IN THIS ISSUE:
FRONT ROW
Youth- and School-Based Sports:
• Teachable Moment
• New DNA Test Tells You Which Sports Are Best for Your Child
Collegiate Sports:
• Nebraska Impressed This Rival Fan
• Texas Impressed the Whole Country
Professional Sports: The Whiner Virus Epidemic
Jocks Behaving Badly:
• Corruption Theme Night
• 2008 Stories We’d Like to Forget – But Can’t
Jocks Behaving Exceptionally:
• Sportsmanship Gesture Is “Best of the Best”
• Olympian Did the Right Thing
SIDELINES
Announcements
Trivia Test: What Did Alabama Dedicate to This Odd-Named Donor?
Sportsmanship User’s Guide: What to Do When Your Child Is Unsportsmanlike
You Make the Call: Would You Pay for a DNA Test to Determine Which Sports Are Genetically Best for Your Child?
Principle of the Month: The Day Sportsmanship Trumped the KKK
Say What?
Trivia Test Answer
Michael Josephson Commentary: Making Sports Better
Success without honor
is an unseasoned dish.
It will satisfy your hunger,
but it won’t taste good.
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– Joe Paterno, college football coach
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FRONT ROW
YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS
Teachable Moment
At one point during a Little League game, a coach said to one of his players, “Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?”
The boy nodded yes.
“Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?”
The boy nodded again.
“So when you’re out at first, you don’t argue, curse, or attack the umpire. Do you understand that?”
The boy said yes.
“Good,” the coach said. “Now go into the bleachers and tell that to your mother.”
[askmen.com/daily/jokes]
New DNA Test Tells You Which
Sports Are Best for Your Child
A controversial new genetic test claims it can help parents steer youngsters to sports to which they're genetically predisposed. In an age of fanatic sports parents, what could possibly go wrong?
Atlas Sports Genetics in Boulder, Colorado, offers a $149 mouth swab for kids up to age 8 that tests for ACTN3, a gene that research has shown to be linked to specific athletic abilities.
Those tested are told what their "genetic advantage" is (speed, power, endurance, or combination), which sports are most appropriate, and information on how to reach their potential.
China and Russia are well known for identifying athletic superstars at very young ages and training them early. Has the West finally caught up?
Critics say the data is premature, not to mention questionable. Theodore Friedmann, director of the University of California-San Diego Medical Center’s gene therapy program, doesn’t deny that the gene has a role in athletic success, but it’s too soon to offer it to the general public, calling the test “an opportunity to sell new versions of snake oil.”
Stephen Roth, director of the functional genomics laboratory at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, has studied ACTN3 but told the International Herald Tribune, “The idea that it will contribute to the Michael Phelpses or Usain Bolts of the world is shortsighted.” More than 200 genes affect athletic performance, he emphasized, not one.
William Morgan, author of Why Sports Morally Matter, told the paper, “I don’t think parents will be clear-minded about this. There are some who will just go nuts over the results.”
Even the president of Atlas Sports Genetics expressed fears that parents could make too much of the data. “Based on the test of a 5-year-old, you are not going to see if you have the next Michael Johnson,” he told the paper. “I’m nervous about people who get back results that don’t match their expectations. How will they mentally and emotionally deal with that?”
Carl Foster, director of the human performance laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, said the best way to determine if a child is gifted is still the old-fashioned way: “Line them up for a race and see which ones are the fastest.”
[iht.com, 11/29/08]
A really great man is known by three signs:
generosity in the design,
humanity in the execution,
and moderation in success.
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– Otto von Bismarck, German statesman (1815-1898)
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COLLEGIATE SPORTS
Nebraska Impressed This Rival Fan
Below is an excerpt from a letter to the Colorado Daily from a University of Colorado student:
“This year I traveled with friends to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the CU-NU game wearing bright gold colors in a sea of red expecting to be harassed and heckled. To my surprise, we didn’t receive a negative comment all day.
“The first thing we heard from a Nebraska fan was, ‘How do you like the weather?’ The other comments were ‘Good luck,’ ‘Welcome to Lincoln,’ and ‘Enjoy the game.’ This was not from stadium staff or university personnel but from diehard, life-long Nebraska fans and students.
“After we lost a close game, the fans were not heckling or bragging or taunting us in any way. We kept having random people approach us and say how hard we played and only had positive comments. When we went to dinner, the restaurant was full but some NU fans let us join them at their table.
