COLUMN: Where is the passion?
For the love of the game, the thrill of competition and the glory of victory.
Call me old-fashioned, but isn’t that why people used to play sports?
It seems more and more that coaches, players and fans are increasingly concerned about power, money and themselves. For what purpose were sports invented?
Glad you asked.
James Naismith was a P.E. teacher and invented basketball as an inside game children could play through the harsh Massachusetts winter. It was intended to challenge children’s skills rather than their strength.
Naismith is probably rolling over in his grave right now seeing what it’s become. The same can be said for countless other inventors and their respective sports, if not all of them.
The NBA is a joke. It’s an entertainment business, not a sport. Fans pay money to watch players and coaches get paid to perform and it makes for a lot of unnecessary controversy and drama.
The same applies to other professional sports organizations, with a varying degree of severity. The NFL, MLB and the NHL all fit into the same boat. Only the NHL comes close to the pitiful excuse for a sports league that the NBA is, evident right now by the lockout that has erased half of this year’s season already.
The controversy? Players and owners can’t agree on how long players should be able to sign a contract to play, because owners want to limit the amount of money they’re putting out. The NBA went through a similar sequence of events last season and the NFL avoided a lockout even more recently.
The bottom line is that administrators, coaches and players are worried too much about the financial when sports originally started out – and still should be – about the competition and love of the game.
A large part of the problem is expectations. Fans expect quality entertainment and performance from players, athletes expect monetary compensation and endless benefits and coaches expect power and control. It’s an endless circle of greed and selfishness.
College sports aren’t as bad – at least not yet. NCAA March Madness is my favorite holiday – yes, it’s a holiday, but that’s a different debate – of the year.
Why? Think about it.
The highest of highs and the lowest of lows come when, as spectators, we get to watch the nail-biting, down-to-the-wire action that climaxes with the insanity of buzzer-beating shots and euphoria of victory or agony of defeat.
In those game-changing moments, do you really think the players are worried about how much money they’re making? Just watch the post-game interviews. They’re focused on getting the win. It’s the thrill of competition that creates those memories and defines a player’s legacy and career.
Not the money, not the power, but their dedication to the game itself. There are few greater feelings than watching your team beat its arch-rival, win a championship or pull off a monumental upset.
Like the old adage says – kind of – it’s whether they win or lose, and how they play the game.
– Curtis is a proud husband and father, a junior in print journalism and an aspiring sports journalist and referee. He eats, sleeps and breathes sports and his life goal is to bowl a perfect 300. Follow him on Twitter @CurtisLundstrom and send comments to curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu.