Special Report: Sportsmanship and the Lack There Of

Sportsmanship Monument at the State University of Florida

In my years of being involved with high school sports, there have been many times where I am completely amazed at the level sportsmanship that I witness. Whether it is football, wrestling, baseball, girls lacrosse...it doesn't matter. Most kids are very resillient. In fact, most kids could show adults a thing or two about sportsmanship. That is one of the exact reasons I like high school sports so much.

In his post game interview after losing the Superbowl to the Giants, I was really dissappointed in Bill Belichicks lack of sportsmanship. During the questioning, I intentionally was waiting for him to give a little credit where credit was due. The Giants beat his Patriots fair and square...but he could not tip his hat to Big Blue. He just solomnly wallowed in why he lost. At that exact moment, I lost all respect for him.

Even Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady gave the Giants a nod for their effort. One of the first things Brady said was, "You have to give the Giants credit for this win." Bang! What was so hard about that?

But what has gotten my goat in the High School world was a little display of un-sportsmanship that I saw a few weeks ago. I was attending a high school wrestling tournament and witnessed a big display of sore losership.

Here is the story: What basically happened was a wrestler was beaten at the tail end of his match. His opponent was able to get the points needed to win with a late move and the match ended. The loser of the match gave a look like he felt he was cheated out of the match. The referee had to force him to shake his opponents hand and the kid stormed off the mat, stomping his feet as he went.

As just a casual observer, I thought the kid was being a baby (to be honest) but I could see how he might be upset. In fact, I love the emotion of the game so I gave him an initial pass.
But then I heard some other high schoolers in the stands chatting that that particular wrestler has a knack for being a bit of a "cry baby" after losing matches, to put it in their words.

Then a mother of another wrestler leaned in and gave me a little more information about Mr. Crybaby. Aparently, the week before her son wrestled him and beat him. It was a big blow to the kid because he was either undefeated or only had a loss or two at the time.

After the match, the kid gave the same display of un-sportsmanship behavior. He stomped around the mat, barely shook the hand of his opponent and whined to his coach. In fact, after the match this woman's son made an even bigger effort to give props to his opponent.

The winner of the match walked over to Big Baby and said something like, "Way to wrestle hard." But Baby replied some kind of snied remark like, "I would have won if you didn't cheat." or something just as retarded as that.

If he said that to me I would have shown Cry Baby who won all over again. But in a true act of class, the winner of the match just walked away and went on with his life.

The bottom line, and the point I am trying to make, is "sportsmanship" is part of sports. Whether you win or lose, giving a sincere handsake to your opponent and looking him in his eye is part of the game. That is all you have to do. You are basically telling the other team or player, "Thanks for a great match!" or "Way to play hard!" or "You really showed us how good you are, thanks!"

Remember folks, if that guy, girl or team doesn't show up, you don't even play. So at the very least, just say "Thanks for coming!" even if they do beat you.

When you don't show sportsmanship, you just make yourself look like an ass. Why not show a little props to the guy or girl who beats you? What are you just so freaking arrogant that you need to act like nobody in the world is better than you?

I realize kids need to cool down after a game...especially when they lose. I am not talking about that. Emotions fly and athletes need to decompress. I am the worst with that. When I lose a basketball match, even if it is a pick up game, I have to literally walk away for a time so I can cool down (unless I am completely out of shape...then I go enter into a whole different kind of funk).

But decompressing is one thing...showing a complete lack of respect for an opponent is uncalled for. In fact, I think they should suspend a kid for not showing the proper post game sportsmanship. In Russia, if you don't shake your opponents hand after a wreslting match they chop of your hand (I just made that up...but I am probably not far off).

But what Belichick did (or I should say, "didn't do") after the Superbowl should be penalized somehow. And what this un-named wrestler did after his losing matches should be penalized as well. If you don't shake the hand of an opponent, you should get at least a one game suspension. If you storm off the mat, whining like a baby, you should be banned until you grow up.

Overall I am really amazed by High Schooler's resilliency to bounce back. I have interviewed kids after big losses and in most cases they tip their hat to the other team. In fact, a lot of times they will highlight some of the great things the other team did. To me, that is sportsmanship at its pinnacle.

Basically, the basic message for high school athletes is this: Keep doing what you are doing! And when you come across someone like at that wrestling match, just walk away (and then tell me so I can write about it).

As for you Bill Bellechick, you should take some guidance from these high schoolers (except Mr. Baby Loser Boy from the wrestling match). Plus, you will probably end up replacing all your old 30-something linebacker crew for a bunch of young studs and will be back in the Superbowl next year anyhow.