“This is when I realized how horrible we are as fans at CU. Our fans are always booing the other team, harassing their fans outside the stadium. We throw objects on the field, curse and swear, threaten the players and refs, get into fights, and make the opposing team’s fans not want to come back. I am sick and disgusted of the way we act and wish there was a way to change the way CU is viewed in the eye of other universities and the public.”
[coloradodaily.com, 12/1/08]
Texas Impressed the Whole Country
With the University of Texas in the running for the national championship going into its final game of the season with Texas A&M, many felt the Longhorns could vault into the BCS title game with a resounding win.
That wasn't what was important to coach Mack Brown. Leading 49-9 in the third quarter, he took his Heisman-nominated quarterback Colt McCoy out of the game for the entire final quarter, potentially sacrificing many more points.
“I can’t sit here and act like we believe in sportsmanship and throw it every snap at the end,” Brown told Austin’s TV channel News-8. “If the difference between 49-9 and 56-9 is going to make the difference between if we go to Kansas City or not, then the system is more screwed up than I think it is.”
 Offensive coordinator Greg Davis recalled Brown telling him on the sideline: “We have built this program on doing things the right way, and that’s the way we’re going to do it tonight.”
The BCS voted not to elevate Texas to the championship game. The #3 Longhorns instead played #10 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. They won 24-21.
[news8austin.com, 11/28/08]
Let us not disdain glory too much –
nothing is finer except virtue.
The height of happiness would be
to unite both in this life.
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– Francois René, French diplomat (1768-1848)
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PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
The Whiner Virus Epidemic
The daily media circus that surrounds professional mega-whiners like Terrell Owens of the NFL, Stephon Marbury of the NBA, Manny Ramirez of MLB, and countless others is now threatening to infect upstanding athletes who were originally thought to be immune to the disease.
Washington Redskins linebacker London Fletcher, the league’s leading tackler this decade who’s never missed a game in his 11-year career, broke out in a rash of whining last month when he was snubbed for the Pro Bowl for the ninth time.
“I don’t know if it was because I don’t do some kind of dance when I make a tackle or don’t go out and get arrested,” he told reporters. “But because I’m not causing a lot of controversy, causing a lot of strife on my team, and playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played, I don’t garner a lot of attention.”
[Los Angeles Times, 12/21/08]
Glory is never where virtue is not.
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– Martin le Franc, French poet (1410-1461)
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JOCKS BEHAVING BADLY
Corruption Theme Night
Mix a juicy scandal, a minor league hockey team, and Las Vegas, and odds are there’s a tacky theme night in the works.
On January 30, the Las Vegas Wranglers will hold a “Rod Blagojevich Prison Uniform Night” in recognition of the Illinois governor’s recent corruption charges.
Players will wear vintage striped prison uniforms with their regular numbers printed as prison issue numbers. A seat between the two benches will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. And each player’s jersey will be autographed and auctioned off afterward for charity.
In the past, the Wranglers have worn pink uniforms to promote cancer research, promoted mullet hat night, and given away orange vests at its “Dick Cheney Hunting Vest Night.”
[lasvegaswranglers.com, 12/10/08; ktnv.com, 12/11/08]
2008 Stories We’d Like to Forget –
But Can’t
Little Leaguer benched for mother trying to feed him. A 7-year-old Boston area Little Leaguer was benched for two games when his mother missed her mandatory shift at the snack bar. Her excuse: She had to work that day to feed her family.
The Freetown Youth Athletic Association saw through that, of course. It always starts with the family, doesn’t it? Next thing you know, it’s someone’s health or a house lost in a flood. In the meantime, Cheetos must be sold, people.
Players cut from all-black team claim racial profiling. When Danville (Ill.) High School’s basketball coach cut eight varsity members from the team, community leaders cried foul. “We have racial profiling going on,” said pastor Frank McCullough of Mount Olive Christian Church, despite the fact that it was an all-black team.
A parent of one of the cut players was even more outraged when she heard the coach’s reasoning for the cuts: He wanted to choose the best players for the team.
Soccer mom loses permit for bringing Glock to game. Melanie Hain of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, says she takes her holstered Glock 26 handgun everywhere, but when she took it to her 5-year-old daughter’s soccer game, parents were more than uncomfortable and complained. The county sheriff subsequently revoked her concealed-weapons permit.
