IN THIS ISSUE:

FRONT ROW

Youth- and School-Based Sports: Nine Ways to Play Right
Collegiate Sports:
Are Women Thugs the Last Sports Barrier to Fall?
Hokies and Tarheels Enhance Their Reputations
Professional Sports: The Newest Doping Scandal – Money
Jocks Behaving Badly: Worst Motivational Coaching Technique of the Month
Jocks Behaving Exceptionally: NCAA Sportsmanship Award Winners and Finalists
Michael Josephson Commentary: Does Sportsmanship Matter?

SIDELINES

Announcements
Feedback
Trivia Test: How Do LSU and Tulane Honor Sportsmanship Before Their Big Game?
Sportsmanship User's Guide: Parents’/Guardians’ Pledge
You Make the Call: Should Thierry Henry Have Told the Referee to Disallow the Goal?
Principle of the Month: Cross-Country Runners Lead the Way
Say What?
Trivia Test Answer

FRONT ROW

YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS

Nine Ways to Play Right

The first and fastest growing franchise of youth sports leagues, camps, and programs in the country is  a Tampa Bay outfit called i9 Sports. With more than 100,000 participants and 100 franchises in 25 states, the program focuses on nine principles that symbolize its core ideology of fun, safety, and good sportsmanship:

1. Imaginative
2. Innovative
3. Interactive
4. Integrity-driven
5. Impassioned
6. Inspirational
7. Instructional
8. Insightful
9. Inclusive

i9 believes everyone has a right to play. Therefore, no child is ever excluded by a tryout, made to feel like he or she isn’t good enough, or cut from a team. Each week a good sportsmanship value is highlighted in practice. The team member who best exhibits the value that week earns an award.

It also believes that learning to play a sport is only half the equation. The other half is developing character. “The win-at-all-costs mentality so prevalent in youth sports today is not only destructive to team morale, it severely undermines individual self-esteem,” says the website. “The value of teaching children teamwork, fair play, and good sportsmanship goes far beyond the game.”

In addition, every parent of a child participating in i9 Sports is held to strict standards as well, including “no screaming.” They must also agree to its Parental Pledge that states in part: “I will refrain from the use of negative or derogatory language aimed at the officials, the coaches, my child, or other players. I will encourage my child and all others in the game and will let the coach be the coach. I will do my best to model the sportsmanship-like behavior I wish my child to adopt, and to support the coach in making this the best possible experience for my child.”
  
Learn more
https://www.i9sports.com/Welcome.aspx

COLLEGIATE SPORTS

Are Women Thugs the Last Sports Barrier to Fall?

The astonishing swath of brutality carved out in a recent game by University of New Mexico soccer defender Elizabeth Lambert has, in a few short weeks, mutated from just another YouTube must-see to perhaps the most critical tipping point in women’s sports in decades.

Lambert’s one-woman goonish blitzkrieg on the field through what appeared to be the entire BYU squad – not to mention the inexplicable inaction by both the referee and Lambert’s coaches – has spurred a national debate about gender roles, double standards, female aggression, and even spectator titillation.

Reactions from blogs and the media have been as diverse as the ways Lambert battered her opponents – from critics condemning her actions as assault to a former player applauding her for not being a “dainty little priss-pot – just go hammer somebody” to those calling her “hot.”

It all comes down to how we want female athletes to play. If we want them to play like men, then we shouldn’t have a snit when a Lambert or a Serena Williams or a Candace Parker show just how nasty and aggressive they can be. Nor should we act shocked when they mimic the emotional and physical characteristics of male athletes: performance-enhancing drugs, bigger muscles, tattoos, and violence.

But we can’t have it both ways. We can’t idolize male athletes for unleashing extreme aggression and then act horrified or ogle female athletes who do the same. Roughnecks, whether male or female, should be consistently condemned and discouraged. Winking pruriently at female ferocity (catfight!) may be our way of making such conduct seem less threatening, but it blinds us to what’s really happening.

Kristine Newhall, cofounder of the Title IX blog, told The New York Times that women today are clearly following the male lead in sports. “We’re missing a chance to say what’s acceptable in the men’s game and ask why we are taking this model.”

[nytimes.com, 11/11/09]

Hokies and Tar Heels Enhance Their Reputations

Already renowned for being models of sportsmanship, the athletic programs of Virginia Tech and the University of North Carolina demonstrated once again how important image can be to an institution of higher learning.

