Whatever Happened to the Old Ball Game?

“T ake me out to the Ball Game; Take me out to the crowd.”

Ah, the All-American song. Images of freckle-faced kids with their dads, and a good-natured game. Also a prime example of why nobody has ever asked me to be in a choir.

“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack; I don't care if I ever get back…”

Once upon a time, I was that freckle-faced kid with his dad at the old ball game. Except I have no freckles. And my dad can't afford Cracker Jack because it costs $8.

Come to think of it, that wasn't the game I went to at all. So I'll have to adjust my song.

“Take me out to the fame game, (yeah, that's what it was like). Take me out to consumer crowd. ('Cause that's what we were). Buy me some airtime and sponsorships (because my hero had just gotten a big signing bonus). 'Cause it's root, root, root for my own needs (gotta build that nest egg). If I don't win, I will call my agent and sue in the end! (Yeah, that's how it was.)”

This is today's competitive world, where sportsmanship is suffering an ugly, ugly death – on the ball field; in life.
Winning has become so important (and by winning I mean whatever's good for me), that we will sneak our way to the top. Friendly rivalry has turned into opponent bashing, team spirit has turned into solo showboating, and fair play has turned foul.

Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship isn't all about sports, but let's go there for a bit.

Here's little Johnny, age 7, ready to play some ball with his friends. He's thinking about catching a fly ball, laughing a lot with his friends, and going home to track mud across mom's floor. It's gonna be a good day.

But Johnny has another thing coming to him, according to Mr. Fred Engh, president of the National Alliance for Youth Sports. He cites a recent survey by the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission in which half of young athletes say they've been yelled at or insulted, one in five have been hit, kicked or slapped, and one in 10 say they've felt the pressure to harm others. So guess what? Wow, what a shocker; 70 percent of the 20 million kids who play sports outside of school quit by the time they're 13.

And then we have Johnny's coach and other coaches today complaining that kids have lost that love for the game. Well, where did they get that idea?

Johnny looks like he's having a bang-up time over there getting “pantsed” for dropping a fly ball. Well, let's take a look at some of Johnny's role models.

Here's the starting lineup:
• A Maryland father, disappointed that his son had been left off the all-star team, had to be restrained after choking a teenage umpire during a T-ball game for 5-year-olds. It's okay, though, because the National Association of Sports Officials now offers assault insurance. Never officiate without it.
• Batting clean-up is a Florida father who, while watching his son's youth football game, rushed out onto the field and tackled a child from the opposing team because he was headed for a touchdown.
• And at the bottom of the order, a Massachusetts hockey dad who effectively settled the tension after his son's game by fighting with another hockey dad – and killing him. Game over.

We believe that sports prepare young people for success in a competitive society Sports psychologist Charles Banham would like to put in his two cents. “Many kids do benefit,” he says, “but for many others, sports encourages selfishness, envy, conceit, hostility, and a bad temper.”

Johnny doesn't have a chance.

THIS freckle-faced kid was lucky enough to go to the old ball game with a pretty good guy. This is a typical scene from earlier in my life:
Me: “Dad, dad, I'm home from the game.”
Dad: “How'd the team do?”
Me: “Well, fine, but I got…”
Dad: How'd the team do?”
Me: “They're just great, we won, but I…”
Dad: “How'd the team do? How was the team spirit?”

Team spirit? How passé. The old ball game isn't about camaraderie anymore, it's about showboating. It's about the four relay runners who brought home the gold for America, then proceeded to wrap themselves in an American flag – the same flag veterans salute – and did a little dance on the track and flexed and paraded for the world's media as our national anthem was played–in their honor. What is Johnny supposed to think?
So when did fair play turn to foul play? Perhaps we took Vince Lombardi too seriously. He said, “To play the game you have to have that fire within you, and nothing stokes that fire like hate.”

Or perhaps we look to the media that draws attention to the spectacular – things we would not tolerate in our own neighbors we find fabulous on the competitive field, in sports, or in life. We are a more permissive society than in the past and we have less respect for authority. Players view officials as obstacles to get around. We see rules as made to be broken or ignored. We have always wanted to win; it's just that now we are more accepting about the means used to get the victory. Americans demand winners. Winners! But winning ethically, that only happens through grace, teamwork and fair play.

Grace
Rulon Gardner, a farm boy from Kansas, embodies it. There he is in Sydney. The gold medal match in Greco-Roman wrestling. In his sight, the amazing Russian, Alexander “The Great” Karelin, unbeaten in 13 years. The heavy favorite in this final match. Gardner manages, somehow, to score a single point and shut out the Russian. The flash bulbs go crazy. David stuns Goliath. Rulon Gardner steps to the microphones…and…says In your face Russian boy? No. He thanks and praises his parents and his small farming town for their huge sacrifices. Huh. A gracious winner. What's that worth?

Teamwork
I'm on the soccer field. There are 20 other individuals out on this field playing along with me. All sweating. All panting. All enjoying. There are no standouts. No All-Americans. Just a team of guys all working together for the same thing. The season ends and they have put together the best season the school has ever seen. They do not win the state tournament, but their season is remembered for the team, not the losses.

Fair Play
We're aiming for the upper deck on this one.

It's 1987, we're in Georgia and Rockdale High School has won the state basketball championship. Soon after, the coach discovers that he has unknowingly used an ineligible player during the game. No big deal; nobody knows. The guy was only in for a minute. He never scored anyway. With what must have been the heaviest heart in Georgia, Coach Cleveland Stroud notifies the proper authorities of the infraction and forfeits the only state championship the school has ever earned. Where is that kind of fair play encouraged? And how long will the players of the opposing team remember his action and carry that with them? Cleveland Stroud said, “You've got to do what's right. People forget the scores; they don't ever forget what you're made of.”

This is about sports. But this isn't about sports. Those are just the blatant examples, what we think of when we think of competition, but they exemplify the values and images we bring with us as we compete off the field. Be very careful. Johnny's watching our every move.
Play ball.

— John Egan

John Egan is a 2001 graduate of Eagan High School in Minnesota, now attending The Julliard School in New York in the drama division. Reprinted from the Minnesota State High School League Bulletin.