What Sportsmanship?
If we were to ask a random sampling of parents of high-schoolers what purpose sports serve, we might get some of the following answers:
- The value of teamwork.
- The value of hard work or practice and preparation.
- Physical exercise and mental toughness.
- The value of winning (some would say winning well).
- The importance of losing well.
Those last two go to the matter of what we call "sportsmanship." Being a good sport consists not just in winning with some measure of respect and humility towards the opponent, but also losing with respect and dignity towards the opponent.
Sportsmanship is lost in our culture today.
Both college and professional athletes looked up to and idolized by young players all over this country very seldom display true sportsmanship. How often do you see a football player score a touchdown, and then just toss the ball to a referee while maybe high- fiving a few players on the way back to the sideline? No dance? No gang symbols flashed? No leaping into the arms of drunk, cheering fans? No jumping into one another in mid-air? No pomp or circumstance. Just a man playing the game hard and displaying respect and humility as he does it?
Gone are the days of Barry Sanders. Now-a-days a player celebrates the simplest of plays (a tackle, a basket made, a goal scored) as if he or she has just won the universe's top prize! It is ridiculous. Grown men cry when they lose a GAME. Yes, folks, sports are still just GAMES. Remember, they were meant to be enjoyable and not life or death. Remember, sports were designed to instill the values we listed at first. Now-a-days parents at little league games totally embarrass their kids by their incessant yelling, cursing umpires, and throwing of fits. I wonder where they have seen such behavior?
I wonder when our parents and adults and children will finally grow up? Or are we destined to become a nation of whiny-babies who simply have no ability to play a game with dignity and respect for our fellow man?
Apparently, the utter lack of sportsmanship has finally grown so obvious that the Kentucky High School Athletic Association has banned the "post-game handshake." Why? Because too many fights were breaking out!
I have only one question: Where are the parents? Where are the adults? (OK, that was two questions.)
Oh. wait, the adults are too busy fighting in the stands to train their children in common decency and respect. We could use a heavy dose of the Golden Rule in sports, and in life, don't you think? The wise King Solomon wrote: "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls." The same man once said, "Pride comes before the fall." As Christians, these truths are not optional for us or our children. This is how our Savior and Lord calls us to live 24/7, 365, on the field or off the field.
Remind me again of why we think it so critical to chaffeur our kids from one sporting event to the next? Well, if nothing else, maybe the true followers of Jesus who are on the ball fields of America will continue to seek grace to swim upstream and show respect and dignity to every player and coach and parent. Maybe the children will take the lead and meet for prayer with opposing players in full view of watching adults in the stands. Maybe a few kids will even speak the Name of Jesus to players in locker rooms and reporters with microphones. Maybe a coach out there will be given grace to lead his players to bow the heart and knee to King Jesus and to realize life is, after all, not a game.
Maybe. I can always hope and pray.
by Keith McWhorter