NCAA Gets One “Right”: Now it’s Time to Fix a Lingering “Wrong”
This year’s NCAA Men’s Final Four basketball tournament offered an interesting twist in that there was a new breed of “one-and-done” players participating.
Sports
If We Build It, They Will Come
March is “Music in the Schools Month”. While it is wonderful to promote the importance of music in our schools in this way, it is merely a first step in the effort to focus the public’s attention on how critical music is to our schools’ curriculums and in the lives of students. Despite nice declarations …
Giving Youth Sports Back to the Kids
It’s no secret there are significant problems in organized youth sports programs. Incidences of parents screaming at nine-year-old children over a missed basket or misplayed fly ball are commonplace. Youth league umpires and referees are regularly abused and even physically attacked. Brawls have erupted after youth league soccer matches. Obviously, something is wrong. It’s the …
Rethinking the Coach on That Pedestal
Why do we so readily and cavalierly place sports coaches on pedestals? Despite the seemingly non-stop accounts of coaches behaving badly, from the University of Maryland’s D.J. Durkin, who’s toxic culture surrounding the program contributed to the death of Jordan McNair, a 19-year old lineman, to the revelations that several college basketball coaches were involved …
Football Derangement Syndrome: Article One
Given that we are getting ready to slide into football’s peak Season of Insanity that is the two week period prior to the Super Bowl, here’s an item that exemplifies just how severe our nation’s Football Derangement Syndrome has become. As reported by Cassandra Negley of Yahoo Sports (December 18, 2018), the Permian Basin Youth …
How Elite Athletics Can Undermine Academic Values and Institutions
You’ve read the stories. Maybe even in your local paper. There are no shortages of accounts of the never-ending “arms race” in college athletics for programs to build palatial offices, stadiums or practice facilities. And, true to form, many of the priorities displayed by our colleges and universities filter down to influence attitudes and policies …
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The Future of Tackle Football: The Bricks Just Keep Coming
Sometimes you can repeat a phrase or articulate a theory or belief so often that it begins to become simply background noise or, if repeated enough, irrelevant. I am referring to my ongoing use of the metaphor, “another brick in the wall” as it relates to the future of tackle football in America. It seems …
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The Future of Tackle Football: Another Couple of Bricks in the Wall
An old friend called recently. We were catching up on news of kids, recent travel and various body aches and pains when he announced he had something to tell to me. “I’m quitting football.” I found this a bit confusing because at age 60, his playing days are long over. Besides, he played basketball in …
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Envisioning a Better Model for Interscholastic Sports
Athletes often use a technique called “visualization” to improve their chances of success. For example, the athlete imagines an act such as hitting a baseball or envisions reacting during a competitive situation. It is believed that if the athlete sees herself performing a particular skill, it will improve her chances of actually performing that skill …
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America’s Game Slipping Out of Touch with American Values?
America’s Game Slipping Out of Touch with American Values? One of the most defining influences on my athletic career was when the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts in the 1969 Super Bowl. The Jets, from the upstart American Football League, were lead by the brash, shaggy-haired, nightlife-loving Broadway Joe Namath. The Colts represented the …
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