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IN THIS ISSUE: FRONT ROW Youth Sports: Kids: Unsportsmanlike Behavior Is Rampant Announcements
YOUTH SPORTS Kids: Unsportsmanlike A survey of more than 1,000 students in the United Kingdom revealed that 54 percent of school kids from ages 8 to 16 witness bad sportsmanship in every single school sports match they play. The poll, conducted by the Cricket Foundation, found that kids often mimic what they see. Case in point, the majority of respondents said they’re willing to elbow, head-butt, and argue their way to victory. Over half admitted they would break rules in team games. On the other hand, 72 percent of the kids said they would describe a professional athlete who played unfairly as a “cheat,” with only 4 percent saying they would consider such an the athlete “cool.” The Cricket Foundation is launching a nationwide campaign across the U.K. to encourage good sportsmanship in school sports. “Fair play is something that should be taught at an early age,” declared Cricket Foundation chief executive Wasim Khan. The problem is, according the same poll, 28 percent of parents said that teaching sportsmanship is the coach’s job, not theirs. [news.bbc.co.uk, 4/26/10]
COLLEGIATE SPORTS Wonderful Gesture or Poor Decision? Among the traditional “gentlemen” sports (cricket, tennis, golf, yachting, polo, rugby, etc.), golf arguably showcases more sportsmanship with countless examples throughout history. But not all attempts succeed as planned. At the conclusion of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship at the Heritage Bluffs Public Golf Club in Channahon, Illinois, in April, two Illinois college golfers were tied after 72 holes: sophomore Grant Whybark from the University of St. Francis and senior Seth Doran from Olivet Nazarene. The winner would automatically qualify for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national championship on May 18-21. Doran had never been to the Nationals. Whybark had already secured a spot because of his team’s Chicagoland victory. On the first playoff hole, Whybark stepped up to the tee first. He erroneously thought that both were going to the Nationals. “I made the comment to him on the tee, ‘We’re both in, right?’ And he said, ‘I don't know.’ We waited for my coach to come down and tell us.” What they learned was that Doran would only qualify if he won the match. Whybark made a snap decision on what to do. “We all know Seth very well,” he told NBC Sports later. “He not only is a very good player but a great person. It just wasn’t in my heart to try to knock him out.” So he purposely hit his ball out of bounds, resulting in a double bogey and the loss of the match. His act of compassion allowed Doran to win and qualify for his first Nationals. “Makes you go all gooey inside, doesn’t it?” wrote NBC Sports columnist Mike Celizic. “The kid’s a sweetheart, the kind you wouldn’t mind dating your daughter, because you know he’s got a good heart. It was a selfless gesture by what seems to be a fine young man. “But nice doesn’t make right. By yanking his ball off the course, he was suggesting that the only way Doran was going to win is if he [Whybark] messed up. It was a little arrogant – maybe a lot arrogant. Better to play the hole the way you’re supposed to. [Then] had Doran won, he’d forever have the memory of coming through under pressure and accomplishing something grand. Instead, he will always know he won only because his opponent purposely threw the match.” Others shared Celizic’s opinion: “If it had been me, I would have played the hole to the green and given the other guy an opportunity to win first.” “It would be interesting to see how this plays out, especially if Doran were to go on and somehow win the individual title.” “Good luck at nationals, Whybark. I hope Doran beats you by ten strokes.” But even more sided with Whybark: “If Grant did not act like a gentleman, I don’t know what a gentleman is. It was the ultimate in sportsmanship. It was a decision made by a young man wise beyond his years. What Grant decided to do in no way affected anyone else in a negative way.” “A downside to his actions? I can’t think of a downside to his actions.” “He showed the entire nation something about the youth of America. Grant is setting the bar very high concerning what is really important in life.” “I am proud of Grant. He looked beyond himself and was thinking about someone else. The other youngster said if the shoe had been on the other foot, he would have done the same thing. I used to compete in track, and I always wanted to whip that guy next to me. But golfers are not like track guys. They are out there pulling for each other.” Last word goes to Celizic, who concluded by saying Doran wasn’t without fault. “If he’d been thinking clearly, he would have hooked his drive even farther out of bounds than Whybark did, looked at his opponent, and said, ‘Now we’re even. Quit fooling around and play golf.’” [nbcsports.msnbc.com, 5/6/10]
