IN THIS ISSUE:
FRONT ROW
Youth- and School-Based Sports:
• Six Ways to Be a Model Coach
• Does Your Kid Have Enough Bling?
Collegiate Sports:
• Georgia’s Athletic Director Is a Bulldog on Attendance
• Imagine If Big Ten Refs Didn’t Have Background Checks
Professional Sports: Are Professional Sports Gambling Away Their Future?
Jocks Holiday Celebrations
Jocks Behaving Badly:
• Coach Spreads Holiday Jeer
• Hockey Goon Takes Step in Wrong Direction
Jocks Behaving Exceptionally:
• Playoffs Determined by Sportsmanship, Not Wins
• How’s Your Locker Room Etiquette?
• Sportsmanship Rises From Aussie Ashes
Michael Josephson Commentary: Coaching a Winning Machine
SIDELINES
Announcements
Trivia Test: Complete This Saying: “[Blank] Is a Gentlemen’s Game Played by Hooligans, and [Blank] Is a Hooligans’ Game Played by Gentlemen."
Sportsmanship User's Guide: Are You a Good Coach?
You Make the Call: Should Kids Get Championship Rings?
Principle of the Month: We Can All Learn From This Teachable Lesson
Say What?
Upcoming Seminars
Trivia Test Answer
Success is that old ABC --
ability, breaks, and courage.
-- Charles Luckman, businessman and architect
(1909-1999)
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FRONT ROW
YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS
Six Ways to Be a Model Coach
1. Everything you say or do makes an impression on kids. What they don’t see, they often sense.
2. The measure of character is how you act when you think no one’s looking. You’d be surprised at what kids know, hear about, and discover by accident. Behavior speaks louder and more persuasively than anything you can say.
3. Only a fraction of young people will play sports beyond high school, but most will become parents, employees, and citizens. By building their character, you’ll give them and the rest of society a permanent gift.
4. Setting rules is important because young people are especially vigilant for unfairness and hypocrisy. Too many adults (and pro athletes) are selfish and undisciplined because rules weren’t enforced or didn’t apply to them when they were young.
5. When the game’s on the line, so is integrity.
6. If you’re not sure how to handle a situation, ask yourself:
• What would I tell my child to do?
• What would I do if my child was looking over my shoulder?
• Do I want my character judged on this decision?
• How would I feel if my decision was reported on the 6 o’clock news?
• If everybody did it, would it be a good thing?
• What would my role model do?
Class is when they run you out of town
and it looks like you’re leading a parade.
-- Bill Battle, college football coach |
YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS
Does Your Kid Have Enough Bling?
Parental Advisory: If you have kids and are on a tight budget, read the following at your own risk.
Picture the moment if you will. Executives at Pop Warner, the nation’s largest youth football and cheerleading organization, are sitting around their polished conference room table one day discussing new ideas to broaden their appeal, attract new sponsors, and make more money.
"I have an idea," someone says. "What if we had an Official Jewelry Provider?"
"But we’re an organization for youngsters," the head man responds. "Kids don’t wear jewelry."
"All the more reason. What child wouldn’t want a … Pop Warner championship ring?"
Ka-ching.
We’re not saying that’s how it went down, but last month, Pop Warner partnered with Jostens, manufacturer of 27 of the last 41 NFL Super Bowl rings, to produce customized rings to help its 5- to 15-year-old competitors "remember their experiences for a lifetime."
No word on how much the rings will cost, but we’re pretty sure that: 1) every kid will want one, 2) every parent will give them one, 3) every kid will lose or outgrow it, and 5) Pop Warner and Jostens will reap a windfall.
[http://lioninoil.blogspot.com, 12/10/07]
Always keep your composure.
You can’t score from the penalty box.
-- Bobby Hull, hockey player
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COLLEGIATE SPORTS
Georgia’s Athletic Director Is a Bulldog
on Attendance
Contrary to what many people believe, Division 1 and II student-athletes graduate at a higher rate than the general student population (62 percent to 60 percent and 54 percent to 46 percent respectively), according to the latest government figures.