“I don’t understand why this is happening to me,” Hain said. “I’ve never had any trouble.”
We would have loved to hear her pregame chats with the coach during the season, though: We’re starting Annie at forward again, aren’t we? We're not taking her out of the game this time, are we? You're bringing the oranges next week instead of me, aren't you?
[wbztv.com, 5/15/08; timesleader.com, 9/24/08; news-gazette.com, 11/26/08]
We mount to heaven mostly on the ruins
of our cherished schemes,
finding our failures were successes.
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– Amos Bronson Alcott, teacher (1799-1888)
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JOCKS BEHAVING EXCEPTIONALLY
Sportsmanship Gesture Is
“Best of the Best”
As part of the Big South Conference’s 25th anniversary, it's honoring the 25 “Best of the Best” moments in league history. Its sportsmanship honoree is Danny Gathings, who won All Big South basketball honors for High Point University in 2003 and 2004.
In the 2004 championship tournament, Gathings led the team to the title game where it met Liberty and its Freshman of the Year Larry Blair. Liberty routed High Point 89-44. Gathings scored just 7 points and Blair tallied 29, making a record seven three-pointers. Gathings, however, was named the tournament MVP.
Gathings felt the freshman deserved the honor more than he did, so he traveled all the way to Liberty on his own and presented Blair with the award.
His coach Bart Lundy recalled the gesture. “No one asked Danny to give up his award. He could have kept the trophy and moved on like 99 percent of people in his shoes would have done. But he chose to take a stand and try to right something he thought was wrong.”
For his selfless gesture, Gathings was named the NCAA’s 2004 National Co-Sportsman of the Year and won the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance Award.
Kyle Kallander, commissioner of the Big South, said, “The lesson is to do what’s in your heart. In this day and age in athletics, where you don’t see nearly enough publicity about acts of good sportsmanship, it was a tremendous gesture.”
[highpointpanthers.com, 12/2/08]
Olympian Did the Right Thing
U.S. sprinter Shawn Crawford, who won the 200-meter gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, finished a disappointing fourth in the event last summer in Beijing.
Moments after the event, however, the stadium announced that Crawford’s teammate and friend, Wallace Spearmon, who had won the bronze medal and was taking a victory lap draped in the American flag, had been disqualified for a lane violation.
Stunned, Spearmon tossed the flag to Crawford – now the new bronze medal winner. Crawford reluctantly took the flag but declined to take a victory lap, saying later: “This medal was given to me. I don’t deserve it.”
Two hours later came the next bombshell. Film revealed that silver medalist Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles had also committed a lane violation and was disqualified as well, moving Crawford up to the silver. He accepted the medal at the award ceremony, but that was not the end of the story.
A couple of weeks later, Martina was in Zurich and was informed he had a package at the front desk of his hotel. It contained the silver medal. Crawford had quietly returned it. No statement. No leak to the media. No press conference.
“It’s a tremendous gesture on his part in the best spirit of the Olympic ideals,” U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive Jim Scherr told Chicago Tribune writer Philip Hersh afterward.
[newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/sports, 12/5/08] |
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
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SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE
| CHARACTER COUNTS! Chronicle (monthly character-education topics) |
| Commentary (weekly character essays by Michael Josephson) |
| Pursuing Victory With Honor (monthly sportsmanship topics) |
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Does Your Sportsmanship Measure Up? Find Out With Our New PVWH Surveys
Josephson Institute wants to know how sportsmanlike America is by launching three new online sportsmanship surveys – one for athletes (ongoing), one for coaches (upcoming), and one for baseball coaches (completed). More may be on the way.
• Participate in our athletes’ survey here.
• View the results of our recently completed baseball coaches’ survey (of more than 1,200 members of the American Baseball Coaches Association).
• We are currently preparing a general survey for coaches in all sports and should have the poll completed soon. Check for it at JosephsonInstitute.org/sports.
Can You Pass Our Adult Integrity Self-Test?
Our biennial Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth received tremendous media coverage along with a demand for a survey to measure the integrity of adults as well. Please take the test here. It requires less than 10 minutes. It’s thought-provoking and you’ll be interested in the results.
PVWH Pioneer Named Florida’s Superintendent of the Year
Joseph Joyner, superintendent of St. Johns County schools since 2003, was named Florida’s Superintendent of the Year.