Virginia Tech
After its football team defeated visiting Nebraska earlier this season, its athletic department was flooded with phone calls, e-mails, and letters to the editor from Nebraska fans who had traveled to Virginia for the game. Among them were these:

“To a man/woman, every person who attended raved about the graciousness, friendliness, and quality of the Hokies’ fan base, the reception they received from the university, and the overall positive experience. ‘Virginia Tech gets what college sports is all about’ was a common theme I heard from everyone. If I heard it once, I heard it at least 20 times. The single best experience at an away football game EVER – this coming from people who have attended away Husker games for at least 25-30 years.”

“Walking into the game, I enjoyed the dialogue of a Husker fan telling a Tech fan ‘Don’t give me any more beer! I can’t handle another Tech fan inviting me to their tailgate.’”

“I’ve never been treated better or made to feel more welcome by a town, a school, and its fan base than what I encountered at Tech. What a wonderful experience.”

“We parked in a guy’s yard and my wife asked where the nearest restroom could be found. He said, ‘Oh, just go in the house. Top of the stairs.’ Then he walked away. Several fans told us how excited they were to have Nebraska come. After the game, no razzing. Just ‘Thanks for coming’ and several ‘You outplayed us.’”

“At the game I noticed Virginia Tech’s campaign to promote respect for visiting fans, teams, and coaches. I cannot begin to tell you how impressed I was.”

North Carolina
Moments after North Carolina upset Virginia Tech 20-17 last month, amidst the Tar Heels’ merrymaking, another kind of drama was unfolding at the other end of the field. Virginia Tech redshirt freshman running back Ryan Williams, who had fumbled late in the game, allowing North Carolina to kick the winning field goal and ending Tech’s chance of going to a BCS bowl, was sitting alone, inconsolable, on the Virginia Tech bench.

Quan Sturdivant, a North Carolina linebacker, broke away from the dancing and celebrating and approached the bench. Tech coaches saw him and told him to get away from the young man, but as ESPN’s cameras revealed, Sturdivant ignored them, leaned over Williams, patted him on the leg, and spoke to him for a while. A Tar Heel coach joined him a moment later with further words of encouragement.

A blogger later wrote, “My business is across the street from the Little League field where Quan first started playing sports. Truly the most humble young man I have come across when dealing with elite high school athletes. Class act.”
 

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

The Newest Doping Scandal – Money

When an athlete’s appearance and/or performance improves so suddenly and remarkably that he or she dominates opponents, it’s natural to suspect the individual may be illegally doping.

When an athletic team mutates into a powerful dynasty that continually reigns over all opponents, it’s natural to suspect it may be financially doping.

The New York Yankees, winners of more championships than any American professional franchise in sports history – have been accused of that. With money pouring in from ticket sales, advertising, merchandising, taxes (New Yorkers are paying for their new stadium), and their own TV station, their $200+ million payroll, highest of any American sports team and more than $126 million over the average baseball team, allows them to, in effect, use the other 28 teams in the league as their personal farm system, snatching the best players each year and forcing the other teams to scrabble for the chaff. To fans of other teams, the “NY” on their cap stands for “Not Yours.”

But the Yankees’ dominance pales in comparison to Spanish soccer team Real Madrid. The elite squad annually brings in 366 million Euros from sponsorships, merchandising, and an annual TV rights deal that generates more than 150 million pounds annually. By comparison, English clubs have to share their TV revenue stream, earning only about 40 million pounds each. In addition, Real Madrid is rumored to have a direct relationship with the Spanish government, which allegedly loans the club money whenever it needs it, with a portion of the proceeds filtering back into the government’s coffers.

This disparity has forced the remaining European clubs to borrow enormous funds to buy players and stay competitive during the worst recession in half a century, putting many of them in financial jeopardy (eight of Spain’s top 40 teams barely escaped bankruptcy the last two seasons) and left many banks on the verge of collapse. Meanwhile, Real Madrid signed three players worth nearly $200 million Euros.

“In 2012, we will introduce financial fair play,” announced Union of European Football Associations president Michel Platini. “Clubs would only be able to buy players with their own resources, without any external aid.”

Are you listening, Mr. Steinbrenner?

