Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Sportsmanship
Holy Coast looks at a NYPost piece on records. It seems most appropriate given Kobe Bryant's performances of recent weeks. It's about the high school sports record book.
The worse part is all the kids that don't advance that get left in the wake. Not just the losers, but the other people on the same team. My senior year in high school we had a kid on the b-ball team that went on to play for an NCAA champion team. He was a sohpomore when I was a senior. He was better than the rest of us put together. We spent most of the season keeping his head small, as only high school atheletes can do.
Today, we'd be kicked off the team for the stuff we did to "the star." And he would not be nearly as well rounded an individual as he is today.
Related Tags: sportsmanship, amateur sports, rewards, semi-pro, corruption
While the book currently notes that Cheryl Miller is the record-holder, having scored 105 points against Riverside Norte Vista HS in 1982, it does not provide the final score. It was 179-15.Rick says
[...]
Back to the record book: The most TD passes in one football game is 10. Clifton Davis did it for Mississippi's Sardis North Panola, in 1990, against Coldwater High. The final score does not appear. It was 95-0. Seriously.
This kind of self-centered pummeling of a weaker opponent has no place in high school sports, and the coaches involved should be ashamed...though they likely won't be.No, they won't be, and for very "good" reason. High school and pony league, and junior sports are now not for their own sake. They are factories designed to produce the next Michael Jordan or Peyton Manning (By the way, I know Peyton a little, he's a great guy, I do not disparage him here.) The coaches, AD's, and everyone else in the program is rewarded when they produce people that advance to the next level. Everything from a new pair of shoes to cash is involved. Remember, only the atheletes have to maintain the illusion of amateur status. From shoe companies to college alums, the rewards have all sorts of sources.
The worse part is all the kids that don't advance that get left in the wake. Not just the losers, but the other people on the same team. My senior year in high school we had a kid on the b-ball team that went on to play for an NCAA champion team. He was a sohpomore when I was a senior. He was better than the rest of us put together. We spent most of the season keeping his head small, as only high school atheletes can do.
Today, we'd be kicked off the team for the stuff we did to "the star." And he would not be nearly as well rounded an individual as he is today.
Related Tags: sportsmanship, amateur sports, rewards, semi-pro, corruption