NCAA President Myles Brand was ecstatic. "It’s very heartening," he told The Dallas Morning News. "In the athletic culture, the idea of academic performance is taking hold."
Georgia’s Athletic Director Damon Evans, however, was fuming. Among all Division 1-A football programs, Georgia’s graduation rate (42 percent) was third from last, so Evans implemented a simple new policy: Miss class time, miss court time. An unexcused third absence from class costs a player 10 percent of his season. Any miss thereafter is an additional 10 percent.
"We’re not asking them to do anything out of the ordinary," Evans told Foxsports.com. "Just go to class."
Today the team is rolling at 8-3 and, more important, missed classes and tutorial appointments have plummeted nearly 95 percent. All 13 of its players are on track to graduate and nine are ahead of schedule.
"[The new policy] may have an impact on our programs in terms of wins and losses," Evans said, "but in the long run we’ll be better served. I don’t want to sacrifice education just to win games."
[http://msn.foxsports.com; www.dallasnews.com; wwws.allbusiness.com/government; www.chicagotribune.com, 12/19/07]
No one ever drowned in sweat.
-- Lou Holtz, football coach and analyst
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COLLEGIATE SPORTS
Imagine If Big Ten Refs Didn’t Have
Background Checks
With officiating scandals becoming the newest sports scourge, many institutions are toughening their background checks for officials.
Some apparently didn’t get the memo.
Stephen Pamon has been a Big Ten football referee since 1988. He underwent a background review upon his hiring and periodic checks thereafter, including the last one in 2005. Since Pamon’s hiring in 1988, the following incidents have occurred:
• In 1995 he was fired from the Chicago Police Department for alleged sexually harassing two female officers.
• In 1995 his former wife accused him of striking her and assaulting a 19-year-old niece.
• In 1997 he allegedly beat three of his girlfriend’s four sons repeatedly with an electrical cord.
• In 2002 he filed for bankruptcy with his wife, listing two casinos among the creditors and more than $400,000 in debts.
• In 2007 he and his crew made controversial calls in two late-season games between Penn State and Purdue and Illinois’s upset over #1 Ohio State. In both games, according to sports betting analyst R.J. Bell of Pregame.com, a disproportionate amount of money was bet on the teams that benefitted from the calls. Despite this background, the Big Ten allowed him to work in the conference, and the NCAA cleared him to officiate bowl games such as the Sugar, Holiday, Independence, and Fiesta.
But that’s not the head-scratching part. After a recent Yahoo! Sports story revealed the above incidents, the conference announced it had had enough. It would…do another background check.
Here’s a suggestion for the Big Ten: How about doing a background check on your background check committee?
[http://sports.espn.go.com, 12/20/07]
Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.
-- George Halas, football player, coach, and owner (1895-1983)
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PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
Are Professional Sports Gambling Away
Their Future?
In 2006, a massive match-fixing operation crippled Italy’s top professional soccer league after telephone interceptions revealed extensive communications and deals between teams and referees.
But that’s nothing compared to what international soccer is facing now. All of Europe is enmeshed in allegations that Asian crime syndicates basically manipulate the sport by bribing players, managers, and referees. The bets are also used to launder money from the drug trade, prostitution, and weapons deals.
Here in the U.S., veteran NBA referee Tim Donaghy will be sentenced this month after pleading guilty last year to federal conspiracy charges alleging he passed along inside information on NBA games. Donaghy had a gambling problem and allegedly had been approached by mob associates to work on a gambling scheme.
According to one official who requested anonymity, the league itself contributes to the problem by rule changes that encourage more offense. Thus, excessive foul calls, which lead to more free throws and higher scoring, are encouraged, making it easier for officials to subtly affect game outcomes.
The sport of tennis is presently in chaos because of several suspicious incidents and the fact that it’s practically impossible to determine if player errors are errant shots or premeditated misses.
Nikolay Davydenko, the men’s No. 4 player, is being investigated for retiring from a match after unusually large betting wagers were placed on him to lose. Since then, he’s been fined for lack of effort and suspicious serving in several matches.
