Man, it's been a few weeks since I was able to find the time to sit down and ramble some but that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about it. As much as I would like to be able to do this every day or at least every week sometimes life gets a little hectic and before you know it you are 45 years old with two kids and.....well that's a topic for another day.
In the meantime just wanted to share some quick hits from the past few weeks.
First, last week I witnessed the sickening spectacle of National Signing Day. For those of you unfamiliar this is a big day for colleges as they get official commitments from their most highly sought after recruits. On the surface and as it is presented, this is the start of a wonderful union. The athlete gets the golden ticket of a free education with the hoped for end result of a diploma and a career at the end of it all. For the university, well these are just great people who want these guys to come in and simply wear their colors on the weekends so that they can cheer for the old alma mater.
But you know what I see. I see signing day as the passing of a young body and mind to a pimp. That's right. Like a pimp these coaches and universities promise all the love and care and with very little in return for them. But in reality they will use and abuse if necessary to achieve their goal of wins and money for themselves and the university and when you are done and they don't need you any more there is no remorse on their part. As a matter of fact most often their defense is, "well they had the chance, if they didn't take advantage of it that's their fault". Yes personal responsibility exists, but what about all that love and care you were gonna give. Where are those cheering and rich alumni when the kid leaves the school with broken dreams, damaged bodies and no diploma?
Now add to all this the fact that TV and other media have jumped on the bandwagon to create another revenue stream at the expense of these athletes without the slightest thought of remuneration. Of course should a player even bring something like that up he would be branded as selfish as the least of his offenses.
Until coaches, athletic programs and universities can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are living up to all the promises they make to these young men and their mommas and daddys in their living rooms the system will remain equal in my mind to the street hustler who promises fame and fortune to pretty young girls, if only they first do a little favor for them.
While we are talking about ills of sport how about the complete lack of sportsmanship that is being shown by some of the biggest names in sports. No, I'm not going to name the usual suspects like T.O. or Randy Moss or Chad Johnson or any number of black athletes that often draw the ire of the populace for what can most often just be described as selfish behavior of young, immature men.
I'm talking about the boorish assess of Bill Belichick and Bobby Knight. Achievement wise, or as they say, by the numbers these guys are two of the best to ever roam a sideline. But as people or possible role models their stench is worse than that of the strongest French Bleu cheese.
Belichick stood on the cusp of history but his team ran into a more highly motivated and some might even say divinely ordained on Super Bowl Sunday. You know what, everyone understands the disappointment is great but hey no life was lost. Acknowledge that you were outplayed. Don't just tersely state that your team didn't play well. Dude, you were 18-1 and no matter what anyone tries to say that is not a failure of a season. To at least have the opportunity to play for the championship is something that eluded some of the greats of the game. Be thankful. You have three already. Loosen up the corset.
In the interest of full disclosure I will admit that I haven't been a fan of Bobby Knight's especially since his 1979 performance as coach of the U.S. team at that year's Pan Am Games in Puerto Rico. I lived on the island at the time and was privy to his consistently disdainful attitude towards anything Puerto Rican. This extended into an altercation with a police officer whose primary offense seems to have been that he didn't recognize that Bobby Knight was the most important person walking the earth and therefore was not subject to any of the rules laid out for mere mortals. In finality of that experience there is the story which may be apocryphal, though with Knight's resume it is not hard to believe, that as the plane was taxiing to leave the island Knight proceeded to pull down his pants and "moon" the island and its people.
Now The General has in essence mooned Texas Tech by deciding that he didn't want to coach any more and quit on the spot with a month still to go in the season and handed the job over to his top assistant, who by the way is his son. Nice thing to do for your kid but what about the kids that you recruited that thought they'd be playing for you? Was the exhaustion really so complete that you just couldn't take another step for a month. Oh yeah, Knight's rationale is that since his son was going to be the coach any way next season he may as well give him a head start in being the head man. Was he really unable to figure out how to be a head coach after being your son for close to 40 years. Man he is a slow learner. But what really gets me is this. Knight is big on talking about honor and responsibility, toiling hard and giving it your all and about West Point and all the took from there. Well where in all that did he learn about quitting on those you lead. Because plain and simple whether the kids complain about it or not, and they may not know how lucky they are to not have to play for that egomaniac, he quit on them. In the middle of battle he turned and looked only for himself.
The man has every right to quit but if you are going to talk the talk then walk the walk. At Indiana he was the poor victim of a meany administrator and here he just got tired. For a guy that is big on personal responsibility he sure doesn't like to take any.
In essence he did to Texas Tech the same thing he did to Puerto Rico, he pulled down his pants and mooned you.
Well I don't want this to just be a harangue against perceived ills. There is after all good in this world. Over the past week the South got hit hard by tornados and many lives and property were lost. But there was also the amazing story of a baby found in a field in Castalian Springs, TN a day after the tornados. His mother was killed but he was found by rescue workers who thought they had just found a baby doll until they turned him over and he responded.
Now I am currently on a self exploration regarding religion. I don't honestly feel like ascribing to the tenets of any organized religion as it seems that more often than not that is the path that takes people further from the exploriation of the true mystery. But I will say that I know that there is more out there than just us. I will also say that whatever it is there is something that guides us. Whether you want to believe in God, Allah, Buddha, L. Ron Hubbard or whatever lets just be happy for that baby's life and lets use that happiness to treat each other better, no matter what we believe.
1 comment:
Bobby Knight should have been arrested for assault and battery the way he hit his players and embarrassed them in public. Then he goes to Puerto Rico and hits an officer of the law. He is a bully and unfortunately no one beat the s..t out of him when he assaulted them. Remember when he hit one of his players with a head butt. Finally Indiana had enough and let him go. For all those individuals who applaud his actions, I wish he would have head butted one of your kids.
On to religion. I read this the other day and have adopted it to my belief. My country the world, MY RELIGION TO DO GOOD. Everyone has to follow his own spirit, not some dogma that was thought out by an imperfect human. Remember the crusades, the inquisitions, and all the atrocities committed all in the name of religion. enough said.
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