[goal.com, 6/16/09; forum.projectfootball.net, 8/21/09; answers.yahoo.com, 8/21/09; football-industry.com, 8/21/09]

JOCKS BEHAVING BADLY

Worst Motivational Coaching Technique of the Month

Being cut from the team is an athlete’s worst fear. But at Kathleen High School in Lakeland, Florida, players got a dose of how really scary it could have been.

The first sign of trouble was when the team’s popular volunteer assistant coach Christopher Campbell showed up at practice muttering, “Don’t try me today.”

The former Kathleen student and athlete, who had helped coach the team for nearly 10 years, began cursing and took out a pocket knife with a locking blade, brandishing it in front of the players and snapping it open and close. At one point, he poked 16-year-old Otis Buford with it, tapping him on the chest and helmet and verbally threatening him.

Police arrested Campbell at home, recovered the knife from his car, and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and exhibition of a weapon within 1,000 feet of school property.

One player’s mother said that her son was “very scared. He wanted to quit the rest of the games and didn’t want to practice anymore.”

Kathleen’s athletic director Gary Lineberger told The Tampa Tribune that there was more to the story that he declined to reveal. “He’s as quality a kid as I’ve ever been around.”

JOCKS BEHAVING EXCEPTIONALLY

NCAA Sportsmanship Award Winners and Finalists

The NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct declared the winners and finalists of the 2009 NCAA Sportsmanship Award. Criteria for the award includes demonstrating respect, caring, fairness, civility, honesty, integrity, and/or responsibility through a specific action, ideally directed toward an opponent, during competition.

Winners:

Aleksandra Mackiewicz, Brown University
The sophomore fencer was one of four Brown athletes to qualify for the NCAA regional tournament. As only three athletes are permitted to compete from each institution, Mackiewicz volunteered to give up her spot to fellow senior teammate Charlotte Rose because it was Rose’s last chance to make it to a NCAA championship. Coach Atilio Tass said, “This is the epiphany of putting the team and teammates before oneself, which I believe to be the essence of a great athlete.”

Anthony DiCarlo, Anderson University
The wrestler volunteered to compete in a higher weight class to fill in for an injured teammate. If he won the match, his team would win the meet. During the match, his opponent’s vision became seriously impaired. Rather than score an easy takedown and secure victory, DiCarlo was more concerned with his opponent’s safety. He refused to attempt any further offensive moves, losing the match and the meet. Despite their disappointment, DiCarlo’s teammates congratulated him afterward for doing the right thing and told him how proud they were of him. “The opposing wrestler, team, and coach expressed their respect and admiration toward Anthony for the sportsmanship he exhibited,” said Anderson’s director of athletics Nancy Simpson.

Runner’s up:

Blake Griffin, University of Oklahoma
The basketball player’s calmness, maturity, and refusal to retaliate to physical aggression directed at him by opponents made him a role model to others.

Aaron Ammons, University of Southern Mississippi
Attempting to achieve a regional qualifying mark in the shotput, he threw 17.34 meters, well over the minimum requirement. However, the shot didn’t feel like a legal weight. Weighing it, he discovered its weight was indeed incorrect. He told his head coach to forfeit the throw, eliminating his chances at that time to qualify for the regional championship.

Jamie Maloney, Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Shortly before her race at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship swim meet, she noticed an opponent from Clarion’s biggest rival panicking when her goggles broke. Maloney immediately lent the swimmer her own goggles.

Isaac Rothenbaum, Carthage College
As his swim team was packing up to go home after its conference meet, he noticed one school’s swimmer trialing to qualify by himself for the nationals. Gathering his teammates, Rothenbaum encouraged them to cheer on the lone swimmer until he finished (who made the qualifying time).

Fitchburg State College

MICHAEL JOSEPHSON'S COMMENTARY

Does Sportsmanship Matter?

To lots of athletes, coaches, and fans, sportsmanship is an outdated concept. Like the Miss Congeniality Award in beauty contests, many think it’s for runners-up and losers.

The barbarians believe rules are made to be broken, that it’s wise and proper to do whatever you can get away with.

