Another Sports Rant

 Thankfully, I've been able to watch a little bit of college football this season. I have especially enjoyed the late season games leading up to the bowls and the added playoff games. Even though I do enjoy football, especially college football, it's time for another rant. Now, you might think 'why rant? Just stop watching if you don't like it.' Well, it may come to that some day. I know quite a few people who stopped watching pro sports all together. However, I would rather see the game become more sportsmanlike than just stop watching it completely.

Here goes the rant. Frustration number one for me is how redundant the commercials are. A similar group of businesses sponsor NCAA football coverage year to year and they mostly use the same commercials all season. Sometimes they use the same commercials season after season. After two or three weeks of seeing the same commercials during every media timeout they get old, really old; and they stay that way for months.

Frustration number two is pass interference. The rule book certainly has an official definition of what constitutes pass interference. That definition certainly means nothing. I'm convinced that not a coach in the country bothers to teach their players to cover by the rules. In a way, you kind of can't blame them because the truth is that it really doesn't matter what the rule book says. What matters is what any given official is going to enforce, and that tends to be a mystery on any given play. It feels like every play that PI is not called the receiver is complaining and every play that it is called the defensive back is complaining. Basically, someone is going to whine no matter what; and the whining is annoying in and of itself. Why can we not get it right more often? Why can we not complain when the rules are enforced? Why have rules if we are not going to utilize them?

Come to think of it, holding by offensive lineman is a very similar situation. The rule book defines it, but there does not seem to be any consistency is what the officials call. Further, it does not appear that coaches teach players not to hold. I suspect they teach them to keep their man off the quarterback and maybe just warn them to make the holding discreet in hopes it will not be flagged.

Now, I think I have written about this before, but this whole idea of not enforcing rules is something that just bugs the hound out of me. I come at it from a Christian viewpoint. Of course, I realize that the sports world is not a Christian organization (although I'm pleased with how many NCAA football programs do have a strong Christian presence.) Yet, we are supposedly a civilized society. We are supposed to value respect, courtesy, the rule of law, sportsmanship, and so forth.  Therefore, if you are going to have rules then you should enforce them.

We hear players, announcers, coaches, and even officials talk about not throwing a flag for infractions that happen "away from the play" or that "do not affect the play." That mindset makes absolutely no sense to me at all. If something is defined as wrong, then it is always wrong. Wrong is not defined by it's effects. Wrong is defined by the rules. When the rules are violated an infraction has occurred. 

"O but if they call every foul on every play, the game would take forever." Boo hoo. Teach the players not to break the rules. "But sometimes fouls are strategic." That does not make it okay. "O but it is better to foul than to get beat for a score." That's what is wrong with sports these days. People care more about winning than winning ethically. I look at it from the perspective of the old adage "cheaters never win." If you did not get scored on because you broke a rule, then you really got scored on. If you win a game but you broke the rules, then you really did not win the game. By definition, breaking the rules is cheating and by definition players who break the rules are cheaters. We currently have a whole bunch of cheaters playing at every level of football and probably most other sports. Sadly, it does not seem like too many people care. Few parents, coaches, or announcers are interested in training players to compete according to the rules. Kind of ironic, isn't it, considering the oft' repeated mantra that "sports builds character."

Next point of frustration:  sideline reporters. Are they not a waste of time? I mean, it is nice when they report during the broadcast about an injury or something. However, when they give them the stage for their little pregame, pre halftime, pre second half, and post game interviews, they are not adding anything to the experience. Sideline reporters are masters of asking meaningless questions. And coaches are masters of giving meaningless answers. Nobody benefits from those miniature interviews. Why do we keep doing them?

Moving on to another annoying subject: coaches throwing conniption fits (I was not going to say anything about this, but I'm watching the Sugar Bowl and they just showed Kirby Smart acting like a two year old.) I do not care that they are under pressure to win. I do not care that they have to try to manage youngsters (which surely is frustrating.) These men are supposed to be professionals. They are the leaders in their fields and on their campuses. They make obscene amounts of money. Why do we excuse them for acting like toddlers? Think about it. We would not be comfortable with this type of behavior from other professions. You would not be okay with your banker, your doctor, your mechanic, or anyone else in your life acting like that. Why is it considered acceptable from coaches? The Bible warns us to get rid of wrath and anger, yet even Christian coaches are excused for this behavior. It does not make sense.

One more frustrating thing about college football and I will stop. I am sick and tired of what we used to call "hot-dogging" or "show boating." Now, it is just considered "celebrating." Perhaps this is the most subjective of my beefs. Clearly, it is not a problem for most people. To me it seems prideful, undignified, and unsportsmanlike. I can understand some cheering and jumping up and down after a big win, but the "celebrating" has gotten out of hand. Pretty much after every single play somebody is involved with some type of animated gesturing that draws attention to themselves and (to me) looks stupid. Again, we would not accept this in other venues. Imagine if your checker at the grocery store starting pounding their chest, pretending to rip open their shirt, and howling at the ceiling after they handed you your receipt. Okay, you did your job, congratulations. Why do you have to act like you just saved the free world? Seriously, these guys are just carrying out their assignments and they act like they cured cancer. Have some class and dignity. Make the play and go back to the huddle. Save the celebration for after the game.

