Two posts ago, I talked about how the universal question in sports is "Who will step up when it matters and come out on top?" As I was gathering my thoughts for this post, I decided that that question lends a blog title that I like better than "Living Above the Line"...at least until I think of a new title.
Over the course of my student career at KSU, I participated in several discussions on the topic of sportsmanship. One can probably spend days just trying to come up with a good definition of it. I think it is fair to say that true sportsmanship must be based on a mindset and not actions. Just because teams line up to "shake" hands before or after a game doesn't mean that they are showing good sportsmanship.
Probably the best display of sportsmanship I've heard of in recent years took place in April of 2008 during a collegiate softball game between Western Oregon and Central Washington. I encourage you to
click this link and read the full story, but in short, a senior for Western Oregon hit the only home run of her career in her final game. While rounding first, it's believed she tore her ACL. Being an active player on offense, if any of the coaches touched her, she would be ruled out and wouldn't get credit for the home run. Instead, two players for Central Washington VOLUNTEERED to carry the injured opponent around the basepaths, lowering her to touch each base, ensuring that she got credit for the home run that would essentially cost their team the game.
Click here to watch a video on this story. Be warned, if you're like me, it'll move you.
Unfortunately, I also came across a story that reminds us that even if we
do step up when called upon, we aren't assured victory. In
this story I found on Sports Illustrated.com, a female track & field athlete has the opportunity to win the state title for her high school if she successfully completes a pole vault attempt. After an aborted attempt, she restarts and successfully completes the jump, and her school wins state...until the opposing coach, Mike Knowles of Monrovia high, calls notice to her wrist where she is wearing one of those friendship bracelets made of thread. He cites the rule book where it says athletes cannot wear any "jewelry." The girl is disqualified and her school loses the state title.
Can you be "unsportsmanlike" when at the same time you are ensuring that a rule is followed? Did this guy do something wrong with his actions? My heart says yes. My head says no. Another question: had he said nothing, would he have wronged his employer knowing that a rule had been "broken"? Can any of the athletes on that team go home really feeling like they won?
There is nothing that feels good about this story. I cannot say he was wrong in what he did. I wish he didn't do it. In my heart, I wish he saw the situation for what it was, that his team had been defeated without any question of impropriety.
The only thing I can say definitively is that his team/school did not
win state. They didn't
win anything. They were defeated in the course of competition. Rather, they were
awarded the state title. This isn't like athletes who use performance enhancing drugs or masking agents. That bracelet offered no competitive advantage, and she would have won that state title based solely on merit.
It's not the story that's made for movies where the winner always comes out on top. I can only hope that Robin Laird's coach at South Pasadena High School and that the rest of her school were able to convince her that she is a winner, even if she didn't get the hardware.
Referring to the aforementioned story, the girls at Central Washington would not have broken any rules had they let the injured athlete's coaches put in a pinch runner, and I'm not sure you can even say that had they not helped, that it would have been unsportsmanlike. What separates them, in my opinion, from Mr. Knowles, was their underlying respect for their opponent and competition.
