Sportsmanship: Is it lost?

 

Sportsmanship. What is it? Better yet, what isn’t it?

I can remember being appalled at a crowd that cheered when a player for the other team went down with an injury.  That isn’t sportsmanship.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a coach refuse to shake hands with the opposing coach after a game. That isn’t sportsmanship.

Taunting. Trash Talk. Threatening gestures. All too common but definitely not sportsmanship.

I can remember one team that I worked with. It was the Tennessee All Star football team that would annually play a similar team from Kentucky at the end of the school year. That game was played for years and I served as the Athletic Trainer for the Tennessee team.

This particular team started their taunting during warmups and never let up. We got our butts beat. I don’t think I have ever enjoyed being on the losing side of a game, but for that game, a loss seemed proper justice.

I’m not a big Penn State fan but their return to nameless jerseys is something I do like. There is too much “look at me” in sports today. Things done just to call attention to yourself.

It must take some football players a long time to get dressed, with wrist bands, biceps bands, pants that are more like shorts, with tape on everything. Taped wrists. Taped fingers. Taped shoes.

Oh. My. Goodness. Tape on shoes. It’s commonly known as “spatting” and is about the worse idea anybody ever had. Yes, I know that a lot of pros and college players tape their shoes. That doesn’t make it a good idea.

First off, it does nothing. It doesn’t support the ankle. It doesn’t keep the shoe on the foot. And research tells us that tape on anything stretches out in about 30 minutes. It’s the “feel” of the tape that makes you think it is doing something.

Secondly, if there is ever a serious injury to the ankle, that tape is miserable to get off. Just imagine peeling it off layer at a time. Or we just cut everything off, shoe and all. It’s hard on the athlete and the athletic trainer.

Back to the sportsmanship thing. I never liked cheering for a mistake. Somebody misses a free throw and fans from the opposing team cheers—to me, that’s not sportsmanship.  I believe in cheering a great play, whether it is on my team or yours. Obviously, I’m not a fan of booing at any point.

Even a sedate sport like tennis has gotten rather raucous.  I hadn’t seen college tennis since I was an undergrad but have more recently been following UT’s tennis team. To say I was surprised at the energy and volume is an understatement.

Maybe it’s not taunting but it sure is close. High school tennis is more like what I remember. My tennis-playing grandson will always acknowledge a great shot by his opponent.  A quick clap using the racquet is the usual response.

I like that. I like it when a football player knocks another one down and then offers a hand up. I did that, back in my day, although I do realize that was eons ago. I guess it was a silent form of taunting but it still seemed like the right thing to do. And then go knock them down again.

Every year, the Blount County Officials Association gives out a Sportsmanship Award to a high school and middle school football team. I thought that they had stopped doing that, since I hadn’t heard much about it. I would really like it if the status of that award was elevated to lofty levels and become something that teams aspired to.

 

 

The Road Less Traveled

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

 

That line, the most famous by poet Robert Frost, came up in a conversation recently. It was actually the tail end of a discussion about what it takes to excel in athletics.

 

You might remember a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about some of the greatest athletes ever from around here. I heard from a lot of folks about that one. No one disagreed with my selections, but a lot more were suggested.

 

I don’t disagree with any of those. The Blount County Sports Hall of Fame is filled with stellar athletes.  I’ve been told that Smoky Webb (Coach Webb) could have been a professional at most anything, if he had good knees. The greatest shooter in my tenure here (47 years now) was left off. That would be Lee Humphrey. Actually, it has been said that his dad Tony was that good, if he only had good knees.

 

I missed on several good golfers. Amy Delashmit Neubauer was the greatest rower ever produced around these parts. I’ve missed a bunch, I’m sure.  So, at the risk of cutting anybody off short, let me just end it there.

 

My point was more about what it takes to get there. That sometimes talent isn’t enough. And that yes, some people are just gifted, genetically predisposed I guess.

 

I can remember working with one of my nephews when he was in high school. He would come over to my gym and I would set him up with a workout. What I found with him was that I was asking him to do all of the things that he didn’t like to do.

 

Like most teenage boys who strive to be athletes, he lifted weights. And like most of those, he loved doing curls and bench press. But as a two sport athlete, he needed much more than that.

 

As a defensive lineman, he needed that upper body strength, but his core was more important. The bench press was OK but power cleans were better.  He loved an overhead press to develop his Triceps, but strong legs would serve him better.

 

A post player on his high school basketball team, his job was more about rebounds and defense. He had to have strong hips and legs. Heavy weights might help but activities that promote explosive power are better. Squats are good—plyometrics are better. For him.

 

He and I had the discussion about strengths versus weaknesses. He wanted to build on his strengths. I wanted him to focus on his weaknesses. The bottom line is that both of us were right.  You do both.

 

Back to the original premise. What does it take to excel? The thing that I hear the most from athletes at all levels is persistence. It doesn’t matter how hard you work some of the time, do you work hard persistently? Are you persistent in your nutrition and your sleep habits?

 

I wrote more recently about what it takes to be an athlete at any age. All those folks mentioned were persistent. You just can’t take days off. And I guarantee that no athlete that excels takes days off on a regular basis.

 

They might take a break occasionally. We all need that sometimes. Your body might need to rest and recuperate. But if you look at their body of work, their big picture, you will see that they were persistent in their efforts.

 

You want to be great? You can’t be like everybody else. You’ve got to pay the price. You’ve got to put in the work. You can’t do what your buddies do. You separate yourself by taking a different path.

 

When traveling down the road in pursuit of excellence, you must take the road less traveled.

