Sportsmanship?

There are some people with too much time on their hands. They should probably be worried aboout more important issues. I believe we live in a sportsmanship era with two issues:

1) As a society we've become too sensitive.

2) Sports talk radio initiates and perpetuates issues that otherwise wouldn't be discussions.

I've never been a fan of the good game line. While most of the time it's not an issue, after a chippy game it's asking for trouble. I was at a college hockey game the other night where several players went after each other in the line. I've seen coaches go after each other after travel baseball games. I've seen players spit at each other.

As a coach I refused to do the good game line once. I told the site director after the game the way the opposing team and parents treated my team, sportsmanship went out the window four innings ago. I was concerned their team would pull something in the line. In case anyone wonders, our team won.

I don't know if it is "bad sportsmenship", but I try to impress upon my children that you "look a person in the eyes" when you shake their hand.

Board room, sales call, baseball field or family reunion! Wherever.

quote:

Are we too PC about it all?

IMHO yes.

I feel that sports is often used to make political statements by non-participants. Often times, those who offer these opinions have little understanding of sports or have some type of agenda.

Sports is entertainment and there are indeed things that are much more important. There are also things much more important than art, music, movies, etc. If all these things were taken from us and all we did was worry about where our next meal was coming from, I am not sure how enjoyable life would be.

There is no poor sportsmanship in the context you describe imho justbb. Perhaps it is people who like to find something to complain about anyways

RJM - "I've never been a fan of the good game line"

Probably a good topic on it's own.

I'm absolutly for it in every sport up until High School. After that, I may have to agree with you.

I would never accept the behavior from my own, but I do understand the emotions during and directly after competition of kids ages 15-25.

Sorry to go a little off topic.

quote:

RJM - "I've never been a fan of the good game line"

Obviously depends on the level, but as with many things, once something becomes rote, it loses all its real meaning. Having said that, I do like the handshake line up at the end of an NHL playoff series, just 'cause it's unique. To me, something genuine, like McNabb's chat with Cutler at the end of the Sunday night game is a better representation of sportsmanship.

We had 3 fights in football in HS from the "good game" line before they banned us from doing it and only one fight in basketball before they banned us.

They let the other classes do it so it probably was just our class.

Bunch of poor sports we were. Of course it didn't matter if we won or loss. There was still a fight usually during and after the games.

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:

Where is the line? Are we too PC about it all? Thoughts?

It's like ethics. The ethics line is ambiguous and leveled where it supports the argument of the presenter.

Play hard, no intent to injure, shake hands when done. End of story.

So yes, it's all too PC and over the top beyond that.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:
I've never been a fan of the good game line.

Big Big fan of the good game line.... With your own team

Not sure if I can define sportsmanship. However, I know good or bad sportsmanship when I see it.

quote:

I see fans angry at an opposing coach in a rivalry game because he didn't look the winning coach in the eye when he briskly shook his hand after a tough loss.

This doesn't have anything to do with the "good game line". I think if coaches are going to shake hands after a win or loss, in whatever sport, show a little class and respect when congratulating the winning coach. One day you will be on the other end and should have the respect extended to you as well.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:

As a coach I refused to do the good game line once.

Any regrets? Did you ever go back there?

quote:

Originally posted by Vicarious Dad:

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:

As a coach I refused to do the good game line once.

Any regrets? Did you ever go back there?

No regrets. The opposing team and parents were waiting for us in the parking lot yelling taunts because I told everyone to stay near the dugout until they left. We went back the following day to continue the tournament. The other team was suspended through the next season. It wasn't their first situation. The site director and umpires were suspended for letting the situation get out of hand.

Sportsmanship IMO is a buzz word that describes something that actually has little to do with athletics but is more of a human interaction. Athletics provides a venue for this so called "sportsmanship" because it places 2 or more people into a competitive situation and ALLOWS one or both to acknowledge the other in one way or another. I have seen some touching acts of good sportsmanship and some ugly actions of bad sportsmanship. One of the most touching acts of sportsmanship is the following clip ... The Homerun

Personally I think an athlete should take the field to win ---- while following the rules. Everything else is fluff --- some good fluff and some not so good.
Fungo

I was brought up playing the game quite differently than the kids do today---the shaking hands bit is not my thing---I have seen too many bad instances after a game due to the process the use nowadays--you just spent two to three hours trying to beat the other team into submission and when it ends you all shake hands---has nothing to do with sportmanship--that happens during the game not in a handshake line

I agree with TR. How can two competitors try to beat each others brains out for 2-3 hours in a game and then the minute the game ends be expected to shake hands like nothing happened. The last thing I wanted to do after a game was look at the other team. I don't remember doing this back in the day in HS or college. It doesn't mean your a bad sport if you choose not to shake someones hand IMO. Obviously it a lot easier to be a good sport after you win. After a tough loss you might need some time to get your spirit back.

