The Way It Should Be

 

I’m going to leave the names out of this, just because I hope it applies to teams everywhere.

I was on the sidelines of a middle school football game recently. The game was out of hand, with the home team way ahead. About that time, a rather diminutive safety made an interception.

Now, keep in mind that the game was, for all practical purposes over.  The starters had long since been relegated to the bench.  For most teams, that means that those that had played most of the game would be found on the bench, getting some well-deserved rest. Maybe chatting among themselves.

Not so for this team. Everybody on the team was up, fully engaged in the game. And when this youngster made that interception, those on the sidelines erupted in joyous celebration.

Raucous, jumping-up-and-down celebration. Like they had just scored to win the game. It wouldn’t have surprised me if they had carried this young man off the field.

And then, a few minutes later, another player on this team broke for a long run and a touchdown. Another kid that maybe didn’t play a lot. Same thing. Back-slapping, high-fiving joy. Nobody was sitting down. Everybody was still in the game, despite the lopsided score in their favor.

THIS is what I want out of team sports Unabashed support for teammates. It is one of the glories of sports.  In a day when it seems like college and professional athletes are in it only for themselves.  Or the money. Or both.

My friends in college football are simply shaking their heads and wringing their hands over what their game has become. NIL money. The portal.

Those things can be good. I can remember kids on my son’s college team that didn’t have enough money to go get a burger down the street. That when we showed up with pizza, we knew to have several. A little spending money would have been a good thing but that was something they simply didn’t have.

Now you’ve got a quarterback driving a Rolls-Royce and living in a multi-bedroom condo. If you’re a star of the team (meaning not a lineman), you can make millions.

There was a story (verified) last year of a college basketball player that couldn’t decide whether to enter the WNBA draft or stay in college. Apparently she wasn’t ready for the pay cut.

And the portal. Oh my goodness. The portal. Get mad at a coach—enter the portal. Not playing enough—enter the portal.  Having to wait until you’re an upperclassman to start—enter the portal.

Forget the fact that the college has already paid for a whole lot of your education. That’s not why you’re there. And to be fair, a lot of colleges treat you that way—that you’re there to play a sport and your education is incidental to that.

I get it when the coach that recruited you and promised you they would be there for your college career bolts for another school for more money.  Under the old rules, you were stuck with whatever coach your school decided to hire. Or transfer and sit out a year.

But entering the portal because the coach at your old school yelled at you too much, or who you felt was just too hard on you—not good.  If you’re always looking for greener pastures, you might just find that they are all the same.

Folks, it’s just a game. And quite frankly, I want that team support, that camaraderie, that enthusiasm for the least of these and the game itself that I found on that middle school football field.