The Pathetic Culture of American sports

Most of my recent blog posts have been dedicated to Finland related topics, summer activities, and pictures from our time here this season.

It has been a little while since I expressed my opinions or shouted from my "soapbox", so I figured it was high time to vent some frustration and cool things off a bit.

Well, here it goes.

The dominant headlines over the past week or so have focused on the passing of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, the LeBron James free-agency show, and the unemployment of Terrell Owens.

I have never been a Yankees fan, but that is beside the point in this discussion. Let me just also say that I cannot bring myself to speak in only negative terms about a man who helped influence and shape the current culture that runs rampant in pro sports today. At the very least, I have to give the man they refer to in baseball circles as the "Boss" his due for making such a sound investment. Steinbrenner purchased the Bronx Bombers in the early 1970's for around 10 million dollars and the current value of the Yankees is in the neighborhood of 1.6 billion dollars.

My issue with the man known as the "Boss" was his win at all costs mentality and his supreme willingness to buy championships. I would argue that these two ideals have contributed to the shifting of values in the American sports culture in a dramatic way, but sadly, not for the better. I just can't bring myself to call outspending your competition and stacking your team with the best players in your given sport fair play. When I looked up "sports" in the dictionary this morning, it defined the term as --- physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs, often engaged in competitively. Maybe I am just too old fashioned in my values, but I use this definition as a framework for how I view sports in general. You see there are important words in this definition like rules, customs, and competition, which suggest there is more to this thing we call sport than simply beating your opponent. There is a certain honor inherent in teams that compete and strive to win within a given set of parameters or rules. That has seemingly disappeared now and movers and shakers like George Steinbrenner and agents like Scott Boras have left their fingerprints on this new culture of "moneyball". Moneyball has replaced baseball as America's new past time. Not that the game isn't sick from other maladies like megastars who pop pills and shoot up with roids so they can hit the ball out of the ball park and score a fat contract. I almost forgot to mention how "moneyball" has left franchises like the Texas Rangers bankrupt in the wake of their slimy pursuit of the front running Yanks. The Rangers sold the house, farm, and franchise while giving A-Rod 250 million in their quest to beat New York. The plan didn't work out so well for them or several other major league teams who have to contend against Steinbrenner's deep pockets each off-season. The players benefit from this foolish spending even if they don't win their coveted championship. A-Rod made a quarter of a billion dollars with the Rangers and then must have figured if you can't beat the Yanks, then maybe it is best to join them. Just recently, the cashless Rangers still figured out a way to trade for Cliff Lee in their desire to beat, (you guessed it) the Yankees.

I'm not naive enough to think this is all Steinbrenner's fault or these problems are limited to baseball. In fact, these issues have permeated other sports in our country like football, basketball, etc... The marriage of corporate greed and hip-hop culture values have created the perfect storm for moral and spiritual decay in the sports we used to love. Showmanship, trash talking, and poor sportsmanship are the by-products of this "win at all costs" and "chase the dough" mentality. Let's face it, most professional athletes come across as being self-absorbed egomaniacs who believe they are above the law, and entitled to whatever they desire at any given moment. (ex: Barry Bonds, Ben Roethlisberger, Serena Williams) I wish it weren't the case, but I would be lying if I said that most athletes I come into contact with these days aren't very shallow people in most respects. This is a very judgmental statement on my part, but I'm simply commenting on what I have observed over the last 10 years or so. Many of them are fixated with getting laid, (see also Tiger Woods) self-promotion and being the center of attention, (see also LeBron James) prone to misbehaving in public, (see also Pac-man Jones) an inclination towards violent acts (see also Michael Vick) willing to take drugs and cheat to get ahead, (see also Mark McGwire) lazy and unwilling to sacrifice for their teammates, (see also Randy Moss) and just simply in love with their own stats and image, (see also Chad Johnson)

I see signs of our sick sports culture at the youth events I attend where parents seem like they are out to win a championship at every game, and stretching the rules is very much en vogue. I have witnessed parents yelling at coaches during my son's (age 7-8) youth football games, cussing up a storm, and even encouraging their kids to take cheap shots at their opponent.

I have witnessed coaches at my ten year old daughter's softball games yelling at girls on our team who are still learning the rules and being openly disrespectful to the umpires and other coaches. The unruly behavior is shameful and outrageous to say the least!

Often times when I stand up in front of young people today and talk about things like not caring who gets the credit in victory, encouraging the person who is playing in front of you, and not running up the score in a blowout victory- the players stare into my eyes like I just stepped off the spaceship from Mars. I am often very perplexed by their reactions and quite disturbed by what I am seeing.

In the end, all I can hope for is that the future of American sports has less LeBrons, T.O.'s, and Steinbrenners at the forefront. If not, I don't think I'll be tuning in.

Lights out.