If sports are revealing character, we might be in trouble.
The Houston Astros spent their 2017 World Series Championship season cheating. They stole pitching signs and got the information to their hitters which gave them a distinct advantage over teams ‘playing by the rules.’ But they won. Their end justified their means. “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” Is a quote credited to many coaches and athletes, but in this case, and many others like it, is winning the only thing that matters?
Lance Armstrong. Deflate-gate. The 1919 Black Sox scandal. Triple Crown winning thoroughbred Justify. Steroid use in baseball, football, basketball. Olympic doping across the spectrum of sports. College athletics rife with recruiting violations. Judges and officials bought off and bribed. Point shaving, sexual abuse by coaches and staff, emotional abuse by same. Daily…DAILY, sports pages are littered with those that chose the crooked road for the glory and probably, the profit, of the win.
New York Times author David Waldstein wrote about the rampant cheating going on in the chess world recently.
“In chess, players at live tournaments are now required to leave their phones behind and pass through metal detectors before entering the playing area. Some have even been asked to remove clothing and been searched. And some tournaments now put players behind one-way mirrors to limit visual communication.”
Chess?
Just a few weeks ago, Formula E driver Daniel Abt was fired from his racing team for having a “ringer” drive for him in a video game contest.
A VIDEO GAME???
Where are we?
The first thing to come to grips with is that while most professional and college sports may be woven into our daily lives, it is entertainment. During this lockdown, no one has died because the NBA or the NHL have suspended their seasons. No one is suffering except those that make money off of these enterprises including, of course, the athletes themselves.
The Olympics have been delayed a year but most of the athletes now are professionals and can make money at other events and tournaments. The days of amateurism in sports are in the rear view mirror.
Even the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN, has resorted to pre-packaged documentaries on Michael Jordan and Lance Armstrong to go along with Korean baseball, axe throwing, stone skipping and sign spinning to keep the lights on.
But there is something lost in all of this.
Somewhere in Houston, there are young little leaguers who look up to their beloved Astros. Maybe they don’t understand the idea that their heroes cheated to win.
Or sadly, maybe they do.
Where are we?
At youth soccer games, line ups are checked against birth certificates to ensure no one is older than they are supposed to be. Even in our Arizona Region tournaments, teams are required to turn in birth certificates which are matched against rosters which are presented at the beginning of each tournament to ensure everyone is playing by the rules.
New York Times author David Waldstein wrote about the rampant cheating going on in the chess world recently.
“In chess, players at live tournaments are now required to leave their phones behind and pass through metal detectors before entering the playing area. Some have even been asked to remove clothing and been searched. And some tournaments now put players behind one-way mirrors to limit visual communication.”
Chess?
Just a few weeks ago, Formula E driver Daniel Abt was fired from his racing team for having a “ringer” drive for him in a video game contest.
A VIDEO GAME???
Where are we?
The first thing to come to grips with is that while most professional and college sports may be woven into our daily lives, it is entertainment. During this lockdown, no one has died because the NBA or the NHL have suspended their seasons. No one is suffering except those that make money off of these enterprises including, of course, the athletes themselves.
The Olympics have been delayed a year but most of the athletes now are professionals and can make money at other events and tournaments. The days of amateurism in sports are in the rear view mirror.
Even the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN, has resorted to pre-packaged documentaries on Michael Jordan and Lance Armstrong to go along with Korean baseball, axe throwing, stone skipping and sign spinning to keep the lights on.
But there is something lost in all of this.
Somewhere in Houston, there are young little leaguers who look up to their beloved Astros. Maybe they don’t understand the idea that their heroes cheated to win.
Or sadly, maybe they do.
Where are we?
At youth soccer games, line ups are checked against birth certificates to ensure no one is older than they are supposed to be. Even in our Arizona Region tournaments, teams are required to turn in birth certificates which are matched against rosters which are presented at the beginning of each tournament to ensure everyone is playing by the rules.
Parents will hold their kids back a year in middle school to give them a year advantage in growth and strength when playing their sport in high school. Some parents will lie about their residence so their child can go to a different school with a better sports program. Some still are given "incentives" to come to a private or charter school as super teams are built to roll over their public school competition.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association, the NCAA, the NAIA- they face daily complaints about teams bending the rules, circumventing policy and violating standards, all for the chance to hold the golden trophy.
We are now required to think the least of people because the will to win is so glacial.
We hand out sportsmanship awards and call people out for their integrity because, sadly, there is so little to go around. My grandson recently got an award from his principal because he owned up to talking in class when another boy was blamed. While we were all very proud of him, the question arose; shouldn’t this just be the normal?
We have lost the honor of competing in sports. Out of one side or our mouths, we talk about how much we can learn from adversity and how losing teaches us so much and out the other side, we blame everyone when we lose, accusing the other team of cheating or the officials for being biased. We make every game or match the end all, life or death moment. We give up on our teams that don’t perform the way we need them to for the quick social media prompts of our city's Professional supremacy! An NBA team that starts 1-7 is likely a disaster requiring a coaching change, a trade, a new owner; some kind of reboot. It’s unacceptable.
Maybe the first thing we need to tell our younger athletes is the truth; college, professional and yes, even a lot of high school sports are driven by $$! It’s not so much about integrity and doing and being your best, it’s about results. Even in youth sports, without the prize money at the end of the tournament, we are as a nation transfixed by the result. Parents, coaches and now, even the kids are conditioned to ask, “Where did we finish?” “What place did we come in?” “Did we do better than…?”
Where are we?
