It's been a long time since I've witnessed such a sad irony as the rhetorical tributes to UCLA's great coach John Wooden. Wooden is old school all the way. He walked the talk of his Midwestern old-school roots with old-school values like discipline, honesty, character.In athletics today, there's precious little old-school values anywhere. It's one thing to praise Wooden after he's dead, quite another to participate in university sports following corporate models of growth and greed. While Wooden clearly influenced individual athletes in positive ways, college sports has not followed his principles or his values. Colorado jumping to the Pac 10 in what may start a landslide of conference defections and changes is just the most recent example of change driven by money. The loss of character among sports athletes is too common to need explanation. Arrogance, drugs, selfish desire over team spirit run rampant in college sports.
Look at the Oregon QB just dismissed. Not every jock is an arrogant jerk, of course, the majority aren't, but there's never been so many who give sports a bad name. The world of sports has changed in major ways of which the Coach did not approve. His death is really the official end of an era of old-school values. R.I.P., Coach, the sports world will never be the same. I'm glad your world was still in place when I was a kid and sports fan growing up. I'm glad Hugh McElhenny never did a dance in the end zone.
No comments:
Post a Comment