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.