As I will argue here until the metaphorical cows come home, football is a cultural embarrassment and a societal pathogen. In addition to that “giving players brain damage” thingy, both colleges and the pros allow their players to be felons and thugs if they are good enough. The King’s Pass reigns. Colleges now pay their football players, so they are truly fake students. The game (aka. business) advances the corruption of higher education. We once were told that a benefit of sports was that it conveyed the value of sportsmanship ( as in “ethics”) to rising generations. Riiiight, about that:
- A star on the #1 team in the nation, Texas’s Colin Simmons was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after he simulated urinating after a record-setting sack of Tennessee’s quarterback.
- Another player, Raleek Brown celebrated a touchdown by rubbing his genitals, sniffing his hand, and pretending to pass out. The Texas running back was not flagged for that disgusting celebration, after all, that was funny!
Steve Sarkisian, the Texas coach, said about the penalty,“We took [Simmons] out. We addressed it, and put him back in. I’m not gonna give the guy the death penalty over an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. We’ve got to fix it, though. That can’t continue as we move forward.”
Why does “that” exist at all, Coach? It’s your job to manage the culture on the team. I guarantee that a Major League Baseball player who mimed urinating on the field would be suspended immediately, and for a very long time, if not released. Why did one of your players think such public vulgarity was appropriate? Yeah, yeah, upbringing, growing up with a bad crowd, Hip-Hop, yada yada. College once was where young idiots were supposed to learn how responsible adults get through life. Notice that the coach was concerned about the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, not the unsportsmanlike conduct.
They’re texas university Longhorns. You’re expecting too much.
Which rationalization is that?
They’re black guys.
I’m old enough to remember when there were no celebrations in sports, particularly professional sports.
Speaking of unprofessional celebrations, Wilson Contreras strolled around the bases after hitting his home run and came to a virtual stop before finally crossing the plate. Which was incredibly bush. Max Fried buzzed the next batter’s tower. Fried should have plunked the guy and there should have been a bench clearing brawl. Shameful. That homer was the first run scored by the pathetic Red Sox in almost thirty innings of post season play. What a jerk Contreras is.
And speaking of things going to hell, why do the baseball broadcasts feature two commercials for pubic hair trimmers that show people staring at guys who are trimming their pubic hair? Doesn’t MLB want young children watching baseball and then playing baseball? They run commercials to that effect. Manscaping lawn mowers? What are they thinking? Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
Well, I don’t follow baseball but when did trimming public hair become a thing? I’m glad I didn’t see those commercials. Maybe they sell a lot of those to nudist colonies; gotta look your best!!!
I almost wrote about that today in an “Ick or Ethics” post. The smarmy flaming gay guy smirking through the ad was also a fine touch. oooh! Just 1/8the of an inch! (Ick.)
I give him an ethics pass for that. 1) He was trying to stir up the team. At that point, it was 2-1, and a few days ago, he couldn’t swing a bat. 2) It’s the Yankees. The Red Sox doing anything to piss off the Yankees and their fans is fair based on their history. And Yankee Stadium is the only place in the majors where the home team broadcasts a “Nyah, nyah” sound effect after an opposing player strikes out. 3) He missed most of September with a leg issue. He has plausible deniability.
The Yankees suck.
The most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field. On aggregate, the Red Sox were down 11-1 at the time and went on to lose 18 to 2! Fried should have beaned the next guy up. This just in: Yankees fans are assholes. So what? I can’t believe the umps didn’t warn both benches after Fried threw at the next guy.
Oh, not even close! As just one example, the Yankees giving gifts to the fan who stopped an O’s outfielder from catching what was ruled as a Yankee home run, when he would have been thrown out of any other park. Alex Rodriguez knocking a ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s glove when he was about to be tagged. (Alex Rodriguez being allowed to play at all and getting millions to do it.) A slow HR trot? Just gamesmanship. And you know the score of the previous game is irrelevant. The score was 2-1.
Remember the numbers. The University of Texas is paying the players and coaching staff over $70 million in state education money this year.
One of the best teams money can buy. As it should be, as far as I’m concerned. The ridiculous facade of scholar/athleticism has been demolished. Good. It’s what college football fans want. Of course, it has nothing to do with education. But it keeps the big donors happy and donating. The current system is what I’ve been militating for for years. Minor league pro football. Played on college campuses by teams that have an affiliation with the college. What’s not to like? At least it keeps the scholar athletes out of the classrooms and off campus and away from the girls.
I saw this live and it disgusted me. I’ve celebrated in plenty of ways throughout my life. Some of them undoubtedly foolish. But it has never once crossed my mind to mime urinating on a field to capture a moment of joy, let alone in front of a national audience. From a purely emotional standpoint, even a crude gesture of self-gratification would make more sense than this.
Was he trying to mark his territory? Nah, giving him credit for that kind of symbolism feels too generous for what was ultimately just a vulgar display.
Much of society has forgotten what it means to be a gentleman or a lady. Rough and tumble sports bring out the raw side of people. Combine those elements and throw in coaches and managers who are not prioritizing conduct and you get vulgar, rude, sometimes dangerous behaviors. The universities and professional teams can afford to pay for a one-day seminar on manners, etiquette and sportsmanship. Make it mandatory. Then actually punish players who are rude, crude and vulgar.
Maybe two days.
Can’t behave in a civilization? Change the rules of behavior. Mission accomplished.
Regarding college football – coincidentally yesterday on JohnKassnews.com (free) a guest columnist wrote a fictitious story about an ex college player regaling an agent about how he made lots of money playing college ball, using the transfer portal each year to leverage even more dollars from different universities. And when asked why he didn’t go pro, he said ‘why take a pay cut’? A sort of humorous look at the sport, and actually not far from reality.
Not suspending the players for this type of conduct is perfectly in line with the sports adagio “Winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing!”. This quote is from UCLA Bruins coach Red Sanders who made the quote in the 1950s, and is also (questionably!) attributed to Vince Lombardi from the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s.
The sports ethos expressed with this adagio prioritizes results (wins, making the playoffs, titles, medals, championships) above anything else. Both sports teams managers/owners fan base expect this sports ethos. This ethos requires a forgiving attitude to a lot of bad player conduct, except in cases where the integrity of the sports is affected such as cheating, use of performance enhancing substances, betting related offences etc. The ethical priorities in sports are thus in the following order 1) integrity of the game 2) vital interests of the team 3) everything else. This everything else includes gross conduct like mentioned in the post, and conduct of players off the field.
This also explains the King’s Pass; would you rather become champion with a flawed king on the field, or not making the playoffs at all? In pro sports ethics always plays second fiddle to vital sports interests, except in the critical cases where the integrity of the sport dictates otherwise. Unsportsmanlike celebrations like this need to be punished with a (huge) fine; but a coach who shoots the team in the foot by suspending his best player for this type of conduct, resulting in next game losses, deserves to be fired; a coach should always act in the best interest of the team. The coach should always keep in mind the mission of the team that pays his salary; the opinions of “society” about individual player conduct should not matter to him at all.
From a purely business standpoint you are not wrong.