The great soul-brother philosopher, Ray Charles once sang the words, "Them that gots are them that gets and I ain't got nothin' yet!" Upon this premise, I base my unwavering belief that no 'economic-trickle-down theory' is plausible. However, I do believe that bad behavior 'does trickle-down from pro-athletes to our youth.' It is a given that young aspiring sport participants, indeed attempt to mimic their sport's celebrity heroes. Why, I recall vividly when every St. Louis area boy of the 1940's and 1950's who played little league baseball would often assume Stan 'The Man' Musial's cork-screw batting stance. I also recall seeing Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox great 'flip-off' a St. Louis 'Bronws fan at old Sportsman Park one summer afternoon; I never did emulate that gesture at my little league game for fear my coach would skin-me-a-live.
At age seventy-four, I look back on a sport involvement of sixty-four years. Add'em up: I document 12-years as a youth/high school/college athlete; 39 years coaching high school sports and 13-years serving as a sport consultant and clinician speaker. On this journey, I have been cognizant of my leadership responsibilities to safe-guard the behavior-posturing of young athletes; it becomes increasing difficult as the obnoxious, self-centered and disrespectful expressions become more and more a part of professional sports and sometimes college contests.
The NFL player today, delights doing end zone dancing after scoring a touchdown; a sack of the quarterback finds the defensive player contorting his body and stalking around or over the fallen victim. An NBA player will slam-a-dunk and then taunt with physical gyrations in the face of the nearby opponent. The baseball home run hitter points to the heavens as if to proclaim God's favor for his swing over the opposing pitcher's delivery. All these self-absorbed attitudes disgust me and they should disgust every parent who wishes his son or daughter to embrace sports to develop personal pride and dignified humility. The professional athlete is paid to score touchdowns, dunk-basketballs and hit home runs. When did disrespecting your opponent become part of our American culture. How dare we make claims of Judea-Christian principles and cheer such obnoxious displays.
I coached over 900 contest and before each, I said a prayer aloud with my players. I asked God to bless the young people participating, thanked him for their health and talents and offered a prayer for those less-fortunate, who could not play. Then I told my guys to return to this dressing room, after the contest, 'spent' in their efforts and be proud therein. When playing a home-game, those players then passed under a dressing-room sign, which read: "RESPECT ALL; FEAR NONE."
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