Sports: The All-American Addiction

Introduction

INTRODUCTION I love sports. I have been involved in organized athletics my entire life in virtually every capacity imaginable—as a player, a youth league coach, as a fan, and as a youth and college administrator. I believe very strongly that participation in athletics can teach valuable life lessons in ethics, discipline, and teamwork. There is no question in my mind that athletics can contribute in vibrant and meaningful ways to the missions of our nation’s educational institutions. Sports also offer a way to connect with others. I know these things to be true; from playing sandlot games as a youngster , to providing me with a clear identity during those insecure adolescent high school years, to getting the opportunity to attend college on scholarship, to earning a living playing professionally, to seeing its effect on children from the viewpoint of a youth sports program director, I have witnessed the positive impact of sports. I believe very strongly in the power and potential of athletics to mold people and change lives. It did mine. It is this belief in athletics ’ potential as an educational tool that drove me to choose athletic A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows. —Mark Twain – xi – administration as a career. In short, I have invested heavily in organized athletics because, other than my family, participation in them has influenced my life experience—the person I am and the values I hold dear—more than anything else. That is why I care so passionately about the role, purpose, and influence of organized sport in our culture. I should, for I am a product of the system. For those reasons, this was a very difficult book to write. What began as an objective, academic look at the role of sport in our culture , soon became highly personal, demanding far more introspection and soul searching than research of fact. When research leads you to question the truth and legitimacy of some of the most basic beliefs, values, and principles upon which you have based your life’s work, it is extremely unnerving. Before proceeding, it is important to distinguish between two major forms of sport in our society; “organized” versus “free play” or “exercise.” Sport as “free play” or “exercise” consists of athletic activities that are performed by participants on their own terms, at their own pace, and for their own reasons. Examples of such activities include jogging for fitness, any type of “pick-up” sport, and most recreational activities such as intramural sports at the college level. A group of neighborhood children meeting after school for a game of stickball is the classic example of sport as “free play.” The children perform all game-related functions, from choosing teams to mediating a foul ball dispute, without adult supervision. It is the children’s game, and any benefit derived accrues directly to the participants. “Organized” sport is an athletic activity that has been institutionalized, such as Little League, high school, college , and professional sports. Such activities have designated coaches and commissioners, official uniforms, league standings, and trophies. There is an emphasis on structure, rules, and procedures , all imposed by adults. Most significant, there is an emphasis placed upon winning. This type of organized sport activity will be the focus of the pages to follow. xii Introduction My initial research into the evolution of organized sport in America yielded fairly straightforward information and accounts. I found that institutionalized sport that even remotely resembled organized sport of today, with its layers of regulatory bodies, vast promotions networks, and mountains of records and statistics, simply did not exist in America before the late 1800s. American higher education, for example, was in existence for more than 200 years before the first intercollegiate athletic contest (a boat race between Harvard and Yale in 1852) and over 230 years before Rutgers and Princeton squared off in the first intercollegiate football contest. To that point, the formal incorporation of athletics into higher education was never seriously considered. To the leaders of the colonial colleges, education was based upon rigorous study of the classics and devotion to God, which left no time for games. America’s early concept of interscholastic athletics was modeled after programs in the British public school system. Britain’s Industrial Revolution of the 1800s produced an expanding middle class. This new middle class became the main clientele...