I like what the NFL players do. They can mingle on the field after the game if they want to catch up with old friends. If not go directly to the locker room. Maybe after the adreneline subsides go visit your friends on the other team.

Fungo....Thanks for posting the Homerun Clip. It is not often that you see acts such as what was performed in that short film.

quote:

Respect the game.............and yourself.

If you don't like the handshake at the end of the game, you'd laugh at what my daughter's softball team does! At the end of some games, both teams gather on the mound and recite a cheer together. It's pretty sappy IMHO!

I'm pretty neutral regarding the handshake line with the players. The biggest concern I have with sportsmanship at baseball games is when a team is disrespectful in the dugout. Nothing bothers me more at a game than when a team badgers the pitcher or yelps or caws at precise moments trying to distract either the batter or the pitcher from the other team. I knew a player that was actually pretty good but he was a horrible offender of this bad dugout behavior. He's not playing college ball today and I'm not surprised.

Nothing more refreshing than to see the NHL players skate through a line shaking hands and congratulating each other after trying to tear each others heads off and in the playoffs one team getting eliminated for the year. You also notice many of the congrats are heart felt.

That my friends is SPORTSMANSHIP!

http://responsibilityproject.c...player/the-home-run/

Here's a dramatized version of the Homerun.
True sportsmanship.

EH

.
I have a very different take on this...very old school...very archaic...

...stupid and out of touch might be better terms...

I am very old school. I expect my team, my players and my sons to follow a code of honor. Not only is it the right thing to do as a human being, it is a great teacher of men/women, it leads to lifetime self respect. I refuse to allow my teams and my players and my kids or myself to bend with the trends and the latest and the greatest, dictated by talking heads, greedy executives, brain dead celebrities, pundits, and million dollar athletes with .10 cent souls.

Just because sports center, network presidents and celebrities and whatever current popular culture mavens say that times have changed, that my values are no longer valid, that I can now disrespect at will, doesn’t mean that they can change 4,000 years of human knowledge and make it stick long term....unless we all buy in and them what we have is anarchy. Just because sports center, network presidents and celebrities and whatever current popular culture mavens want to pander to my worst human instincts to make it "cool" and use sell it to up their ratings, doesn't mean that it is right. Just because I can spew on a website without responsibility, without regard for basic human decency doesn’t mean that I should, or that I should live my life that way.

The world that they are selling me and trying to make me believe is real is exactly that...make believe. It won’t and cannot last. In 4,000 years of human history it has not lasted. I cannot and will not in good conscience support and celebrate those actions. In then end when I go down (and we all do) I will go down alone, standing for something bigger, more lasting and more human. Something more than wins without responsibility, momentary ego, hollow celebrity, “payback” and “me”. Frankly, it is hard, ****ed hard to be we instead of me. It is hard to offer your humanity over ego. It is hard to do what is best for the many over the few. It is easier to hate and misunderstand and name call, and horde, and tear down and take offense...and to climb to the top on others back at all costs...and celebrate ME!

In my world winning is a means to another end, not an end in and of, itself. In my world we transcend me. “Whatever means necessary” is best as a metaphor not as a directive. Celebrity is a hollow and self destructive enterprise. “The future is now” is a means to short term success in a long term world not a credo to live by. “Whatever means necessary” is a slippery slope to a bad end. And a media without a soul, without humanity, with any thought for a future can be a “weapon” of mass destruction.

Sports are a litmus test of the culture around them. A visible way to test and gauge the values of a society. And as a result to some extent our society is what we see on the field, and what we see in society is on the field. At their best sports are a way to offer, showcase, state and teach the best values a civilization has to offer. At their worst they are a way to break it down.

What I do believe is that increasing popularity of sports and of television coverage has made sports at all levels a catalyst for cultural norms. Don’t care if you are a professional athlete or coaching 10 year olds, don’t care if you claim that you are “not a role model” you are. With every decision you make you are sending a message...civility/incivility...and sports enhances that message. You can stand for something bigger, you can fight the fools and the foolishness every day by holding to a higher standard (and do so alone) or you can roll in the mud with the masses...every day in every way you make that choice. And I make that choice for my teams, my players, and my kids. At least one time in their lives they will have an opportunity to see another way.

See what I mean, old school, archaic, out of touch...

44
.

quote:

Originally posted by observer44:
.
I have a very different take on this...very old school...very archaic...

See what I mean, old school, archaic, out of touch... 44

.

Outstanding post.......Im with Observer44