Well, my first term as a "football wife" ended Friday night.
Unfortunately, they did not win the final game which would have given them a 5-5 season. That would have been a good ending for a tough year that saw the school move from A to AA with a new head coach at the helm and the Ump (my husband, for the unitiated) as an assistant coach.
No, what fans witnessed Friday night was one part amazing and one part deeply troubling.
A running back for the opposing team entered the night with 349 yards to go in order to achieve a state record. This senior has had a tremendous year, his name splashed in newspapers and no doubt every team that faced this school came in with one high priority - shut this kid down.
Few could, however. There is no doubt he is a talented athlete. He would take off running, zigging and zagging his way across the field. Just when you were sure he had been boxed in, his hips would swivel and his powerful legs would take off in a different direction.
Made me think of Tony Dorsett, my favorite football player when I was a kid. Nothing like Tony D of the Dallas Cowboys who also was the first running back to gain over 6,000 yards in Division 1-A when he played at the University of Pittsburgh.
So there was no doubt this kid was authentic. That was the amazing part.
The troubling part came in the final minutes of the game. It was clear that we were losing, but we had possession of the ball and we were starting our drive to the goal posts. That's when the weirdest thing happened.
One of our players caught the ball and no one on the other side seemed interested in keeping him from getting into the end zone - 73 yards away. The kid picked up quickly what was happening and he did some crazy loops before crossing the line, eating up what time he could.
They let us score so they could get possession of the ball and give this star player the opportunity to reach the record.
Understandably, this public smack in the face did not sit well with our football players, who did just about everything they could to stop the star from reaching his record. That became the mission. The game was forgotten, the coaches were forgotten, it was all about this kid.
They ran a no-huddle offense and gave him the ball every time.
In the waning seconds of the game, he got his record.
Yes, he did.
What was supposed to be a high school football game between district rivals, became - instead - a one-star production.
As soon as they "let" us score, everything changed. He didn't really earn those yards, even though his legs carried him every step of the way.
By placing the emphasis on the record, his coaches not only tainted his record, they sent the message to their players and ours that the individual is more important than the team.
It's a common message. Anyone who follows professional sports sees it all the time. A glaring recent example is Terrell Owens who now is sitting at home after getting dozens of second chances to be a team player.
His need to shine - especially at the expense of his teammates - has probably doomed him to short contracts for the rest of his career. Despite the fact that he is a talented athlete.
Where do you think that attitude was born? In high school?
I heard Allen Iverson (another classic example) tell a story about his mother not paying the electric bill resulting in the lights being turned off in their home just so that he wouldn't have to wear no-name basketball shoes when he played in high school.
He told this story with pride. It should have been with shame.
I understand that this kid, this running back, is actually a nice boy from a good family. I am glad for that and I hope that somehow they are able to anchor this local star and keep the notoriety from going to his head.
His coaches didn't do that.
They failed him and they failed his team.
They put the record first and that is wrong. One even confessed to a local daily that the record was not won "honestly."
Do they think history will not record this fact? That when locals tell the story, they won't tell about the extreme measures taken to reach the goal?
Or do they think in this world of steroids, corked bats and overpaid egomaniacs no one cares anymore? That it's OK to push past the rules? That records are more significant than doing what's right?
I only know what I think. And I think it's sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment