelligence."

Next, the commissioner. His double standard treatment (fine, no suspension, for Belichick; season-long suspension for Pacman Jones) implies that on-the-field incidents that harm the integrity of the game are less serious than off-the-field incidents that occur in strip clubs.

"He should have been suspended for at least the next Jets game and a playoff game," NBC’s Cris Collinsworth said on the air. "This was a great opportunity for the commissioner to lay down the law like he’s done with the players, and he didn’t do it."

When the paper asked our Michael Josephson about this, he said, "The commissioner wants to be tougher than any predecessor, but he’s afraid to tee off the owners. If it’s appropriate to suspend a player, it’s appropriate to suspend a coach.

"They’re going to say it was a pretty big fine, which is nothing. He’ll make it back in bonuses and get an increased contract next year. [This has already happened.] Sport has to be defined by rules or there is no sport. For Belichick to thumb his nose at it is despicable."

[www.boston.com/sports, 9/15/07; The Kansas City Star, 9/18/07]

JOCKS BEHAVING BADLY

When Ducks Attack …

Even a cougar is no match for an angry duck, as millions can attest after witnessing the one-sided encounter on YouTube last month.

Okay, so it wasn’t a real duck. Or a real cougar. They were mascots for Oregon and Houston. It all started when the Cougars mascot mimicked the Duck by doing push-ups after Houston scored a touchdown. The Duck retaliated by kicking the Cougar. The Cougar tackled the Duck. Then the Duck went all Daffy on him for nearly a half minute. To view the carnage, click here.

The University of Oregon suspended the Duck for the next home game against Fresno State. Good thing, too. Fresno State’s mascot is a Bulldog -- a real one.

[www.registerguard.com, 9/7/07]

Father Skating on Thin Ice …

What’s a parent to do? You support your son’s athletic dream, lovingly monitor his health and conditioning, and even impart same values along the way. And what do you get for it – an arrest warrant!

This must be all so confusing to James Gahan of Tampa, Florida, who probably doesn’t understand what was wrong with taking his 13-year-old son to storefront clinics for three years -- for steroid injections.

Gahan faces up to ten years in federal prison. Also arrested were the owner of the two clinics Gahan took his son to and a trainer who also supplied the boy with steroids.

[www.sptimes.com, 8/28/07]

JOCKS BEHAVING EXCEPTIONALLY

Running in the Right Direction …

California high school running back Milton Knox is one of the nation’s most highly sought recruits. Although his stats are off the charts (first team all-state, L.A. City Section player of the year, 2,374 rushing yards, 29 touchdowns), it’s his character that’s all the talk. And the buzz began early.

Eighth grade
During a crucial fourth-down play late in a game, the quarterback on Knox’s team collapsed and was hurried to the sidelines. Knox remained by his teammate’s side, refusing to go back into the game.

"That’s my God brother," Knox told Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times. "I love him. Football is just a chapter in your life. There’s a bigger picture. I didn’t want to go back into the game until they said he was cool." The next day, Knox was the first one to show up at the hospital.

Ninth grade
His high school coach recalls the day he stepped in and scored two touchdowns. It wasn’t so much his athletic prowess, he told the paper. "He made an impact on the seniors. They were taking cues from a ninth-grader. That’s extremely rare."

High school
His chemistry teacher wrote a letter thanking him for being one of only two students who didn't cheat on a test. "The opportunity was there," his teacher told the Times, "but he chose not to compromise his ethics."

"I keep telling people we can get beat any day," Knox said. "A saying keeps coming into my mind, what John Wooden said: To win a championship, it takes talent. To repeat, it takes character."

[Los Angeles Times, 8/29/07]

Touch of Character on the Court …

During a recent high school girl’s volleyball match between King City and North Salinas in California Interscholastic Federation’s Central Coast Section, four "touch" calls off the block went unnoticed by officials.

In each case, the athlete who touched the ball stepped up to the stand and took responsibility for her touch. Kudos to the Mustangs and the Vikings!

We thank the CIF and Salinas Union High School District athletic administrator Jean Kinn Ashen for informing us of this character moment.

The Right Way to Settle a Score …

Things weren’t very organized when a freshman boy’s basketball tournament in Texas began. The volunteer scorekeeper couldn’t find the tournament scoring book and asked Marble Falls Middle School coach Mark Moran if she could use his. No problem. The game ended with Marble Falls eking out a two-point victory.

Double-checking the point totals on the way to the bus, Moran noticed a discrepancy. His count showed the two teams ending in a tie. He added the numbers again. Still tied. He informed the opposing coach and they contacted an official. A decision was made to play an overtime period.

