I'm not one to say that the old days were better than these days as so many do, longingly looking back through their romantic and sentimental eyes (or rewritten history) and concluding that life was better then and somehow worth aspiring to. I'm of the opinion that humans are what humans have always been from generation to generation. Let's learn all we can from the past, indeed, but then press forward.
There are trends, however, some good, some bad. One that has me troubled is embodied in this story:
Several months ago, an Italian soccer team allowed another team to score an uncontested goal because they had scored one unfairly. Their sportsmanlike gesture caused quite a ruckus.
Fans went crazy with anger and the team had to lock itself in its meeting room for hours until the protests subsided. An investigation was launched by the soccer governing body (a group you'd think would want to encourage sportsmanship in its teams) to see whether the allowance of this free goal constituted a breaking of the rules.
As Brooks Peck reported in his article on Yahoo Sports: "So what seems to have been a gesture of kindness becomes a source of controversy that could have lasting effects. Who knew that allowing an opposing team to score in a professional league match would cause such a problem?"
"There is too much exasperation in Italy," said the team's coach Bepi Pillon, "too many interests that force you to look only at the results." (Italics mine.)
Which brings me to my question: Where has honor gone? Pillon's observation that we only look at the results is telling. Seems winning is all there is...how you win has become immaterial.
As some of you know, my grandfather was Ray Eliot, the legendary football coach at the University of Illinois in the 1940s and 50s. When he was a student and football player at Illinois from 1928-1932, he penned a paper on sportsmanship.
"Sportsmanship means more than observing the written rules of the game," I quote him in my book, Ray Eliot: The Spirit and Legend of Mr. Illini, "it means also observing the unwritten rules of fair play. Sport without sportsmanship has no more place in a society based on ethical principles than has work without workmanship in such a society."
He cites the example of an Army quarterback who was injured against Navy, but had to play because he had no replacement. So the Navy coach instructed his players not to touch him so he could finish the game without further injury.
"This little incident," Eliot wrote, "presents an act of sportsmanship in which the Navy football team refused to take unfair advantage of an injured opponent regardless of the cost to themselves."
Can you imagine any scenario that would bring about a similar act in college or pro football today? Today players are taught to exploit injury as a strategy to win a game. And they are chastised by the media when they don't.
He also tells the story of American tennis great Bill Tilden purposely giving up a point in a big match because an opponent felt that a call had wrongly gone against him. Can't picture that happening today either can you?
Eliot discussed how boxing has sportsmanship written into its rules. When one is knocked down, the other cannot take advantage of it, but must go to a neutral corner until his opponent is up again. I find it interesting that ultimate fighting is all the rage now and is surpassing boxing in popularity. And in ultimate fighting when you knock someone to the canvas, the correct strategy is to savagely attack them while they are down.
A few months ago a golfer lost a very big tournament because he called a penalty on himself. There were sports commentators discussing whether he should have done that or not. That there was even a discussion tells you how far we've fallen.
"Sportsmanship then," wrote Eliot, "is not only a written law, but rather an unwritten code that should be encased in the minds and hearts of every person. It is an attitude that when carefully observed tends to raise the moral, social and physical standards of nations."
The future coach finished his college paper by quoting the famous sportswriter of the time Grantland Rice: "When the Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes not that you won or lost, but how you played the game."
Great Scorer or no Great Scorer, my question is how much real satisfaction can there be in winning if the winning is without honor?
Bernie Madoff's son hung himself from a ceiling pipe last week with his two-year old son sleeping in the next room. Maybe we should ask his wife and kids about winning without honor.
Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis stated this philosophy perfectly when he was famously quoted in 1980 as saying, "Just win, Baby."
Is this not the philosophy that ruled Wall Street and led to the devastating collapse just a couple of years ago?
Bepi Pillon knows that mindset well.