Did you see the shocking video of University of New Mexico soccer player Elizabeth Lambert violently yanking an opponent’s pony tail and tripping, shoving, punching, and kicking a host of other players?
Read more »

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	ANNOUNCEMENTS
Learn the Same Character-Building Skills as the U.S. Olympic Team Josephson Institute is proud to have taught sportsmanship skills to Team USA at the Beijing Olympics. The concepts are the core of our CHARACTER COUNTS! Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship seminars. See a video from one of our recent sessions here. Attention Parents, Coaches, Adminstrators, and Athletes This may be the last chance you have to participate in our online sports self-assessment surveys on sports values and conduct. They will be closed soon so the findings can be presented to the country’s top athletic administrators at this year’s National Federation of State High School Associations/National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association conference in December. Coaches, Administrators, Parents survey Athletes survey
	FEEDBACK
In September’s “You Make the Call” poll question, we asked if Louisville should fire coach Rick Pitino for his involvement in an extramarital affair. The results were as close as a double overtime squeaker: 48% said he should keep his job, 47% said he should be fired, 5% said they didn’t know. Comments from readers were equally balanced, as you can see from these selected opinions: “What does his home problems have to do with his ability to coach?” “It isn’t the act itself but his reaction that earns him being fired.” “If you’re a true sports fan, you would understand that even though Rick Pitino committed that sin, he still led his team to a number one spot in the NCAA tournament bracket.” “We coaches are more role models than we think. There is so much more to learn from sport than how to shoot, throw, or hit.” “He has a character clause in his contract that makes it even more ironic that there is a discussion.” “Every great leader has failings. He has admitted his. Some discipline is necessary but not losing his job.” “Shame on the university for the deplorable lessons learned by the students that honor is secondary if the game is won on the court.” “Based on the news accounts, the woman seems a little crazy and star struck. You have to look at the big picture of what this man has done for the community. By the way, GO UK!!”
	TRIVIA TEST
When the LSU football team took the field for the first time this season against Tulane, a 60-year-old tradition to honor sportsmanship between the two schools was revived for the first time in nearly 20 years.   How Do LSU and Tulane Honor Sportsmanship Before Their Big Game? See the answer below.
	SPORTSMANSHIP USER’S GUIDE
Parents'/Guardians' Pledge The Ultimate Sportsmanship Toolkit is an all-in-one resource to help athletic programs achieve sportsmanship and character-building goals. It comes in two versions – youth and interscholastic – and covers everything from mission statements and codes of conduct to evaluation tools and ideas for rewarding players and coaches. Get parents involved in your Pursuing Victory With Honor program by having them sign a pledge to promote good sportsmanship. Here's a sample to get you started: As the parent/guardian of a student-athlete, I understand the important role sports can play in developing a child’s character. I also understand that the highest potential of sports is achieved when everyone involved in an athletic program, including parents, works in concert to pursue victory with honor. I promise to help my child and his or her team pursue victory with honor by modeling my behavior at all times after the Six Pillars of Character – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship – and expecting my child to do the same. From the Ultimate Sportsmanship Toolkit, interscholastic edition.
	YOU MAKE THE CALL
Should Thierry Henry have told the referee to disallow the goal? During last month’s World Cup qualifying match in Dublin between Ireland and France, the game was tied 1-1 in overtime when a free kick was sent to French player Thierry Henry near the goal. Henry stopped the ball with his left hand, then touched it with his hand again, before kicking it to teammate William Gallas, who put it into the net. Neither the referee nor the two side refs saw the infractions, and soccer doesn’t allow video replays. The two illegal hand balls allowed France to qualify for its fourth consecutive World Cup and eliminated Ireland. After the game, Henry admitted he’d touched the ball. “The ref allowed it,” he said. “That’s a question you should ask him.” So why didn’t Henry help the referee out by admitting his foul during the game? Sports lore is replete with examples of athletes who helped opponents, corrected calls, or sacrificed victories because it was the right thing to do. To a true sportsman, winning is important, but honor is more important. Victories attained in dishonorable ways are hollow and degrade the game. By not telling the referee that the goal should have been disallowed, Henry lost an opportunity, despite the hurt it would have caused, to earn the honest respect and admiration of his coaches, teammates, and fans for what would have been the ultimate demonstration of courage and integrity.  Individual sports like golf and tennis rely on players to self-enforce the rules, but team games could result in chaos if all players were allowed to do this, which is why the expectation and responsibility for getting calls right rests entirely on the officials. By saying nothing to the referee, Henry demonstrated to his coaches, teammates, and fans that he was a team player. If he’d told the truth, especially in a game of that magnitude, he would likely have been ostracized by his team and fans and could have jeopardized his career. Should Thierry Henry have told the referee to disallow the goal? Click here to vote [huffingtonpost.com, 11/18/09] Results of Last Month’s Poll We named 23 coaches and asked you to pick the greatest one in terms of victories, championships, character, and sportsmanship. Not a very close race: John Wooden won with 64%. The runner-up was Joe Paterno with 5%.