Since another tournament game was playing, the two teams wouldn’t be able to return to the floor until 10 p.m. And Marble Falls still had a two-and-a-half hour drive home.

After informing his team and their parents, Moran and his players returned to the locker room and changed back into their uniforms. The opposing coach had to call two of his star players who were on the way home with their parents to turn around and come back.

"In the end, everyone made it back and a winner was produced," Moran told us. "We got home quite late, but I slept soundly knowing I'd made the right decision."

Want a Free Sportsmanship Patch?

We sent each of those who contributed an item a free Pursuing Victory With Honor patch for telling us about honorable deeds on and off the field of play.

We'll send you one, too, if you send us your stories at CharacterCountssports@jiethics.org. Put "Jocks Behaving Exceptionally" in the subject box.

You can also report acts of good sportsmanship to the NCAA's Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct by clicking here.

COMMENTARY BY
MICHAEL JOSEPHSON

Don’t Let the Barbarians Set
the Standards for Sports

Having recently had the opportunity to speak with about 60 Olympic hopefuls, I’ve been disturbed by the barrage of cynical and scornful attempts to belittle the idea of that integrity matters in sports.

In the face of widespread outcry and some serious sanctions, dozens of sports commentators, former players, coaches, and fans have defended New England Patriot coach Bill Belichick, who was caught red-handed violating clear rules banning efforts to steal the signs of opposing teams by sideline videotaping.

The arguments are lame and sophomoric: "Everyone does it," "Cheating’s part of the game," "If you aren’t cheating, you’re not trying hard enough," "It didn’t really matter since the Pats would have won anyway," and "It’s only cheating if you get caught."

Sadly, many players, coaches, and fans who want to win any way they can find these claims persuasive. That’s why the United States Olympic Committee is so anxious that our nation’s premier athletes learn the ideals of Olympism -- a concept that elevates sportsmanship and fair play above victory.

The essence of Olympism is simple: There is no victory without honor. Cheating, boastfulness, whining, and gamesmanship techniques that treat other athletes with disrespect or demean the game are unworthy of anyone granted the privilege to represent his or her sport and country as an Olympian.

Cynics are right when they say sports cheating is rampant. It’s also true that lots of politicians lie, lots of parents neglect or abuse their children, and lots of citizens cheat on their taxes, spouses, and employers. So what?

Ethics is not about the way things are; it’s about the way they ought to be.

Like it or not, the values conveyed by sports influences our culture and shapes our attitudes as to what is permissible and proper in the pursuit of our goals. We can’t let the barbarians set the standards.

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, 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 improve personal and organizational decision making and behavior in sports.

Archives of Past Issues

ANNOUNCEMENTS

New Achievement Videos Show CHARACTER COUNTS! in Action

Thanks to a gift from a generous donor, Josephson Institute has documented the benefits of schools using our CC! framework.

Click on the above videos to witness how character education has completely changed the environment in three Los Angeles schools -- an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school.

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.

A Game-Day To-Do List for Parents

Before the game:
• Tell your child to have fun.
• Make a commitment to honor the game in action and language.

During the game:
• Don’t give your child instructions. That’s the coach’s job.
• Acknowledge good plays by both teams.
• Recognize good calls by officials but refrain from commenting on bad calls.
• Gently correct unsportsmanlike behavior of other parents or spectators.
• Don’t do anything that will embarrass your child or team.

After the game:
• Thank the officials for doing a difficult job.
• Thank the coaches for their efforts. (This is not the time for criticism.)
• Thank the opponents for a good game.
• Congratulate your child and teammates for their efforts and displays of sportsmanship.
• Ask your child if he or she had fun.

[Adapted from materials by the Positive Coaching Alliance and the American Youth Soccer Organization.]

Read more about the Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit here.

Natural League or Robocop League?

One possible way to curb the arms race in professional sports cheating would be for every sport to operate two distinct leagues – a clean (tested) league and an anything-goes (untested) league.

Traditionalists could follow the Natural League, which would play the game as it was intended. Extreme fans could watch the Robocop League, which would emphasize prodigious athletes and colossal feats.

Would you be in favor of this or not?

• Yes.
• No.
• I’m not sure.