And Germany’s top player, Tommy Haas, was forced to withdraw during a Davis Cup semifinal in Moscow when he fell seriously ill. His doubles partner claimed a Russian consoled him afterward about the loss by saying, "It’s a shame Tommy was poisoned."
Although tennis authorities are skeptical about match-fixing, John McEnroe isn’t one of them. "Mafia types could be involved," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Someone may have threatened the players and they’re put in a situation. That would make more sense than top players throwing a match for money."
[www.zimbio.com, 6/25/07; www.nytimes.com, 11/10/2007; www.dailymail.co.uk, 12/1/07; www.telegraph.co.uk, 12/2/07; http://hollywoodreporter.com, 12/7/07; www.msnbc.msn.com, 12/10/07]
Masculinity is not something given to you,
but something you gain. And you gain it
by winning small battles with honor.
-- Norman Mailer, author, journalist (1923-2007)
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How Athletes Celebrated the Holidays
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Are superstar athletes different from us? Did you have any doubt? Adapted from a list by the witty elves at Littlefivers.com/sports, here’s how some elite players feasted this year during the holidays:
• As always, Peyton sat his brother at the little kids’ table.
• Barry Bonds’s ham was 17 pounds going into the oven, 43 pounds coming out.
• With every bite of Ricky Williams’s herb stuffing, the relatives got hungrier.
• Michael Vick’s turkey still had the rabies and license tag on it.
• Grandma Belichick’s secret stuffing recipe is no longer secret thanks to her grandson’s hidden kitchen-cam.
• Isiah Thomas made a fowl pass at the turkey.
• Kobe Bryant refused to share his giblets.
• Terrell Owens and Randy Moss kept asking everyone to pass the gravy.
• Tiger Woods’s slice was a thing to behold.
• Nobody could keep up with Roger Federer until Rafael Nadal brought out the clay pottery.
• Marion Jones insisted she didn’t spike the eggnog.
• Serena Williams asked everyone if her drumsticks were too fat.
• David Beckham bragged that he liked yams on his spice.
• Guests were shocked that before cutting the bird, Curt Schilling didn’t remove the bloody leg wraps.
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Winning is about heart, not just legs.
It's got to be in the right place.
-- Lance Armstrong, cyclist
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JOCKS BEHAVING BADLY
Coach Spreads Holiday Jeer …
Some coaches are too removed from their players, so it’s refreshing when someone makes an effort to bond with his team and take them on special outings. Especially during the holidays.
In Marietta, Georgia, John Hayes’s heart was in the right place. It’s his mind we’re not sure of. Loading several of his middle-school players into the back of his pickup truck, he drove them around after dark to see the neighborhood Christmas displays – and to damage them.
Bad Santa even let his merry elves rearrange reindeer and other lawn objects into X-rated positions.
One homeowner witnessed the acts and confronted Hayes with, "Are you crazy?" Hayes reportedly replied, "It’s just a bit of fun."
He was charged with trespassing, reckless conduct, and contributing to the delinquency of minors. "We try as hard as we can to keep our kids on the straight and narrow," said one of the victimized residents, "and then to find out it was a [coach] doing this, it makes you wonder."
[www.cbs46.com, 12/18/07]
Hockey Goon Takes Step in Wrong Direction …
New York Islanders forward Chris Simon drew the longest suspension in NHL history – 25 games -- last year when he slammed New York Rangers forward Ryan Hollweg in the face with his stick.
The good news: Simon’s record was just broken. The bad news: Simon did it.
Last month he stomped on Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jarkko Ruutu’s leg with his skate blade and was banned for 30 games. He was also ordered to take a leave of absence and undergo counseling.
In the understatement of the year, league disciplinarian Colin Campbell told the Associated Press that Simon’s six prior suspensions have not been a deterrent.
[http://ap.google.com, 12/19/07]
The integrity and self-esteem gained from winning the battle against extremity
are the richest treasures in my life.