3 AM Friends

 

I saw an old friend recently. Lonnie Hawkins is one of the few people I graduated from high school with that I’ve stayed in touch with. I’ve been gone from our hometown for a long time. Lonnie and I played football together. We’ve been friends since the 7^th grade.

Prior to the 7^th grade, the schools in my hometown were segregated. The black kids in town had to travel to another town, some of them literally riding past schools in the town where we all lived.

That changed when we went into the 7^th grade and the schools were integrated. We had no idea about the politics with all that, we just knew that the kids that we played with got to go to the same school as us.

And we got to play on the same sports teams. We were happy and excited. Lonnie and I were in the same homeroom, became friends, and are close to this day. Seeing him again was truly joyous.

Do you have those kinds of friends? Those friends that time and distance might separate but when you get together the friendship is still strong? That’s sort of a hidden joy that you can allow yourself. And it’s a blessing when you see each other again.

I saw a bit on social media just this week. It talked about two kinds of friends. The 3 AM friends and the 6 PM friends.

The 6 PM friends were definitely your good friends, somebody you might call on if you needed something. Somebody that knows you, knows your faults, and likes you regardless of what is going on. Somebody that will answer the phone if you call at 6 PM and might drop what they’re doing to help you out.

If we’re lucky, we have several of those. I’ve heard that if you can count five good friends, that you’re fortunate. I can and I definitely feel lucky.

The 3 AM friends are a different matter. They’re the ones that will answer the phone even if it is 3 AM when they see your name. They’re the ones that figure that if you’re calling at that time that you really need something so they’ve already started getting dressed.

There’s a Ben Affleck movie where Ben’s character walks in the room and says “I need your help. I can’t tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it, and we’re going to hurt somebody.” His friend doesn’t think twice and answers “whose car are we gonna take?”

I’m not advocating violence but that’s a 3 AM friend. Somebody that trusts you and doesn’t have to have a long explanation. I’ve got a couple of those in my life and they know who they are.

My friendship with Lonnie Hawkins started in a classroom, where we found that we had a lot in common. It was solidified on the football field, where we were teammates.

Teammates. There’s something about that term. Being teammates means that you have fought the same battles. It means that you have shed blood, sweat, and tears together, and drank out of the same cup.  Most of the friends from high school that I’ve stayed friends with were teammates. It’s a special bond.

Lonnie and I used to haul hay together too. We would sometimes see who could toss a hay bale the farthest or highest. We didn’t know it then, but we were training for the football field when we did that.

Sports generate a relationship like few others. It’s a brotherhood (or sisterhood) of people who might be completely different off the field, but on the field will fight for each other to the very end.

The life lesson there is not just about the value of friendship, but the lesson that when you’re part of a team, trust is integral part. Playing on a team builds that trust. Or it doesn’t and you fail. And there’s something especially cool about playing sports with your friends.

I’m not sure about calling at 3 AM but I feel certain that if I really needed Lonnie to do something for me, he would do it. And I would do it for him.

Athlete at any age

 

I have never had any qualms talking about the candles on my birthday cake. It looks like a bonfire. 70 is a bunch. It doesn’t bother me.

Some may argue, but I consider myself an athlete. You’ve heard probably too much about it. Bicycle. CrossFit. Yoga. I played basketball until I was 59. Going snow skiing tomorrow.

No one could argue that my buddy Ken Bell is an athlete. Just chase him down a hill on a mountain bike and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Years ago, I introduced him to rock climbing. He immediately climbed easily something I struggled to climb.

We did a tennis clinic one time. He and I started at the bottom end of the group. By the second day, he was on the first court. I stayed on the lower end. He has always been that kind of an athlete. And he still is that kind of athlete.

His kids are too. His oldest is a beast on a bicycle. His second was an All-American high jumper and can still jump out of the gym. His third was a late bloomer but is definitely athletic. His youngest could have done anything athletic he wanted to.

Retired pediatrician Dr. Charlie Raper is still running longer distances than you and I can imagine. It hasn’t been that long since he ran the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim.  He’s an athlete.

Bill Carl and Caroline Haynes will beat much younger people at tennis on any given day. They’re definitely athletes.

I’ve talked about pickleball a time or two. I’m not really interested in playing but I do know that a lot of people are playing that have never played anything. That’s a good thing.

Anything that gets people out and active is a good thing. And I can tell you that there are a lot of people on those pickleball courts. I will show up at John Sevier with my grandson to play tennis and we might be the only people on the tennis courts but there will be a line of people waiting to play pickleball.

It seems to be a game that just about anybody can play and enjoy.  And that’s a big part of it—if you enjoy something, you’re more likely to stick with it.

So, here’s the (loaded) question: If you’re not on a team or competing, are you an athlete? Of course you are. Athletes come in all shapes, sizes, and ages.

If you’re moving your body in a skilled fashion, I would consider you an athlete. Dr. Jim Gillespie, local senior golfer extraordinaire?  Of course, he’s an athlete. He might not run a mile, but he can hit a golf ball that will fly far enough that you think they’re going to sell inflight movies.

Emil Herran, who will ride a bicycle more miles in a year than most people will ride in their lifetime?  Sure, he’s an athlete.  You don’t have to break records or win championships to be an athlete.

What does that mean in the long run? I think it means a longer, healthier life. It means that you can do ordinary things like climb stairs and get up and down from the couch easily for a whole lot longer.

Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of physics says that “a body in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by an external force.” I believe more and more each day that is true for all of us as well.

So, fight through the tough days. Get up. Get out. Move. You don’t have to join a gym or run a marathon.