Coaches, this is a call to action. When you listen to the top coaches in any sport, much of their conversation is about character and culture. Is yours about winning first? Can we get back to developing wonderful human beings who can use youth sports as a vehicle toward growth, independence, integrity, self esteem, teamwork, empathy, honor and class?
The Houston Astros, despite admitting to cheating, firing many that were responsible and apologizing way after the fact, are STILL the 2017 World Series Champions. For them, their end sadly justified their means. How refreshing would it have been if the owner of the Astros had given the trophy, the money and the designation as champions BACK to Major League Baseball and said we don’t deserve this, we acted in a manner that is not representative of the behavior we aspire to be as professional baseball players?
We can help take youth sports back or we can recede into the sediment of complacency, deniability and deflection. We can make youth sports a vehicle to once again reveal character when we see it shining, or extinguish that flame before it has a chance to light our way and warm our hearts.
The question is, where are we?
We are now required to think the least of people because the will to win is so glacial.
We hand out sportsmanship awards and call people out for their integrity because, sadly, there is so little to go around. My grandson recently got an award from his principal because he owned up to talking in class when another boy was blamed. While we were all very proud of him, the question arose; shouldn’t this just be the normal?
We have lost the honor of competing in sports. Out of one side or our mouths, we talk about how much we can learn from adversity and how losing teaches us so much and out the other side, we blame everyone when we lose, accusing the other team of cheating or the officials for being biased. We make every game or match the end all, life or death moment. We give up on our teams that don’t perform the way we need them to for the quick social media prompts of our city's Professional supremacy! An NBA team that starts 1-7 is likely a disaster requiring a coaching change, a trade, a new owner; some kind of reboot. It’s unacceptable.
Maybe the first thing we need to tell our younger athletes is the truth; college, professional and yes, even a lot of high school sports are driven by $$! It’s not so much about integrity and doing and being your best, it’s about results. Even in youth sports, without the prize money at the end of the tournament, we are as a nation transfixed by the result. Parents, coaches and now, even the kids are conditioned to ask, “Where did we finish?” “What place did we come in?” “Did we do better than…?”
Where are we?
Coaches, this is a call to action. When you listen to the top coaches in any sport, much of their conversation is about character and culture. Is yours about winning first? Can we get back to developing wonderful human beings who can use youth sports as a vehicle toward growth, independence, integrity, self esteem, teamwork, empathy, honor and class?
And by the way, aren't these the qualities that help WIN in the long run anyway?
Parents, this is a call to action. What are you emphasizing in your son or daughter’s athletic career? Is it the work and preparation they are putting in to give themselves the best chance to succeed? Is it the effort they put in on the court or field AND the effort they put in off it, to be the best teammate and coachable athlete they can be? Or is the first thing we ask, “Did you win?”
Pick a profession and chances are very high there are cheaters in that profession. Not just sports, in all areas of life. Our young men and women will learn this in time; usually the hard way. They will be tricked or scammed or worse yet, let down by someone they looked up to as a mentor or role model. As coaches and parents, we should be helping them to understand it doesn’t have to be this way.
There are so many remarkable coaches, parents, club directors, youth sports officials, professional athletes, collegiate athletes and people associated with sports that can help us as a divining rod toward integrity and morals. But when they fall from grace, it’s just as important to have those conversations about why.
It’s very unlikely this diatribe will cause many of us to think differently or act accordingly but let’s leave it with this thought.
If you are coaching your son or daughter, would you be okay with them seeing you cheat? If you owned the Houston Astros and your 12 year old son saw the news that the coach and players you hired cheated to win, and tarnished one of the best moments of his young life, what do you now tell him? If you came home and your wife asked you why you were home early, could you look her in the eye and tell her you were caught cheating, giving one team an advantage over another as an official for an envelope of cash?
Parents, this is a call to action. What are you emphasizing in your son or daughter’s athletic career? Is it the work and preparation they are putting in to give themselves the best chance to succeed? Is it the effort they put in on the court or field AND the effort they put in off it, to be the best teammate and coachable athlete they can be? Or is the first thing we ask, “Did you win?”
Pick a profession and chances are very high there are cheaters in that profession. Not just sports, in all areas of life. Our young men and women will learn this in time; usually the hard way. They will be tricked or scammed or worse yet, let down by someone they looked up to as a mentor or role model. As coaches and parents, we should be helping them to understand it doesn’t have to be this way.
There are so many remarkable coaches, parents, club directors, youth sports officials, professional athletes, collegiate athletes and people associated with sports that can help us as a divining rod toward integrity and morals. But when they fall from grace, it’s just as important to have those conversations about why.
It’s very unlikely this diatribe will cause many of us to think differently or act accordingly but let’s leave it with this thought.
If you are coaching your son or daughter, would you be okay with them seeing you cheat? If you owned the Houston Astros and your 12 year old son saw the news that the coach and players you hired cheated to win, and tarnished one of the best moments of his young life, what do you now tell him? If you came home and your wife asked you why you were home early, could you look her in the eye and tell her you were caught cheating, giving one team an advantage over another as an official for an envelope of cash?
The Houston Astros, despite admitting to cheating, firing many that were responsible and apologizing way after the fact, are STILL the 2017 World Series Champions. For them, their end sadly justified their means. How refreshing would it have been if the owner of the Astros had given the trophy, the money and the designation as champions BACK to Major League Baseball and said we don’t deserve this, we acted in a manner that is not representative of the behavior we aspire to be as professional baseball players?
We can help take youth sports back or we can recede into the sediment of complacency, deniability and deflection. We can make youth sports a vehicle to once again reveal character when we see it shining, or extinguish that flame before it has a chance to light our way and warm our hearts.
The question is, where are we?
