Take Out The Trash Day

If anyone who reads this is familiar with the show The West Wing, you might recognize the title of the post. "Take Out The Trash Day" was an episode title from Season 1 where the staff would use one day to throw a lot stories at the press in an attempt to overwhelm them and prevent the press from being able to focus on one.

This post is of that spirit in that I'm going to just fire a few quick, unrelated items at you, but not devote a blogpost to each one.

Leading off - the idea of the Atlanta Falcons getting a new open-air stadium. I cannot describe in full detail how against this I am, but I'm VERY against it - if it involves just 1 cent of public money. This comes from some columns I recently read on AJC.com. The Falcons play in the Georgia Dome which opened in 1992, also knows as the year I moved to Atlanta. Out of 31 NFL stadiums, 29 are younger than the Georgia Dome. I can understand looking around and seeing the majority of the league with new stadiums and not wanting to fall behind, but the Falcons are fine with what they've got. The GA Dome is in good shape, even surviving a tornado, and yeah it may not be brand new, but it's not like we're talking about Shea Stadium, the old home of the NY Mets. By and large, I really appreciate what Falcons' owner Arthur Blank has done for the franchise and the city as a whole. But there can be no justification for asking for taxpayer dollars for a new stadium when Fulton County just axed 400+ teachers and is hacking school programs left and right, including elementary music and orchestra. The Falcons have a good home that will likely be paid off in the next few years. They need to be happy with that.

Unless you're living in a cave, I have to believe you've heard SOMETHING about Arizona's new immigration laws. Well in the previous round of the NBA Playoffs, the Phoenix Suns decided to make a political statement in opposition by wearing jerseys that had "Los Suns" on them. This idea did not come from the players, but rather the owner. That is what blows my mind, and is what bothers me. The only thing for him to gain by doing this was dividing his fan base, alienating those fans who didn't object. It's a political matter and he should have kept the team - as a business - out of it. If players want to act on their own and on their own time, I'm OK with that. But it is not the responsibility of a professional franchise to dictate political policy and force its fans to decide wether they will continue to be a fan because of a public political stance. One other note on that - if the leagues are going to allows their teams to act in that manner, then they cannot go to Capital Hill and and tell the government what they do and don't need to legislate.

Let's end on a positive note. I came across another sportsmanship gem this past week, thanks this time to ESPN's Rick Reilly. The short version: Marshall Community's JV Softball team was playing its first ever game against Roncalli, a school riding a two-and-a-half year winning streak. Marshall barely had enough equipment for its team, and questions asked by the players before the game included "Which one is first base?" and "How do I hold this bat?" After just an inning and a half, Roncalli would offer to forfeit the game so that they could spend that time working with, helping, and teaching the Marshall players. Roncalli's team didn't stop there, and I hope that you will click here and read the rest of this wonderful story.

Calling it for what it is

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.