He asks, "How many people remember sportsmanship? I remember it and now think of it chiefly as the element missing from contemporary sports.
"It was notably practiced by the great Australian generation of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson and John Newcombe. Harry Hopman, the Australian Davis Cup coach between 1939 an 1967, might send a player home for cursing on the court."
"Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe... wretched behavior on the court.
"Serena Williams... cursed out a lineswoman... engaged in an extended argument with an umpire.
"[NBA] basketball... fist-pumping after slam dunks... thunder-sticks... “Make Some Noise.”
"In baseball, batters flip their bats and stand in the batter’s box watching their home runs sail over walls, then slowly jog round the base path, fist-pumping or flexing their muscles... steroids... signal-stealing..."
Then he remembers and recalls this: “Make a great play,” said Ryne Sandberg, the splendid Chicago Cubs second baseman in his 2005 Hall of Fame speech, “and act like you’ve done it before . . . hit a home run, put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases.”
Some of the great football coaches have echoed that admonition.
Many football coaches have a simple opinion on how a player should act when he arrives in the end zone to score a touchdown. Famous former coaches Darrell Royal (University of Texas), Vince Lombardi (Green Bay Packers), Paul Brown (Cleveland Browns), and Tom Landry (Dallas Cowboys) are among those who have been credited with saying, “Act like you’ve been there before.” [snopes.com]
"Sportsmanship matters because without it sports are an empty proposition—a matter of who is faster, stronger or more brutal than whom. Sportsmanship implies respect—for the game, for your opponent, for yourself. A great part of the justification for sports is as a forcing-house for building character. Accepting defeat with grace is one of sportsmanship’s character-building components; winning without braggadocio is another. A strong sense of fairness is yet a third component and discipline and perseverance a fourth and fifth. Without sportsmanship, sports are little more than grown men playing children’s games." (Mr. Epstein is the author, most recently, of “Charm: The Elusive Enchantment.”)
What about OUR sport? I love seeing a great race, and then the hands and arms extended across lane ropes to shake hands, pat on the back, or hugs between opponents that mere seconds before had been battling to the last second to best each other. That's US. What have -you- seen that best exemplifies sportsmanship in any sport?
 | |
| Jamie Squire, Getty Images |
2 comments:
GREAT ARTICLE. Sportmanship is one of the expected (and required) pillars of our program. With your permission, I am going to use your post as one of our weekly writing assignments for our swimmers and divers.
Coach, pleased that you like it, and thanks for leaving a comment. Permission granted, would love to read some of your kids' responses!
Post a Comment