JOCKS BEHAVING BADLY Coach’s Slap on Wrist Sets Gamesmanship Bar Lower Monrovia, which had never won the crown, held a slim lead – two of its vaulters had cleared 7 feet and one South Pasadena vaulter had cleared 7’6”. South Pasadena’s final vaulter would determine the meet. She was Robin Laird, their best vaulter. She took off and soared easily over the crossbar. South Pasadena had won. As Laird and her teammates celebrated, Monrovia’s coach Mike Knowles, a veteran of 30 years coaching track, walked up to an official, tapped his wrist, and pointed at Laird. On one of her wrists was a thin string bracelet that she wore to support a club that was raising money for the World Wildlife Fund. Section 3, Article 3 of the National Federation of State High School Associations states that “Jewelry shall not be worn by contestants.” It’s particularly important in the pole vault because a bracelet could inadvertently wrap around the pole upon release and pose a grave danger to the athlete. Laird was disqualified. South Pasadena’s 66-61 victory turned into a 65-62 win for Monrovia. Laird burst into tears. Her coach P.J. Hernandez confronted Knowles. “Coach, you really want it to come down to this?” Apparently he did. “It’s unfortunate for the young lady,” Knowles told Sports Illustrated afterward. “But you’ve got to teach the kids that rules are rules. I didn’t want to have to do it. About 10 years ago, I had a girl who wore an earring in the 4x400 relay, and it ended up costing us a CIF title. I feel bad for what happened, but I guarantee you she’ll never wear jewelry during a track meet again.” The issue was Knowles’s timing and motive. If he was concerned for her safety, why didn’t he warn her or alert the officials before she vaulted? “Mike Knowles was down by the pole vault pit, keeping an eye on our girl, waiting for her to attempt the vault and then make the call,” Hernandez told SI. “I’m upset that he wanted to win so badly that he would do it that way. We feel sportsmanship is important, too, and it is in question with him in this situation.” Knowles insists that he didn’t notice the bracelet until after she cleared the height and walked by. This is his first season coaching at Monrovia. Before that, he coached Muir High School to nine CIF-Southern Section championships and three state crowns. The incident ignited a national storm of protest. On Deadspin.com, Dashiell Bennett wrote: “All you need to know about Mike Knowles is that he knows exactly how terrible it feels to get robbed on a crybaby technicality – and given the opportunity to be a good sport a decade later, he chose to make someone else feel the same way he did.” Another blogger added: “I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he finds out that Laird’s bracelet was in support of people who suffer from Napoleon Syndrome.” To Monrovia High School’s credit, the administration has undergone extensive soul-searching since the firestorm. Co-athletic director Randy Bell told SI that the incident was not “anything people were particularly proud of. I don’t think anybody was excited to win that way.” Days later, Richard Gretebeck, the other co-AD, contacted Josephson Institute. “If I have car trouble, I call a mechanic. If I break the law, I call a lawyer. If I have a moral issue, I call you. I need some guidance here,” he told us. He said the school had been inundated with calls for Knowles’s ouster, and its reputation had been tarnished. “I’m pondering what the right thing to do is. There are no winners here. I understand what happened at the meet. Let the best athletes do their best. I get it.” But at the same time, he added, South Pasadena should pony up some of the responsibility. No one there – Laird, her teammates, or their coaches – either noticed or were aware of the disqualifying infraction. “My philosophy is, before I look at other ducks, I make sure my ducks better be in a row.” He revealed officials from Monrovia would meet with the AD and principal at South Pasadena High in the next few days to discuss the incident and ease tensions. “We all need to educate our coaches, staff, and athletes to do what’s morally and ethically right.” As for Laird, she conceded that Knowles was right. “I still have a tan line on my wrist,” she told SI. “That’s my scarlet letter.” [deadspin.com, 5/11/10; si.printthis.clickability.com, 5/11/10]
Lee Trevino was renowned for his hilarity while competing. So, too, were Chi Chi Rodriguez, Gary McCord, David Feherty, Peter Jacobsen, and others. Notre Dame senior Annie Brophy won’t be among that list. After shooting an 85 and 81 in the first two rounds of a NCAA Central Regional tournament in Columbus, Ohio, last month, Brophy felt like goofing around during the third round by falsely informing the roving scorekeepers, who keep track of scores every three holes and then post them on the leaderboard, that she was killing the course that day, racking up five birdies and an eagle through just the first nine holes. She had no intention of signing her card with those numbers; she was just having fun, thinking that reporting scores during a round was unofficial. What she wasn’t doing was thinking about the consequences that might result from doing so. Unbeknownst to her, the scores she reported changed the leaderboard so significantly that teams from Florida State, Oregon, and Kent State were forced to wait around, thinking they might get into a playoff. On the 15th hole, NCAA officials caught up with Brophy, informed her she’d been disqualified, and pulled her off the course. “Obviously it was not funny,” Brophy told the Associated Press afterward. “I did not think about long-term effects and consequences of my actions.” [sports.espn.go.com, 5/10/10]
