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Ahhh sports...the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat! Wide World of Sports had it right when they coined those famous words. Sports has many merits both for the athlete and for the spectator. It is great exercise, fun, teaches sportsmanship, and gives one a sense of community spirit to name a few. It begins at a young age as we put our favorite team's clothing on our babies and groom them to root for our team. We certainly did it! All of our children are Ohio State University fans while never having lived in Ohio. All because their dad is a 1981 graduate and their grandfather is a 1950 grad. I graduated from Kent State and let's just say the Golden Flashes do not have the following as the Buckeyes do. Sometimes I wonder if we did them a disservice living here in the heart of Tiger country outside of Clemson. It is hard to be one of the few amongst the many, but that can teach lessons as well.
Unless you live under a rock in Lake Hartwell you know that Clemson and Ohio State University faced off in the Orange Bowl last Friday evening. The outcome did not bode well in the Roh Casa. There were flags thrown, interceptions, flu ridden players, injuries and excuses made by both sides. The bottom line is the Tigers won 40-35. Trying to be the encouraging wife I said, "at least it was close". Randy looked at me with an incredulous glare and I knew right away I should have kept my mouth shut! "They did not WIN. That is all that matters." he said. Now my wonderful hubby is a very gracious winner. He is not one to brag about a win or to rub it in to his opponent's bruised heart. However, he is not a "good" loser, if you will. (Permission granted from him to say this). He comes by this trait through an inheritance from his dad who once cut a cherry tree down during a rainstorm with a chainsaw after an OSU defeat against Michigan! The story is now legend in NE Ohio and beyond!
I looked up trash talk in the dictionary and got this definition: A form of insult or boast commonly heard in competitive situations in order to insult, anger or annoy opponents. Do you think Muhammad Ali began this in the 1960s? I remember as a child hearing him rant on television.
What makes people feel the need to rub it in to their opponent when they have already won?
Why even during the game do people write on FB about how dirty the other team is and how bad this call is and so on? Why on earth would "friends" write GO TIGERS on my husband's FB??
Is your goal to gloat, insult, or just a playful tease? How far is too far? Every team has fans that are vicious and out of control. That does not make it right though. "It's all part of the game" some say or "It's just a joke", until it's NOT. I am not saying people should not post happy thoughts about their team winning but to go to the loser's FB page to taunt them is just wrong. I think we are all learning proper etiquette on FB. It is very easy to text or write a message on someone's wall that you would not say in person. I cringe when I read some of the stuff my children have posted especially when they were teenagers.
We teach our children from toddlerhood to "play nice, share, be a good sport and yet as adults some people are doing exactly the opposite. My husband told me, "I don't like how sports can make me feel such anger sometimes." A friend of mine said, "It can take you to a place you never thought you would go". My brother in law, who played professional baseball in the 80s, was an All-Star and pitched in the World Series said, "There is no room for trash talk in sports." Have you noticed how some professional athletes do it all the time? It is now becoming culturally acceptable to see and hear athletes and coaches blast the other team.
To me it all boils down to the depravity of man. We are sinful people and we can let our sin run rampant with sports. We can hurt people we care about under the guise of competitive jest. Where is our compassion and kindness? Who says you need to berate the opponent to win? New Jersey is not laughing and has banned trash talking at the HS level. Other states are watching to see what happens there and may follow their lead.
The Roh family and the Kidd family in Ohio enter our bowl picks every year and have a contest for the brass pineapple. The competition is fun and you don't have to know a lot about sports to win. Trust me, I have been a former winner. This year the coveted pineapple went to my husband! What was his strategy in picking this year? All of the games that he cared about he would pick the team he disliked so he would have a sured victory! Crazy, but it worked!
So as football season ends and basketball season is in gear let's remember the phrase that every Ohio fan knows well... "there is always next year"! And if your team was a winner let's all remember the other part to the thrill of victory ...and that is the agony of defeat! It will come I promise! I propose we empathize rather than criticize. Granted these are the observations of a mild mannered sports fan so I doubt anything will change because of this little blog.
