Sports Gone Wild

My son and I have been involved in a local sports program now for over 4 years. Although promoted as a non-competitive sports program, there is no good warm blood American parent that goes to these games without wanting to see their team win. However, there has been this undercurrent of over competitiveness that has been tainting the games. Coaches have been a little more on edge with players and more confrontational with each other. Tuesday night was the fire storm. After a week of brewing (murmuring, complaining, sarcastic remarks and rude comments), one seemingly bad play erupted into verbal attacks, cursing and coaches clearing the benches. One parent on the opposing team yelled, “punch him in the face”. In the end, the kids were upset and parents refused to return. It was an unfortunate event, but one that could have been avoided.


My eleven year old son was extremely disappointed and confused. On the drive home he tried to put the pieces together and came to the conclusion that it was unnecessary. The losers in this situation was not a team due to lack of points, but the young players that witnessed the unsportsmanlike conduct of the adults.

Recently I have noticed an increase not just on the field but in life as a whole, in how short tempered, anxious, aggressive, competitive and cold we have become. Hospitality and compassion seem to be a fading norm. Although we advocate tolerance, we are shorter fused with people and tolerate very little. Almost as if anything, at anytime could set off anybody. Patience is thrown out the door as we “expect” things to be done for us on a whim. If it’s not my name in the limelight, then no one deserves the spot. I deserved that call, the win, the  raise, that lane, the job, the discount, all credit, the...

I have often wondered if digital world has enabled us to properly communicate in person. Whether these one-on-one, face-to-face interactions are so uncomfortable that we instantly go to Defcon 5 stress. Maybe perhaps is the long hours at work, or the lack there off that have us strung out. Perhaps it’s the economy, the milk prices that seem to match the gas prices, the inability to meet our light bill or a broken washing machine that is still broken. We are encouraged to budget our money, manage our time, but no one seems to be talking about taking charge of our tempers. We have social movements that advocate lifestyle tolerances, but no advocates the Golden Rule. I wonder what message is being sent to our children with our inability to cope. As in the football incident, we preach through our actions, "you don’t have to tolerate others or deal with their c#@P". If these are the examples our children have to gleam from, then I would ask this final slippery slope question, “What will our future look like in a society of high strung, selfish, quick tempered individuals”? I guess we will find out.

SIDE NOTE: If the NFL sees a problem maybe we should too.
http://nesn.com/2013/02/nfl-to-implement-stricter-penalties-for-coaches-arguing-with-referees-from-sideline/