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 Executive
Director's Blog
 What's Right With Sports
Today?
What do Jim Tressel, Joe Paterno, Ryan Braun, the NCAA, Xavier,
Cincinnati, and Syracuse Universities and Local Church Sports Ministry
all have in common?
They all know something is desperately wrong with sport today.
But only one is doing something about it.
What’s wrong with sport
today?
Jim Tressel?
By all accounts Jim Tressel is a decent human being. I have
personally met Coach Tressel and can vouch for the fact he has a set of
principles and standards which he has tried to live his life by.
When everything is put into perspective, Jim Tressel did not break any
laws. He didn’t do anything that would land him in jail.
Regardless, he did break NCAA rules. I don’t pretend to know
anything about why he did what he did, nor am I saying he shouldn’t
have been held accountable and penalized but what I am saying is, this
situation proves it takes more than decent human beings for sports to
be “right.”
I ask again…what’s wrong
with sport today?
Joe Paterno?
Joe Paterno, another very decent human being. “JoPa” is one of
the most philanthropic coaches of all time. He, like Tressel, has
positively influenced many. Yet, he failed to protect innocent
young people. No amount of football victories can atone for his
failure. Certainly, every University official who took part in
overlooking and even worse, covering up, the atrocities should receive
the harshest of penalties. I happen to believe this is not even
really a sports issue, it just so happened to happen in a Sports
Department of a University but it could just as easily have happened,
in fact has happened, in many other departments of various schools
across the country. However, it is very possible success in sport
was thought to necessitate failure in a most important area of life –
protecting the vulnerable!
The question
remains…what’s wrong with sport today?
Ryan Braun?
I know very little about Ryan Braun. I don’t know anything about
his personal life, his goals, or beliefs. I do know he tested
positive in a drug test. This means he cheated. He cheated
all of those who did it the right way and in that, he cheated every
baseball fan. Can he really be called a success in sport when he
cheated to achieve that success?
Once more…what’s wrong
with sport today?
The NCAA?
1. They dropped the investigation over Cam Newton
because people wouldn’t cooperate with the investigation? Are you
kidding me?
2. They properly penalized Ohio State football
players for selling their own personal property and the coach for not
following NCAA guidelines but let’s put a few things into perspective…
- The young men who were penalized for selling their
own personal property were only doing what the NCAA does each and every
day of the year. Why is it okay for the NCAA to sell Terrell
Pryor shirts and make huge profits and yet Terrell Pryor is forbidden
to do the same thing?
- Who has the NCAA really punished?
- Not Pryor, he’ll be playing in the NFL.
- Not Tressel, he’ll still be making a living in
football at some level or at the very least living off a very
substantial retirement he earned from football.
- Not the University. They’ll hire another
coach and win another championship.
- Not themselves…certainly not
themselves. The NCAA wasn’t about to penalize itself.
They made sure none of the offending players or coaches were suspended
for the Sugar Bowl so as to protect NCAA ratings and revenues and in so
doing, assured themselves of continuing to profit from selling Ohio
State merchandize all through the scandal!
- The one’s the NCAA are really punishing are the
innocent kids at Ohio State who are denied the opportunity to compete
for championships and all the fans who support the NCAA through their
financial support for Ohio State Football
Still trying to figure out what’s wrong with sport today?
Xavier and Cincinnati?
Ugly! Despicable! Irresponsible! And I haven’t begun
to discuss the players yet! It is the shameful lack of discipline
meted out by those in charge: the NCAA; the league; the University
Presidents and Administrators; the Athletic Directors, Coaches and
Referees. Young men were assaulted and brutalized. Can you
imagine the penalties that would have been handed out if students were
assaulted, sucker punched and kicked in a dorm room or a class
room? To suspend a player only six games is a ludicrous slap on
the wrist for inflicting lifelong physical and emotional damage.
The physical and emotional damage from such trauma often doesn’t
surface for years to come.
Is it any wonder we’re
asking the question what is wrong with sport
today?
Syracuse?
See Joe Paterno.
Perhaps the right question is really…what’ right with sport today?
Local Church Sports Outreach!
Yes, Local Church Sports Outreach is what’s right with sport
today. Take for instance Impact Sports…
Tim Adcox, Founder and Director of Impact Sports is a culture
shaper. About the year 2000, Tim had a vision to see young
athletes be transformed by and through youth sports. His goal was
to train young people to be the very best athlete they could become but
also to equip them to be the very best person they could become.
This is what he did…
1. He consulted with the very best theological and
athletic minds at the CSRM Academic Symposium to establish a
foundational Theology of Competition and Sport
2. He conceptualized an entire youth sport experience
which would enhance the physiological, emotional, relational and
spiritual development of each player
3. He systematized these concepts into a
curriculum-based experience for everyone involved in youth sports: the
players, coaches, parents and officials
Tim is but one example of how Local Church Sports Outreach is what’s
right with sport. (You can get more information about Impact
Sports at: www.Impactbasketball.info ). What Local Church
Sports Outreach understands is, in order for sports to be “right,” they
have to be properly understood from a philosophical, methodological and
theological perspective, especially theological. Next week’s blog
will begin that discussion – how sports can be made right and how Local
Church Sports Outreach Ministries are making that a reality.
Blog: December 2011 "What's Right With Sport Today?"
 December 2011 (Part 2) "Maximizing
Revenue Producing Capabilities of a Local Church Sports Outreach
Ministry"
 Executive Director Blogs
 January 2012 "The
Olympics and Local Church Sports Outreach" |