Click here to vote

Results of Last Month's Poll

Who is the all-time greatest home run hitter? Sadaharu Oh -- 868 lifetime home runs Josh Gibson -- 800 lifetime home runs Barry Bonds -- 762 lifetime home runs Henry Aaron -- 755 lifetime home runs Babe Ruth -- 714 lifetime home runs Sammy Sosa -- 604 lifetime home runs Mark McGwire -- 583 lifetime home runs Alex Rodriguez -- 512 lifetime home runs

PRINCIPLE OF THE MONTH

Douglas Tedward/Flickr

Principle Four: Where Have You Gone Rick Ankiel, Our Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes to…Oh, Never Mind

If fame is fleeting, sports heroics are meteoric.

Only in sports can our spirits soar to ecstatic heights or plummet to abysmal depths before our eyes. St. Louis Cardinal player Rick Ankiel managed to do both -- lift us and bring us down – as his comeback fantasy story flamed out as suddenly as it flared up.

His first flicker of fame came in 1997 when USA Today named him High School Player of the Year. In 2000, his rookie season with the Cardinals, he was named a starter and won 11 games.

But he fell apart in the division series against Atlanta and in the championship series with the Mets. The next year he was demoted to Triple-A, then the Rookie League. Injuries and surgery took up the next two years. A return as a reliever in 2004 failed.

Then, just like Babe Ruth in real life and Roy Hobbs in The Natural, Ankiel mysteriously reappeared in August of this year – as a slugger, smacking 32 homers in Triple-A. The Cardinals recalled him, and he clobbered nine home runs in his first 81 at-bats.

He was the feel-good story of the year --maybe the decade -- until the New York Daily News broke the story that in 2004 Ankiel received eight shipments of human growth hormone from a Florida pharmacy under investigation for illegally distributing prescription drugs. Ankiel did not deny it.

Despite his admission, however, Major League Baseball may not have grounds to punish him unless it can prove he used HGH after the league banned it in 2005.

"I respect the integrity of the game,” he told reporters. “I’m on the same playing level everyone else is on."

Maybe that’s the problem.

Principle Four of the Arizona Sports Summit Accord states that "Athletes must conduct themselves, on and off the field, as positive role models who exemplify good character."

[www:nydailynews.com, 9/7/07]

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.

"I don’t trust any player. I can’t. We’ve been fooled too many times before. It’s sad. Feel-good stories should come with a warning label."
-- St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz on allegations that St. Louis Cardinals player Rick Ankiel received shipments of human growth hormone

"I really don’t feel like talking about it. I don’t want to get fined. That’s the only reason I came. I can’t afford to pay the fine since I keep losing."
-- Serena Williams after Justine Henin eliminated her at the U.S. Open, her third straight grand-slam loss to her

"What do you call a drug ring in Austin?
A huddle."
"Four Longhorns in a car -- who’s driving? The police."
"The Longhorns’ new honor system:
‘Yes, your honor.’ ‘No, your honor.’"
"Texas’s new rallying cry:
Book ’em, Horns."
-- Jokes regarding the recent string of arrests (six since June) involving University of Texas players

"I ought to be dealing with tomorrow night’s game -- not this crap. It was the kid’s fault."
-- Muskogee High School (Phoenix) football coach Matt Hennesy’s response after his car collided with a 7-year-old bicyclist and he left the injured boy with a trainer so he could attend a team dinner

"You can’t buy me. Money can’t buy me. But I’m not going to come back for no veteran’s minimum. I’m not coming back for no bull___ money."
-- Former NBA player Charles Oakley on attempting a comeback at age 43

"I am prepared to go without it. Maybe this money could go to pay for more players or for something else."
-- Utah Jazz player Anrei Kirilenko after announcing he plans to forfeit the $63 million dollars remaining on his contract to play for his Russian homeland

"Not as much. I’m sorry to say. I do make a distinction."
-- New York Knicks president and former player Isiah Thomas during his deposition in the sexual harassment suit against him on why a black man calling a black woman the b-word is not as derogatory as a white man doing so

"This ruling is a blow to athletes and cyclists everywhere."
-- Tour de France winner Floyd Landis after he was officially stripped of his title for testing positive for synthetic testosterone

"Today’s ruling is a victory for all clean athletes and everyone who values fair and honest competition."
-- U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart on the Landis decision

~ Classic From the Past ~

"The only reason I don’t like playing in the World Series is I can’t watch myself play."
-- Reggie Jackson, former Major League Baseball player

Barry Bonds.

Carleton Banks/Flickr

In the August issue of Editor & Publisher, illustrator and Major League Baseball mechanics consultant Michael Witte alleged that the apparatus Bonds wears on his right elbow provides advantages far beyond protection:

1. It allows him to lean over the plate without fear of being hit by a pitch, enabling him to handle outside pitches.

2. Hinged at the elbow, it allows him to release his front arm consistently on the same plane – a literal "hitting machine."

