The Coliseum Revisited

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coliseumSouthern California is home to both the Los Angeles Memorial Colliseum and the Forum, both of which are reminders of the athletic competitions enjoyed by thousands during the era of Roman dominance in world history. How fitting then that fans behave the way they do booing and hissing at sub par performances by athletes who may as well be caged animals and gladiators. Whether it’s the now famous episode of then Indiana Pacers star Ron Artest running up into the stands to turn words into fists or the Staples Center regulars throwing foam fingers in disgust, a dangerous condescension is present in our sports culture.

I once heard a man say to members of the Los Angeles Clippers, as they departed the floor at halftime, “Raise your hand if you haven’t been to jail.” Really? As a ticket holder, that’s within my rights. On the contrary, if any rights accompany fanaticism for your team they are to remain tactful and poised. I believe the adage is, “Win with grace. Lose with dignity.” But there’s no dignity in deflection and that’s what fans do. Whether it’s throwing beer on an opposing player or vehemently voicing disapproval, the fan is the last person worthy of reviling the game’s participant. Argue if you will that you help fund the exorbitant salary of the professional athlete. How does that sanction indecency and the type of actions we are accustomed to seeing at the zoo?

The men and women on the court, field, diamond, etc. are human beings. They’re immensely gifted, imperfect and often distracted human beings. Fans are spectators and nothing more, the majority of whom have never trained for or played a sport at professional intensity. The berating of players by fans similar to that demonstrated by Lakers Fans on Friday is embarrassing. Fans who boo their own teams belong at home. Do you boo your kids when they bring home less than stellar marks? Do you insult your wife because she burned dinner? Do you humiliate your husband when his multiple attempts at finding work prove futile? Some may but it’s wrong in those cases just as it is in public. It’s perhaps more grievous in the arena because one harsh critic is better than 19,000.

That said, gone are the days of the chariots and spears. There is no Maximus (Russell Crowe – Gladiator) in real life. We see athletes who often exude bravado and pomp. They are wrong for that too because it mistakenly deludes the public into a belief that the athletes are non-humans. Don’t buy it for one second. Mind your places fans. Win like you’ve done it before and lose with a shred of class. If we’re true fans, it’s our loss not just theirs and being immature and malicious doesn’t change the outcome of the game. If you “Fan Up,” then man up and be civilized.

Trust on Trial

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faith fallI’ve thought about surveying people to see if they’re as afraid of trusting others as I am.  I think I’ll do it informally today as a status update on Facebook. The question should be simple and singular and simply goes, “Do you trust anyone?” I’m sure I’ll get questions as answers from people who want clarification but the question is just as it sounds.

I’ve learned and am learning that we, at least I, fear trusting and it affects nearly everything I do. It affects how I work, where I work and with whom I work. Doesn’t it also impact what we believe? We trust as children because what else is a kid to do? He/she is helpless and can be slowly weaned of trust as a personal attribute. It’s easy. All you have to do is grow up and absorb the cynicism of a world that deems faith and trust the hallmark of buffoonery. Trust is truly one of life’s most endangered character traits. Everyone demands it of others but few offer it. It is the opposite of shrewd to inhabitants of all worlds from sports to entertainment. And consequently, where trust wanes faith is sure to follow. Movies depict horrific anecdotes of people being taken advantage of as a cost of doing business.

As someone trying to follow Christ I’d admit that trust is a perpetual test as I reluctantly and inconsistently respond to the needs of humanity and the charge of scripture. But there are so many case-in-points outside of religion that remind me I’m not alone. Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets doesn’t trust that his professional basketball team will consider the interests of the team and himself. McGrady thinks he’s ready to be reinserted into a focal role on his team despite playing in only six games thus far this season due to a knee injury. Students I used to teach at Christian School have walked away from Faith practices and whether the reasons are valid or not, I’m sure departure has plenty to do with trust. Yesterday’s blog post brought attention to the world of preparatory travel basketball which caters to the notion that basketball saturation (a.k.a. obsession) is how real ball players are made.

Trust is missing, generally speaking and yet it is the currency of our age. We spend time in places we shouldn’t be with people we don’t even trust. There’s some kind of allure to being “means-to-an-end” type folks who care only for blood relatives and believe only in things we can see. But something seems wrong with that and the world seems worse for it. On the bright side, 2010 is nearly upon us; it’s a great time to start a grassroots movement. I can see it now, “Become Trustworthy and more trusting in 2010.”

If Hard Work is too daunting, Find a Travel Ball Squad

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When I asked childhood friend Andre Miller (Portland Trailblazers) if he ever played travel basketball he said no. Correction, he said he played on a team once at some time in high school and never again. But guys like Miller aren’t as common anymore, that is, young basketball players who rely on honing fundamentals – the nuts and bolts of his 10 year career as a premier guard in the NBA.

