I’ve never really been a sports fan. Many of you know this.
That’s why this column should be taken for what it is: an outsider’s perspective.
I don’t speak football. I barely know the difference between quarterback and halfback. I don’t know the difference between halfback and fullback.
I enjoy the social aspects of the game, the camaraderie and the joys of fandom.
This week brought us National Signing Day, the day when high school athletes ink the deals that will send them to college to bring gridiron glory and fame.
ESPN has full coverage of the event, even broadcasting the signing of some of the top-shelf recruits across the nation.
Sports fans remain glued to their favorite blogs or Twitter, waiting to find out what fresh blood will be brought in to help save/rebuild/continue their football program’s legacy of excellence and victories.
These young athletes have worked hard for these 15 minutes of fame (or 2.5 in today’s fast-paced news world), putting in hours of training and practice in order to get to where they are.
I don’t begrudge them for wanting to put on a show or have a bit of fanfare. We all like to be noticed.
But, I still can’t shake the feeling that this little ritual is intensely stupid and could actually be harmful.
By feeding the egos of these young athletes, we feed them the idea that celebrity and attention is a part of being an athlete.
We perpetuate the hero worship of these young men for their ability to catch a ball and run (or stop someone from running with their bulk), not for their good deeds or works in their communities, not for their academic successes and not for their humanity or who they are as a person.
Their existence, who they are, gets boiled down to the sport, the position they play.
The mantle of “student athlete” covers all manner of sins, as the fandom will let you get away with almost anything you want.
Want to grope women in a bar? Why not? You’re an athlete; women are a part of the spoils of victory.
Don’t’ have time to study for a test? Don’t worry; we’ve got tutors and researchers here to help you study (or just do the work for you … and don’t be naïve enough to think that isn’t what often happens).
How on earth is this seen as a good thing?
I wonder honestly how people can act surprised when they complain about the egos of professional athletes, the behaviors that they engage in and broadcast.
We allow it to happen by feeding the egos at a young age, especially here in the South.
Athletics, not academics, rule schools. Your school might have a leaky roof and computers from the late Reagan era, but if your football team makes the playoffs, well, by God, you’re doing okay.
Athletics should be but one part of a well-rounded education.
We can’t neglect the education part of the school experience.
We have to celebrate our scholars and creative students as much as we celebrate our sports stars.
Show me the signing ceremony of the kid that gets a full ride to school on an academic scholarship.
Broadcast the young people whose artistic abilities or singing skills are giving them the chance to attend college, too.
Those kids are lucky to get a short two-paragraph blurb in the local newspaper, much less national press coverage.
Throwing the pigskin around on Saturdays isn’t going to cure cancer, but that kid on the academic scholarship may.
Blocking that punt may win the big game, but our art student may find some new way to show us a view of human experience we’ve never seen before.
Football is fun and it provides us an escape from our boring lives for a while.
But, at the end of the day, it’s just a game.
Why don’t we give it the attention that a game deserves and focus on what really matters?
People matter. Games do not.
No comments:
Post a Comment