3. When his lead arm is fully elongated, the apparatus locks, forming a fulcrum that allows extraordinary explosion of the levers of his wrists.

4. The weight of the apparatus helps seal his inner upper arm to his torso at impact, allowing him to connect with the weight of his entire body, not just his arms.

5. The mechanical assistant seals his upper front arm tightly against the side of his chest, allowing him to turn more rapidly for quicker access to inside pitches.

6. The weight of the apparatus gives him more mass at impact than other hitters.

[http://editorandpublisher.com, 8/8/07]

FEEDBACK

Below are letters from readers regarding previous PVWH newsletters, articles, or current events.

NFL Media Image Just Got Worse [August 2007]

Wow, thanks for sharing this story. How crazy is that? To blow this thing out of proportion like that is definitely the media behaving badly.

If I were Jason, I would sue the newspapers that ran that story on grounds that attaching his name was unnecessary and drew negative implications on him. I would then take the proceeds, place it in a bank account for my mother to help her out, and make a public display of support for her.

These journalists and editors need to give an account for that irresponsible reporting.

John Fairlamb

Coach Dismisses Players
for Hating Him [September 2007]

The most important part of a lawsuit is selecting the right lawyer.

Based upon your comments about those protected speech rights not raised in the trial and those that were not protected, the players did not have the right lawyer or the 6th Circuit fished for an issue to support the school, much like the U.S. Supreme Court will fish for a point to support the government’s position.

The bottom line is, the coach’s conduct was at least grossly inappropriate. But then, that has been the case in school and college/professional sports for years.

Winning is the name of the game.

Stuart Riddle
Manhattan Beach, California

* * *

I agree with the court that players have no rights to play football; however, if the players were correct about the coach’s methods, then the coach should be severely reprimanded or dismissed.

This is not the example I would want my kids to be subjected to. The coach probably did them a favor by cutting them. They’ve got better things to do with their lives than associate themselves with the likes of the coach.

Will Woods

* * *

As a mother of three athletes, the coach you are describing is the nightmare we all dread. I don’t think some coaches understand the enormous influence they have on their students and how they have the power to either boost their self-esteem or destroy it.

I disagree completely with the judge’s decision. These kids need to take their case to a higher authority, preferably one with more character.

Martha López
Monterrey, México

* * *

I find the coach’s actions reprehensible. Rather than attempting to analyze the truth of the criticisms leveled against him by the players and perhaps soliciting other coaches’ opinions of the comments, he acted irrationally and in anger. Hopefully, other coaches would have dealt honestly with him and encouraged him to meet with the team to work out their concerns.

The school administration should intervene and act as an intermediary between the team and the coach to find a reasonable resolution, if possible. The concerns of the team members and the coach’s response can’t be ignored by the administration. To do so will cast a pall over the coach, the team, and the school.

If he continues such behavior, he should be fired.

Stu Cunningham

* * *

When it comes to discipline, players cannot interfere with bad behavior in the school district. The coach has the right to throw players off his football team if they break rules or cause problems. If rules are given to you by a coach or teacher, you better obey those rules if you want to be a part of that team.

The problem is, it seems the players never got a fair chance to speak their minds. If the coach physically abused them and cursed at them, they have a right to hate or dislike him. They didn’t get a fair trial in my eyes.

On the other hand, maybe the rules were drawn up by the school district and not the coach. Maybe the coach was stuck in a bad spot at a bad time.

Rob Tidball

* * *

The article was given to me in my sports ethics class. I felt sympathy for the athletes who were dismissed for expressing a public opinion promised to be protected by the United States Constitution.

The coach should have been more mature and taken precautionary measures to assure that even if the athletes did not like him, they at least respected him. That is bad coaching.

It is solely the coach’s job to assure team unity and respect. If that is not there, than neither is a team.

Jamie Hatkow

* * *

The coach was wrong, but at the same time the students weren’t right either.The coach had no right striking or putting his hands on any player. Those aren’t his kids. He wouldn’t want a coach or teacher putting their hands on his kids, I’m sure!

He was also wrong to throw away the recruiting letters. How would he feel if someone threw away his kids’ opportunity to go college!!!

Using inappropriate language and degrading players are part of high school football. The players shouldn’t feel violated with that aspect.

The players’ petition was wrong. That causes division in a team. The right way to handle this from the players’ point of view was to have a conference with the coach, players, and administration.

To add your comments to the mix, send them to us and we’ll publish the best opinions in our next issue. Send them to CharacterCountsSports@jiethics.org.

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

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