	PRINCIPLE OF THE MONTH
The Preamble: Cross-Country Runners Lead the Way At two separate track and field events, what the runners exhibited off the track proved to be more memorable than what they did on it, as evidenced by these words from spectators: After Maksim Korolev, a senior from Harrisonville High School in Harrisonville, Missouri, won the state cross-country championship, “he slowly shook hands and spoke briefly to every runner on the stage before finally turning to face the crowd. Although I was impressed with his talent for running, I was most amazed with the example of good sportsmanship he displayed afterward. Mr. Korolev demonstrated how to win with class and dignity, and his character should be respected as much as his talent. Good luck in all your future endeavors, Maksim, and thanks for your example.” At another cross-country meet last season, the last of Illinois’s Elgin High School runners were starting to pack up after the race when one Elgin runner suddenly began clapping wildly, pointing far away, and shouting, “Keep going! Come on – you can do it!” He had spotted a lone runner from another school slowly making his way toward the finish line. This didn’t make any sense because that school’s team bus had already left. But the runner was indeed from that school. Immediately, the rest of the Elgin team joined in and cheered on the gritty runner until he finished. At the next meet, a man approached the Elgin head coach. “I want to thank you and your boys,” he said with tears in his eyes. “That was my son they were cheering on at the last meet. His own teammates didn’t do that. As a matter of fact, they didn’t even notice he hadn’t finished. You’ve got some great kids here.” The Preamble of the Arizona Sports Summit Accord states that “The values of millions of participants and spectators are directly and dramatically influenced by the values conveyed by organized sports. Thus, sports are a major social force that shapes the quality and character of the American culture.” 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.
	SAY WHAT?
“Dick Cheney is all excited about the 2016 Olympics. He’s really looking forward to the freestyle waterboarding.” – David Letterman “I don’t know which is more shocking: the fact that Agassi was taking meth or that John McEnroe wasn’t.” – Comedian Jimmy Kimmel on Andre Agassi’s admission  that he took crystal meth in 1997 “Fifteen months? What do you call that, a marriage or playing through? Heck, I’ve seen Sergio Garcia take longer than that to address the ball. As for Evert, she’s been wed now to an Australian, a Brit, and an American, which puts her only a Frenchman away from the matrimonial grand slam. Memo to Eva Longoria: Don’t let Tony Parker out of your sight.” – Washington Times writer Dan Daly after Greg Norman and Chris Evert separated after 15 months of marriage “Out having a taco.” – ESPN broadcaster Bob Griese when asked by colleague Chris Spielman why Colombian NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya wasn’t on the top-five list of drivers (Griese was suspended for the comment)   “The head of the International Olympic Committee says they will not be swayed by the visit. They said they’re going to weigh all the bribes, kickbacks, and secret favors equally.” – Comedian Jay Leno on President Obama’s visit to Denmark to lobby for Chicago as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics “They called us for everything but adultery.” – Montana Tech football coach Bob Green after his team was penalized 11 times for 111 yards against Eastern Oregon “Out of good sportsmanship, the foreword was written by a moose.” – Comedian Jimmy Fallon on Sarah Palin’s new book “Congress is now proposing to give everyone who has a baby $500. Oh yeah, great! Let’s make these NBA players even richer.” – Comedian Jay Leno “Right after I fix health care, I’ll get to that one.” – Fox NFL analyst Howie Long on how to fix the Oakland Raiders “The Chicago Cubs declared bankruptcy today, a move they say will help them sell the team. It’s part of the new Cash for Clunkers program.” – Comedian Jimmy Fallon “I know the score got out of hand, but we were just trying to run our offense.” – New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick after he went for it on 4th and 6 from the Titans 31 leading by 52 and again on 4th down inside the Titans’ 20 when he had a 59-0 lead. “It’s not like he can spend his days feeding pigeons at the park because that would mean sitting on the bench.” – Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press on why Allen Iverson won’t like retirement ~ Classic From the Past ~ “I don’t care what the tape says. I didn’t say it.” – Ray Malavasi, football coach
	TRIVIA TEST ANSWER
They wave the Rag.
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