Sport competition has dramatically impacted my life. As a ten year old boy beginning a fifty-one year competitive sport journey, I have witnessed great moments in sport competition and likewise some ugly moments.
In 1988, eventual IHSA State Basketball Champions, East St. Louis Lincoln played Jacksonville high school in a Shoot-Out at the JHS Bowl in mid-January. The game featured future Division I standouts, Andy Kaufmann (Jacksonville) and LaPhonso Ellis and Cuonzo Martin (Lincoln). Before the sold out contest began, I noticed young and old basketball fans clamor to get autographs from the soon to be college standouts. The game was a hotly contested battle. As the two teams entered the court to begin the final quarter, it was pointed out by an assistant coach that 3,300 fans came to their feet in a standing ovation. They appreciated the spirited and talented show. It ranks as the best moment in sport competition I ever experienced. That same season, I saw two disgusting and ugly sport competition moments. Both of these incidences occurred in Quincy, Illinois. At Norte Dame high school a OND player punched Kaufmann in the stomach and a fight broke out between players and several Norte Dame fans came from the stands to engage in the melee. In another incident at Quincy high school a Blue Devils' player spit in Kaufmann's face on three different ocassions before refereees spotted and ejected the player for unsportsmanlike behavior.
As a sport participant is basketball and baseball during my high school and college days, I never engaged in trash talking, bantering or even friendly conversation with opponents. I fraternized one time and one time only with an opposing player and that player was SIUC baseball player Richard 'Itchy' Jones. We met for dinner during a weekend baseball series at Illinois State at a mutual friend's home. My philosophy regarding opponents when playing remained the same during my coaching career: I did not dislike my opponent but let's face it, my opponent wants to beat me and I want to beat him and that gets confusing in friendships. 'Respect All; Fear None.'
I often thought that highly anticipated games between my mid-1960's, Mason City teams with San Jose and Havana high schools would have been more fun without fans. Likewise, I felt the same way about those Edwardsville vs. Collinsville games and my Crimsons' squads vs. the Blue Devils. Players of all stripes play best when they shut out all exterior noises and find themselves in a talent-game-flow...easier to do without fans.
I thought about this the other night watching St. Louis Cardinals' pitcher Adam Wainwright celebrate his 39th Birthday pitching a complete game victory regeristing 9- strike outs and allowing only four hits. Like all games during this abbreviated 2020 Covid baseball season it was played before an empty stadium. When the game ended, the opposing team (Cleveland) stood in their dugout until Wainwright noticed them at which time they tipped their hats in an acknowledgement of his performance...a true sportsmanship gesture in...The Purity of Sport Competition.
