Last Friday, Allie Wieczorek (Oct. 7, 2005, “Sportsmanship? Get Outta Here!”) wrote about how sportsmanship doesn’t exist in professional sports and that true competition has no place for the dulled down nature of being a sportsman. I couldn’t disagree more.
A question to the educated students at Washington University: why are athletes like Warren Sapp and Barry Bonds some of the most hated men in sports? One’s first response (if you are a true Sapp or Bonds fan) might be that they excel at their craft and opposing fans are threatened by their abilities. This is just not true. Sports fans dislike these types of athletes because they are brazen, arrogant and bad sportsmen. I believe that fans today want and need to see sportsmanship on the field or court.
In the era of elaborate end zone celebrations, personal clothing lines and MTV “Cribs,” professional athletes have been overwhelmed by the desires to get the highest-paying contract and parade their wealth whenever possible. Granted, I enjoy a good hockey fight as much as the next person, but malicious, “cut-throat” competition, like the Vancouver Canuck’s Todd Bertuzzi’s assault on Steve Moore in March of 2004 and Kermit Washington’s devastating one-punch destruction of Rudy Tomjanovich’s face in 1977, do not belong in sports.
However, for my fellow optimists, there is still hope. Actions of some athletes today give fans hope that there are still good sportsmen.
Lance Armstrong, arguably one of today’s best all-around athletes, refused to wear the yellow leader’s jersey in the 2005 Tour de France after the leader, David Zabriskie, fell in the ninth stage to give Armstrong the lead. Having not earned his lead in the most professional and skilled manner, it says something of Armstrong’s character to refuse the yellow jersey. He was not the first cyclist to do this, as Eddy Merckx and Greg Lemond did not wear the jersey in honor of their competitors.
In the oftentimes violent sport of soccer, players still purposely kick the ball out of bounds when a player is injured. Even the inherently violent sport of rugby (in which a player’s primary goal is to tackle the other player sans pads) involves lending players to the opponent and bringing water to the other team if they have no subs.
Recently, Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weiss visited a young Irish fan battling cancer and asked the boy what play he should call to start the game. Weiss, keeping his promise, called the pass-left play even though his offense started on the one-yard line. The boy did not get to see his play because he died earlier that week.
While the latter example is not on-field sportsmanship, it is this behavior off the field that identifies the true sportsmen and heroes. Without sportsmanship, sports would be nothing more than a sophisticated street fight. While competition is good, it is the history, spirit and tradition of sports that bring the fans in, not the fights, steroids and clothing lines. It is not in human nature to root for the bad guy; we root for the underdog and the “Cinderella team” that plays its heart out. We cheer for them because they play a solid, honest game and work hard to achieve success. The stories portrayed in movies like “Hoosiers,” “Miracle” and “Rocky” are immortalized alongside the stories they tell. You will never see a movie to honor John Rocker. Nice guys occasionally finish last, but dirty teams don’t win many championships.