The district is one of only 10 in the state to earn an “A” for the past seven years and continually ranks in the top 14 percent of the nation in “What Parents Want” in public schools.
Prime example: Joyner was the first in Florida to initiate the Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship program in the state.
Joyner attended Florida State on a football scholarship and was named Alumnus of the decade in 2007.
Nike Wants Your Ideas on
How to Change Women’s Sports
Nike is hosting a competition for the opportunity to win one of three $5,000 cash grants to find new ways to remove barriers holding women back through sports.
Click here to share your stories and enter your ideas – and you may become a Nike Gamechanger.
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TRIVIA TEST |
When benefactors give generous endowments to universities, they're commonly rewarded by having something on campus named after them.
The University of Alabama faced a perplexing challenge, however, when James M. Fail donated a gift to its athletic program.
What Did Alabama Dedicate to This Odd-Named Donor?
See the answer below.
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SPORTSMANSHIP USER’S GUIDE |
What to Do When Your
Child Is Unsportsmanlike
Many articles have been written about out-of-control athletes throwing tantrums, but what if your child is the offender?
Familyeducation.com has some tips on how to talk with your child about sports misbehavior:
• “It’s not like you to act like that on the field.” Try not to be accusatory. Let him know you understand there may have been an unusual circumstance behind his behavior. Did an opponent push you? Were you responding to a referee’s call?
• “It’s frustrating when that happens, isn’t it?” It’s always helpful to validate a child’s feelings, even if you’re not happy with her behavior.
• “That incident may happen again, so let’s think about other ways to cope.” Playing sports can be frustrating. Discuss with your child acceptable strategies to deal with pressure, questionable calls, and unfair opponents.
• “Everyone likes to win, but it’s more important that you have fun.” Put winning in perspective and show how to win and lose with honor. Be sincere about your feelings. Talk about times when winning or losing was important to you.
• “Does your coach pressure you too much to win? Do I?” Parents often don’t realize what example they’re setting for their child. Key signals are how you behave when you play sports or board games, when you watch your child play sports, and when an official, coach, or your child makes a mistake.
[life.familyeducation.com]
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YOU MAKE THE CALL |
Would You Pay For a DNA Test to Determine Which Sports Are Genetically Best for Your Child?
For background on this topic, see “New DNA Test Tells You Which Sports Are Best for Your Child” elsewhere in this issue.
• Yes.
• No.
• Not sure.
Click here to vote
Results of Last Month’s Poll
Should the BCS Be Scrapped in Favor of a Playoff?
| Yes. |
88% |
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| No. |
7% |
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| Not sure. |
4% |
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PRINCIPLE OF THE MONTH |
Principle Eleven: The Day Sportsmanship Trumped the KKK
Prior to Alabama’s high school Class 3A state title football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium last month, several players were honored for their participation in an historic title game in 1968.
Although the players from St. Jude and Gordo high schools did not realize 40 years ago the significance of the game they were about to play, they all know it now.
At that time, there were two separate public school athletic organizations in the state: the Alabama High School Athletic Association (which served historically white schools) and the Alabama Interscholastic Athletic Association (which served historically black schools).
The 1968 Merger Act forced the two organizations to unify, resulting in the state’s first integrated state title game that year.
St. Jude was an all-black Catholic school at the time and Gordo was all-white, and not everybody wanted the races to play together. Violence was feared.
The game was played without incident, helped pave the way for integration in Alabama, and made the participants trailblazers.
“We had no idea of the impact,” former St. Jude assistant coach James Durry told the Selma Times-Journal. “We knew that part of the country was saturated with the KKK. But we knew the coaches [at Gordo], and they had their boys saturated with sportsmanship.”
Principle Eleven of the Arizona Sports Summit Accord states that “Everyone involved in competition has a duty to honor the traditions of the sport and to treat other participants with respect.”
[selmatimesjournal.com, 12/4/08]
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. Read the full text here.
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SAY WHAT? |
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“I wouldn’t call him a great player because I think he’s a [expletive].”
– Tiger Woods’s caddy Steve Williams on golfer Phil Mickelson
“After seeing Steve Williams’s comments, all I could think of was how lucky I am to have a class act like [Jim Mackay] on my bag and representing me.”
– Phil Mickelson’s reply to Williams
“I was disappointed to read the comments attributed to Steve Williams about Phil Mickelson, a player I respect. It was inappropriate. The matter has been discussed and dealt with.”
