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In my Jan 27 entry, I talked about Sports as metaphor for life, and explained part of the reason I care about sports, follow games and pay attention to the myriad sports analysis on TV.
And so, I'll borrow some comments from Jay Bilas in his ESPN article, Warriors on the Court.
Bilas goes on to comment on a series of exemplary players: Travis Diener, Hassan Adams, Chuck Hayes, and others. The details of his article won't matter much if you don't follow college basketball. In a certain sense, it's not really about the game, so much it is about how one should play the game. It's a lesson about life. And it's applicable to more than just basketball.
To a larger point, I think it reveals why athletes are so often viewed as heroes and role-models.
It's not just the flash of sports. It's the accessibility. It's sometimes hard to explain virtues of discipline, of unselfishness, or perserverance. And for many of us, youth athletics is one of the first training grounds for a lot of the virtues we'll be asked to put into play when we enter the professional world. Certainly, there's as much "unfairness" in sports as there is in real life. But Sports provides clearer and easier examples of those virtues and the rewards of those virtues, first in the form of team success, and later in the form of other personal benefits which follow from that success.
And so, I'll borrow some comments from Jay Bilas in his ESPN article, Warriors on the Court.
Clearly, in today's troubled times, referring to a game or its players with metaphors for war is very sensitive. The courage one shows on the field of play pales in direct comparison to the sacrifice and valor of our servicemen and women on the field of battle. Relative to sport, however, the term still has a special meaning, and compliments the mentality the player brings to the game.
A warrior is wholly committed, and brings total and complete effort to every practice, every game, and every play. Warriors play hurt, play hard, and leave their hearts on the floor. Warriors lead, and do so with their actions far more than with their words. A coach never has to worry about a player with a warrior's mentality, because that player is always going to bring everything he has, and raise the level of every player around them.
To refer to a player as a warrior is to bestow respect and honor, and the player with a warrior mentality is a credit to the game.
Bilas goes on to comment on a series of exemplary players: Travis Diener, Hassan Adams, Chuck Hayes, and others. The details of his article won't matter much if you don't follow college basketball. In a certain sense, it's not really about the game, so much it is about how one should play the game. It's a lesson about life. And it's applicable to more than just basketball.
To a larger point, I think it reveals why athletes are so often viewed as heroes and role-models.
It's not just the flash of sports. It's the accessibility. It's sometimes hard to explain virtues of discipline, of unselfishness, or perserverance. And for many of us, youth athletics is one of the first training grounds for a lot of the virtues we'll be asked to put into play when we enter the professional world. Certainly, there's as much "unfairness" in sports as there is in real life. But Sports provides clearer and easier examples of those virtues and the rewards of those virtues, first in the form of team success, and later in the form of other personal benefits which follow from that success.
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Admit it.
*G*
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You mean, it's really about sex?
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He had a heart attack? Drugs?
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And then he collapsed on the court in the middle of a game and never got up.
Which, is that other level that sports gets me on. I like the games in abd of themselves. And there's that second level - the stories of the games. As a viewer, sometimes, it's the same thing I get out of watching our suffering TV heroes.
Except that this stuff is so much worse sometimes, because it's real.
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::nods:: Oh, yes. This is something I both love and hate about sports. I can't help but admire the athletes who play hurt because they just can't imagine not playing. I can go through my team's entire roster and tick off name after name of players who did just that this season and it paid off for them in a big way. But, then, it all gets tangled up for me because, while I laud that sort of play, I worry about the long-term health effects. I also worry that by virtue of being a fan, and cheering when my team plays hurt, that I contribute to this sort of behavior. I wonder sometimes, is it my fault they play hurt?
Take one of my favorites: Drew Bledsoe. He gets a concussion, he plays anyway, and he plays well. But... how much more damage did that do to him? This behavior from a man who could have died from internal bleeding in 2001 because he wouldn't leave the game when he was injured.
Then, in a slightly different and perhaps more heroic vein, there's Bret Favre who had what was arguably the game of his career the Monday after his father's death. I know how it feels when a parent dies. Getting out there and playing; now that's courage. That's a warrior.
Your post about the basketball player who died got me thinking about a local boy who died on the court. I can't for the life of me remember his name.
I love it when you talk sports. :-)
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But in his case, it seems that his heart damage may have stemmed from cocaine use.
Which, puts him up there next to Len Bias as cautionary tales for Celtics fans.
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Do you remember Korey Stringer of the Minnesota Vikings dying of dehydration induced heat stroke? That was one of the aspects I really liked about "Playmakers". On the one hand, we celebrate these hardest working of athletes for sacrificing themselves, but on the other, it often comes at a price that's probably too high.
That's one of the reasons I always felt so sympathetic towards the Buffy Summers character. (Even when I found her judgement questionable.)
I love it when you talk sports. :-)
Me too.