I am a coach and I know plenty of public school head coaches who speak no flattering words about players on their teams who defer to travel ball wisdom with regularity. Admittedly, I know very little about the travel ball protocol and its promises of scholarship-attaining exposure. But those I talk to say it is literally ruining high school basketball. I can say that it’s rare to find a kid in the gym working on the “boring” tactics I teach when I train young players. What I see are kids who are late to practice and unprepared physically and mentally when called upon to compete. I can only cite what I’ve seen but players show up at the gym with Ipods in their pockets and ear buds plugged in (That’s if they get to the gym at all).

Coach buddies say that on a team of 13, there’s maybe one kid willing to work on sharpening ball-handling and shooting hours before a game. Everyone else is content with whatever they can get from mandatory practices. “If they don’t get it in the regular team practice, they figure it’s not worth getting,” according to my buddy who coaches at a local high school in Upland, California. Today, it seems like the parents know best as do the travel ball coaches. The head coaches at our high schools have seemingly become akin clownish caricatures of basketball antiquity as kids are pulled away from school teams arbitrarily throughout the season. The scary piece in all of this is that players are learning how to play the game of manipulation rather than how to commit to skill mastery. Apparently Travel Ball is big money so I doubt it will fade into the background unless a movement burgeons. Kids who love the game, respect their opponents and understand the fruit of the old adage that says, “Perfect Practice Makes Perfect” is all that’s needed to drive the short cut mentality far from prep sports.

The Heart of Bowl Season

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This is the attitude, the fortitude and the relentlessness that defines a competitor.

Featured on Christmas

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laker stockingChristmas used to mean a brief hiatus from teammates, practices and coaches which was welcomed as we approached the halfway points of our seasons. Competing is fun and all but we got tired of looking at each other when I played. Tempers sometimes began to flare from overexposure and the monotony of the basketball routine. I didn’t abandon hoop on Christmas. The NBA makes sure you don’t do that what with the featured matchups similar to today’s between Kobe and Lebron. I was interested in basketball even in the midst of a break from the squad. But something else took precedent on December 25.

I know the whole world isn’t Christian nor does it celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ but Christmas day offered me an escape and a revelation. It was the time to run the circuit of drifting from house-to-house depositing and collecting. It meant sharing food with family who rarely saw me because of basketball practices all year ’round. It was a reminder to slow it down for the sake of reflection and conciliation. I’m thankful for Christmas day even now, especially now since basketball no longer dominates the docket. Basketball may be featured today. I’m watching Knicks and Heat right now. But I’m much more excited for the moment the players pull up to the family  table in casual garb with an appetite and a little time to satisfy it.

Michael Vick and Courage not so Ironic

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If you played in the National Football League on the same team as convicted dog fighter Michael Vick would you consider him courageous? One step further, would you vote to name Vick the recipient of an award which symbolizes professionalism, great strength and dedication?

The Ed Block award represents the essence of sportsmanship and recipients are voted on by their teammates. Each team in both NFL conferences gets one selection for the award and the Philadelphia Eagles chose a man who, due to his own indiscretion, spent 18 months in federal prison for his involvement in a dog fighting ring. One morning sports show derided this choice implying that Michael Vick is grossly undeserving of the award because he said,

You ask certain people to walk through my shoes, they probably couldn’t do. Probably 95 percent of the people in this world because nobody had to endure what I’ve been through, situations I’ve been put in, situations I put myself in and decisions I have made, whether they have been good or bad.”

I agree with Vick however. There are 30 other men who received this award, one of whom was shot 14 times. It’s easy to say Vick endured only what his own hands wrought. There’s no disputing that but during this Christmas season, especially, much is said about redemption and restoration. The polarized forces of good and evil collide more readily at years end as people cry out for “good will toward men”. Humility is finally esteemed in December but can shrouded by condemnation as in the case of Vick. He is an arrogant man turned self-effacing teammate. Vick did what most people never do – resisted defending himself against the onslaught from critics who’d love for him to be unemployed and still in prison. We know that he will spend the rest of his life labeled by animal activists as a vicious monster. But the guys who practice with him thought that he deserved an award for courage.

It’s one thing to be caught doing wrong; it’s quite another to decide to be proactive once you agree with those who caught you. Sure he has $1 million in reasons to rehabilitate but the influence of a reformed Vick is far more powerful than that of a reformed man who makes $10/hour. Vick is no better than the latter but should he continue to accept his mantle of second fiddle to Donovan McNabb, should he continue to expose the cruel sport of dog fighting and should he ignore the jeers of an unforgiving public, he will have done what most refuse to do. Owned up. It takes courage to do that last I checked. Maybe if more of us get caught doing the things we shouldn’t be, we’d exemplify a bit more courage too.

Andre Agassi Open

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The pressure parents put on children can have adverse effects that lay hidden in the silence of professional athletes like Andre Agassi. How many children are being groomed for the “crash and burn” cycle? Check out Agassi’s candid interview with CBS’ Katie Couric.


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