– Tiger Woods’s statement after the incident
“No, not unless you consider a hammer and a nail a rivalry.”
– ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg on whether Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson is a rivalry
“Billy, that bunch of turkeys you had couldn’t have guarded you and me.”
– Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Bob Cousy to Los Angeles Lakers consultant Bill Sharman after last year’s NBA final series between the two teams
“The monks give me a lifetime contract because they figure I can’t last much longer. But there’s a clause in there that if we start losing games, they can give me the last sacraments and declare me dead.”
– St. John’s (Minnesota) football coach John Gagliardi, 82, on his job security
“The only way I can explain it to my sons is that my scoring software has a virus.”
– Golfer Joey Sindelar on his weak short game
“Shame on you and the people who are responsible for even bringing this up. You say $2 million. I say get rid of an administrator at each school and the problem is solved.”
– Coach Jeff Borges on the threat by the East Side Union High School District in San Jose, California, that if $2 million isn’t raised by 2010 to help balance the budget, the district will eliminate all high school sports
“My son, who is 11, asked me where I bought all my trophies.”
– Golfer Steve Elkington, winless since 1999, on why he’s playing more
“Do you wish your daughter had married a better defensive coordinator?”
– Detroit News columnist Rob Parker to winless Detroit Lions coach Rod Marinelli, whose daughter married the team’s defensive coordinator Joe Barry
“Tyson Homosexual was a blur in blue, sprinting 100 meters faster than anyone ever has. Homosexual qualified for his first Summer Games. ‘It means a lot to me,’ the 25-year-old Homosexual said.”
– Excerpt of article about U.S. Olympic sprinter Tyson Gay on Onenewsnow.com, a Christian organization website whose policy is to replace the word “gay” with “homosexual”
~ Classic From the Past ~
“I play football. I’m not trying to be a professor. The tests don’t make sense to me, measuring your brain on stuff I haven’t been through in school.”
– Academically ineligible Clemson recruit Ray Forsythe
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TRIVIA TEST ANSWER |
The Fail Room.
Why would the university make this inexplicable name a prominent fixture at Bryant-Denny Stadium?
It’s the new official name of the visitor’s locker room.
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MICHAEL JOSEPHSON’S COMMENTARY |
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Making Sports Better
Suppose your daughter is away at college and you learn she’s dating a running back for the school’s nationally ranked football team. You know nothing more about the fellow. Do his athletic credentials make you worry more or less?
I’m a huge sports fan, but the sad fact is that I’d worry more – a lot more.
Despite the great character-building potential of sports, far too many modern-day athletes develop a “can’t touch me” entitlement attitude about life that is more likely to stunt than stimulate the development of virtues like self-restraint, unselfishness, and fidelity.
We are doing horrible things to our fine young athletes. As early as elementary school, exceptional youngsters are pegged and then preened for their role as stars. The expectations and demands on their lives outside of sports become lower and lower. Parents, coaches, and boosters often make excuses for them, get them out of trouble, and otherwise run interference for their journey through life.
So we can’t really be surprised when an uncomfortably high percentage of them become self-indulgent and egocentric. What’s amazing is how many quality youngsters emerge from this process at all.
We promote overconfidence and the delusion that wealth and fame are inevitable. Consequently, many young athletes shortchange their education and ignore the development of other critical life skills.
And when injuries or the sheer crush of competition eliminate all but a select few from the race, most of them have to rebuild their self-concept without athletics and fight the fear that their futures are behind them.
We owe youngsters much more than that. That’s why our national Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship campaign is so important. It emphasizes that coaches are first and foremost teachers and demands that responsible sports programs go beyond teaching athletic techniques and competitive strategies.
Youth sports should, above all, foster the development of character and enhance the mental, social, and moral development of student-athletes to help them become personally successful and socially responsible.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
For an archive of Mr. Josephson’s commentaries, click here.
To receive free weekly e-mail, including all five of Mr. Josephson’s commentaries from that week, please sign up here.
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TRAINING AND CONSULTING |
We offer a wide variety of ethics training courses and consulting services. Read more here or call 800-711-2670.
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CONTACT US |
Josephson Institute
9841 Airport Blvd., Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90045
(310) 846-4800
(800) 711-2670
http://CharacterCounts.org/
http://JosephsonInstitute.org/
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