Why I Love Sports: From "We Could Be King" to Donald Sterling

This weekend I was watching the film "WeCould Be King", a documentary that follows the difficult circumstances of Philadelphia High School students who are involved in the football program. In Philadelphia there was a "doomsday" budget approved that shut down public schools while hundreds of people lost their jobs. Meanwhile students from Germantown High were forced to go to their rivals' school: Martin Luther King Jr High School.

What was significant about this documentary is that it embodies why I value sports so much, especially for young people. "Student-Athletes", as they have been labeled, are working the equivalent of full-time jobs: 6-7 hours of school Monday through Friday, followed by 2 hours of practice, then on the weekends they have games and/or homework to work on also. In all levels of academics, students are prepared for the real world. You have to get to class on time, you learn to deal with good/bad supervisors; meanwhile you have responsibilities to yourself and your teammates to maintain a certain level of Grade Point Average AND perform on game day! You learn how to work with and without people, you are held to a higher standard than other students, all the while having to deal with whatever personal issues that may come up each day.

So this bogus idea that bureaucrats on the Philadelphia School Boards and in multiple levels of government where cutting back funding for sports, music and other extra circular activities is disgraceful. They would rather take away productive outlets for students time, keeping them out of trouble, than constructively balance a budget? The reality, as the documentary points out, that students who do not get involved in after school activities are 57 percent more likely to not graduate than those who are involved in sports, music and other clubs. Chew on that point for a minute: FIFTY-SEVEN PERCENT more likely to be drop outs!

The point I am getting to is not a political one, but about the merits of athletics. Sports amplifies and accentuates the realities of the world around us. In sports you learn the values of working hard, working with others, deadlines, structure, rules, finding one’s strengths and working on their weaknesses in order to be successful. We need all of these skills to survive in the real world of business and personal life. Is that coach or referee unfair? Well so is that boss you can’t stand at the job you need to pay the bills. Having to work with different types of people in order to be successful in the game? You have to deal with similar people everywhere in life. You have to compete to play for your team then you have to compete with your opponent. There is similar competition in the business world as well.

On the flip side of the sports world paradigm you have the Donald Sterling/Los Angeles Clippers fiasco in the NBA. We see how the adage "Money Talks" has great influence over that situation. It has been known for over a decade about Donald Sterling prejudice in his business operations as a landlord kicking out minorities living in his properties and the racial discrimination suit by former Clippers executive Elgin Baylor. So why is the NBA pushing him out now? Because big businesses are suspending their advertising dollars involving the LA Clippers and the NBA. We see this at many levels outside of sports; boycotts and protests along with lobbyists and campaigns influence public reactions and business decisions.

So in the end, if you "hate sports" or think "sports are stupid" then what you really dislike is reality. Sports is an in-your-face, grandiose display of the world around us absorbed into the live performance of athletics. Sports is a catalyst for social change, like Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Baseball, paving the way for the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s. Sports forces us to question stereotypes, like 5’6" Doug Flutie winning the Heisman Trophy in the 1980’s and having a long professional football career. Sports puts a spotlight on medical and health issues, like the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Baseball or Concussions' long term effects on mental health in Football and Combat athletes. It was sports that helped many cope with the tragedies of 9/11 as people had a medium to channel their patriotism and national resolve. And last but not least, thanks to collegiate sports tens of thousands of young people get scholarships to go to college each year; many of those same youth cannot afford a college education and are given that opportunity thanks to athletics.

So here’s to the Sports World, affecting change in the lives of so many for over a century. This is why I love Sports.

Joe Flacco, Britney Griner, LeBron James: Sports Quick Hits for 3-5-2013

Instead of “pontificating” in articles about sports topics, I thought sharing my thoughts in a “pithy” fashion would be more interesting, since I certainly don’t want to take 25 minutes out of my day to read a long blog post either.  So here we go:

 

Joe Flacco Gets paid

I am a Baltimore Ravens but enough is ENOUGH about “Is Joe Flacco an elite QB” or “Did he deserve 120 million dollars”.  Lets be realistic, there are atleast ten NFL teams that if they are honest about their circumstances they would immediately take Joe Flacco and have him as their starting QB.  We can all agree Joe Flacco is not one of the top four quarterbacks in the NFL (Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees).  So where does that leave Flacco?  Well from 2008-2012 Joe Flacco has more passing yards than Jay Cutler (17,633), fewer interceptions than Matt Ryan, Eli Manning, Jay Cutler, and Eli Manning (56), and more regular season wins than Ben Roethlisberger, Rivers, Cutler, and Eli Manning (54).  On top of all of this, Flacco has been sacked 174 times, that is more than Rivers, Cutler,Eli  Manning, and Ryan but he has never led the NFL in interceptions, unlike Eli, Philip, or Jay.

So while I would not have payed Flacco 120 million over 6 years, he can definitely be considered a top 10 quarterback in the NFL today.  And for Baltimore fans, Flacco throwing 11 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, and winning Super Bowl might as well qualify him for the Hall of Fame considering the collection of “weak sauce” who have started at QB for the purple and black: Kyle Boller, Jeff Blake, Chris Redman, Anthony Wright, Elvis Grbac, and Tony Banks.  Also, there’s no more need for “We miss Trent Dilfer, what happened to that guy anyway? Remember when he was our Quarterback?” discussions.

Britney Griner is a living legend

She scored 50 points last night, a conference single game record.  She is on her way to the top three of every women’s college basketball statistical category.  She is 6’8” and is one of the most dominant female athletes in the history of sports.  But seriously, I do not care how she would do playing “against the boys” because that’s like comparing apples and lettuce!  Lets instead put her amazing college career into historical perspective by finding a male basketball comparison.  How about Wilt Chamberlin?  People forget how dominant while still raw Wilt was when he played for the University of Kansas decades ago.  While still learning how to maximize his skills, Chamberlin was a man among boys while playing in college.  Britney Griner is in college and she will be going pro and in the WNBA she will develop more and get better.  A scary thought for her future competition.  Unlike Wilt, there is no woman’s equivalent to Bill Russell playing in the WNBA who could slow down Griner.

 

Stop Trying to compare LeBron James to every NBA legend to quantify him

If LeBron James retired tomorrow he could be considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time.  So I do not understand the obsession with comparing him to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, and Oscar Robertson.  James is a special, unique athlete and a basketball player who has unique skills and natural abilities.  The closest comparison to James is Magic since they are both tall players who play like smaller guards.  But when I hear people say “Magic is a better leader and player than James could ever be” is a real insult to people’s intelligence.   Lets get some perspective:

When Magic was 20 years old, he helped lead his team to the NBA Finals and won his first title.  He was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, a franchise with a rich history of great NBA players.  He also won a National title while playing in college.  On that Lakers roster Magic player with two NBA Hall of Famers (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamaal Wilkes) and one of the top defensive guards of the 1980’s (Michael Cooper).

When LeBron was 22 years old, he helped lead his team to the NBA Finals and lost.  He was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, a franchise with a mediocre basketball history.  He never played in college, went straight from high school to the pros.  On that Cavs roster that season there was NO hall of fame players, instead James had an oft-injured yet talented center (Zydrunas Ilgauskas), a hard working forward (Anderson Verajo), and three former first round picks who never played up to expectations (Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, and Donyell Marshall).

So, I say again, stop comparing LeBron to others and trying to decided how good he is and how other players were “better” than him.  James is a great player and we should just respect how talented and special a basketball player he is. 

As a side note, Im not a “LeBron fan”.  Instead, Im a Dwayne Wade fan.  Just laying all my cards on the table.