-- Diana Nyad, long–distance swimmer
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JOCKS BEHAVING EXCEPTIONALLY
Playoffs Determined by Sportsmanship,
Not Wins …
Okay, so it’s only flag football, but Weber State University may have come up with a novel way to promote exemplary conduct in sports.
Last month the school’s intramural playoff championship round took place on the campus practice field. In a radical departure from how most sports are played, Weber State determined that instead of basing playoff eligibility on the best records, it would be determined by the best sportsmanship. Teams that exhibited the highest degree of good behavior and teamwork advanced to the playoffs; those that fell short were not invited.
"The players become more concerned with treating each other with respect instead of worrying about winning the game," Clay Brown, director of intramural sports, told Weber State blogger Joshua Davidson.
[http://joshuadavidson.wordpress.com, 11/30/07]
How’s Your Locker Room Etiquette? …
Indiana’s Great Lakes Valley Conference recently implemented a sportsmanship initiative to reward teams that demonstrate exemplary conduct and to highlight examples of good behavior on and off the field. Below is the first incident that appeared on its website:
Dear Coach MacKenzie and Coach Musso (Quincy University),
I wanted to say thank you to you and your student-athletes and commend them for the way they treated our facilities.
Many times after a game, the bench area has cups and trash on the ground and the locker room is trashed: cups, tape, mud, and trash lying on the floor, showers still running, towels thrown in the trash, sinks covered in mud, the list goes on.
Not with Quincy University. The [bench area trash] was picked up. The locker room was in good condition: showers were off, trash was in the trash can, and towels were in the bag.
I hope when we play on the road that we also treat our host’s facilities with the same respect your student-athletes showed toward our facilities.
Sincerely,
Gerry Schlemer,
Head Athletic Trainer
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
[www.glvcsports.com]
Sportsmanship Rises From Aussie Ashes …
In January 2006, brushfires razed Australia’s Grampians region, charring an area the size of metropolitan Melbourne.
During the holocaust, the small townships of Moyston and Pomonal beat back repeated assaults by the "red dragon," losing two residents and many homes to the inferno. One week after the flames were out, the two communities played a regularly scheduled cricket match that many say was the finest game they had ever witnessed.
A remarkable spirit seemed to infuse the game in which, according to The Stawell Times-News, "sportsmanship prevailed at every ball, where good nature and hard, fair play were the order of the day…when the determination of the people in the face of incredible adversity and the spirit of the game were one."
A jar rescued from the flames and filled with ashes from one of the burned-out farms was used as a perpetual trophy. In the future it will symbolically contain ashes from a shearing shed, a fence post, a tree, or other surrounds. No winners’ names will grace the award because the communities feel it should not honor who wins the game but how it’s played.
The second Ashes Match, as it’s now called, was played last month. We know who won, but you won’t find the score here.
[http://stawell.yourguide.com.au, 12/28/07]
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.
The mastery of the true self, and the refusal to permit others to dominate us, is the ultimate in living and self-expression in athletics.
-- Percy Cerutty, Australian athletic coach (1895-1975)
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 COMMENTARY BY
MICHAEL JOSEPHSON
Coaching a Winning Machine
When Larry volunteered to coach a boys’ football team, he wanted to help each youngster develop not only his football skills, but his character and work habits. He also wanted to mold the youngsters into a winning machine.
He soon discovered that these goals weren’t always compatible. In the end, he decided that youngsters would learn more by winning than by losing.
For five consecutive years, his teams went undefeated.
Then one day he realized, "I’d made some very good football players, but they weren’t going to be the kind of people I’d want as neighbors, let alone fellows I’d want to date my own kids." All his victories turned to dry powder.
He saw some of his best players making bad life decisions, and he knew he’d failed them. What he’d taught them about blocking, tackling, throwing, and running had made them better players, but he could have spent more time teaching them values that would have made them better people.
Today Larry coaches coaches. He tells them their primary responsibility is to provide youngsters with a safe and fun context for building character and positive life skills. He tells them competition and passion in the pursuit of victory are important and, when kept in perspective, can enhance both enjoyment and personal development.
Using himself as an example, he warns them not to let the desire to win blur their vision as to what coaching’s really about.
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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