In 1990, journalist H.G. Bissinger wrote Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, a best-selling book about the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas, as they made a run toward the state championship. Sports Illustrated called it the best book ever written about football and the fourth greatest sports book ever. The story became a successful movie and popular television series. Last year, Permian was involved in another potential rags-to-riches tale, but unfortunately, this story didn’t end happily. In 2009, 16-year-old homeless student Jerry Joseph enrolled at Permian and tried out for the basketball team. Immediately impressed by the young man, Coach Danny Wright took him into his family. Joseph, 6’5”, also impressed him on the basketball court, helping to lead Permian to the District 2-5A state playoffs and being named Newcomer of the Year. It was starting to look like “Friday Night Lights 2.” And it very well may have until three Florida basketball coaches observing him two months ago at an amateur tournament in Little Rock, Arkansas, all said the same thing: “Hey, isn’t that Guerdwich Montimere?” Montimere, a 22-year-old naturalized citizen from Haiti, had been a star high school player at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale several years before. The suspicious officials alerted Permian, which contacted U.S. Immigration. Last month, Montimere, aka Jerry Joseph, was arrested at school and booked on presenting false identification to a police officer. If convicted, he could face up to six months in jail and a $2,500 fine. “I feel like I was hit by a ton of bricks,” district athletic director Leon Fuller told the Associated Press. “In my 50 years in education, I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Permian will most likely have to forfeit its 2009 basketball season. Coach Wright, who had done so much for the boy, felt betrayed. “This affected a lot of people. The whole school embraced that kid. He deceived us and played on everyone’s emotions.” [sports.espn.go.com, 5/12/10]
Is It Part of the Game? With the World Cup about to commence, it brings to mind the commentary I wrote a decade ago about Briana Scurry, the American goalie who admitted violating the rules to block China’s crucial last shot attempt during the famous penalty kick shootout in the final of the 1999 women’s World Cup. Scurry's transgression was to move forward before the ball was kicked. She later admitted that she “came out early” hoping the referee wouldn't call the foul. She guessed right. Her block kept the score at 4-4 with only Brandi Chastain left to shoot. She scored and won the Cup for the U.S., famously dropping to her knees and whipping off her shirt. Some listeners thought my advocacy of pursuing victory with honor in that situation was naïve. Advocates of “whatever-you-can-get-away-with” gamesmanship theories argued that in the real world, winners do whatever works. In their minds, it’s proper to teach soccer players how to slyly hold, trip, or intimidate opponents because “it’s part of the game.” Well, saying something is part of the game evades the responsibility we have to define the game. Something is part of the game only if we say it is. The question is, do we want deliberate rule-breaking to be part of the game? We’re not talking about overanxious or inadvertent violations; we’re talking about calculated, planned attempts to break a rule and get away with it. I don’t think Ms. Scurry is a bad person. Certainly there was ample precedent for her conduct. In fact, her coach said that U.S. teams ought to play with that kind of “sophistication” more often. The problem is knowing where to draw the line. Why not disable a competitor if it will give a competitive edge? The goalie had two justifications. First, she evoked the credo of moral relativists: “Everybody does it.” Second, she said, “It’s only cheating if you get caught.” Knowing the impact of sports on our culture and the character of our young, we can’t let these statements go unchallenged. As it happens, everyone doesn’t do it. In fact, game films showed that the Chinese goalie followed the rules. And we can’t endorse her definition of cheating. Cheating is defined as deliberately violating the rules of a game. It doesn’t say anything about getting caught. In the world I want my children to grow up in, cheating is wrong. This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts. For an archive of Mr. Josephson’s commentaries, click here. |
CHARACTER COUNTS! Sports, a project of the nonprofit Josephson Institute, leads the Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship campaign. |
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