Okay, I'm done for tonight. Maybe you were entertained, maybe you weren't. But I feel a little better ;-)

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

Sat down at the computer to play words with friends and there was an ad in the side bar for a tee shirt that says, "I want to drink wine and rescue dogs." The link underneath said that every one of these tee shirts sold will feed seven shelter dogs. Of course that raises the obvious question, how many starving kids will seven shelter dogs feed?

Seriously, how much money, energy, and time could we put into helping under served children if we quit trying to "rescue" dogs and cats? I can assure you that there is no shortage of dogs and cats in this world.

More thoughts on our sports subculture

A while back I posted about some ideas relating to sports, and especially youth sports. My basic premise was that we have created a subculture where many of the norms of a civilized society no longer apply. You can see that post here.  I've wanted to return to that concept for a while and finally have a chance to do so.

First, I have an update to that initial post. I challenged the idea that it is okay for coaches to scream  at our kids. We wouldn't let anyone else do it. Why is it okay for coaches? Here's a real life example of how  absurd this issue has become. A few weeks ago I was in a parent meeting at my son's middle school. This was for parents of 12 and 13 year old football players. At one point in the meeting the head coach was explaining some of the values he and his staff hoped to instill in our children. One that he mentioned specifically was respect. He stated that it is very important for people to be respectful. Sounds good to me.

About five minutes later in the same address, the same coach tells us that it will be okay if he or his staff shouts at our children. I don't remember the exact phrase he used. But I am sure he was referring to shouting, yelling, screaming, fussing at young players. His reasoning was that this behavior would make the kids mentally tough. Apparently, he was completely oblivious to the absurdity of this. On one hand he wants people to be respectful. On the other hand he wants the right to treat my child, and any other child on his team, in a degrading, disrespectful, and immature way. Why are we okay with this as parents? Why are we okay with this as a society?

Now for more current thoughts. This weekend I saw a commercial for a gangster movie. The scene involved a gangster telling a six year old child that no matter what he did or who he did it to, if nobody saw him do it then it never happened. How do you feel about that logic?

{Disclaimer:  I'm clearly not a professional ethicist. So if I have faulty reasoning here, I'd appreciate some help from those of you who are trained in such matters.}

A few weeks ago I heard someone say a phrase that really disturbs me. I'll come back to that in a bit. Let's talk about rules for a minute. Rules are important in a society. They are important in sports, supposedly. In my mind they are so important that breaking the rules constitutes cheating. Now, I realize that people break the rules accidentally. It happens all the time. And as long as the player is trying to the best of his/her ability to abide by the rules then I'm okay with mistakes, especially if they are discovered and penalties assessed. But when players (or coaches) break the rules on purpose that is cheating. And even if you score more points than the opponent, in my opinion you didn't really win if you cheated to do it.

Now, back to the phrase the bugs me so much. I've heard fans say this, pee wee coaches say this, national broadcasters say this, parents say this, players say this, and even coaches at advanced levels. Here it is, "It's only holding if they throw the flag." In other words, "You did not really break the rule if the referee didn't see it." Or, "You didn't cheat if you didn't get caught." I've found this attitude to be really prevalent in the sports world even among children.

There is another similar situation that comes up. It's the idea of a "good" foul. We've taught the people involved in this subculture known as sports, that if you get an advantage out of it, then breaking the rules is okay. Think about the defensive back who grabs the jersey of a receiver because he knew he was beat. "Well he got a penalty but he prevented the receiver from scoring so that was a good foul."  No, that was cheating. Think about the basketball team that fouls to get the ball back late in the game. "Well that's just good strategy." No, that's cheating.

You can think I am being over the top. You can think I am being a sissy. You can think I am making a mountain out of a mole hill. But, we have developed a culture where following the rules is only important until you need some advantage. Then, the rules are ignored or just blatantly broken. This is not good.

If you are on the side of, "Well, its not that big of a deal to break a rule here and there if it gives you an advantage." Or, "Some rules are just silly." Or, "Rules are situational." Or, "You just don't have to follow the rules if it is not convenient."  Really? How did you feel about it last spring when the supreme court basically threw the rule of law out the window?

Maybe even worse, if you are on the side of, "It's only holding if the referee throws the flag." how is that different from the gangster who says, "If nobody sees it, it never happened."?

Did the subculture of sports influence the larger culture or did the larger culture infiltrate sports? I have no idea. But it chills me to the core that we now have a society that teaches children "Rules don't matter." If they learn that in the sports they are playing from the time they are five or six years old, we can only expect the long term result to be a society that cheats to get rich, gets angry when police try to enforce laws, stuffs the ballot boxes, etc.   O, wait...

What do you think?

At what point does support of a company become support of the company's values? Buying their products? Buying their stock? Selling them advertising? Becoming an employee? Never?

I would ask that you refrain from saying something like, "a company can not have values, only people have values". Companies are made up of people and pretty much every major corporation in the U.S. has a code of ethics written in their by-laws. They have value statements, they have official stands on moral positions, they advertise that they are not in business only to make a profit but to benefit society, and so on.