As the recent furor over basketballers Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark and taunting in sports took over our air waves and social media platforms, one key point was conspicuous in its absence.
Putting aside race and gender factors for a moment, all that yakking on sports talk shows drowned out the resigned collective groan of millions of teachers, coaches, recreation directors and referees across America who said: “Thanks a lot for continuing to make our jobs a whole lot harder!”
To explain, consider a non-sports story.
An American and Japanese businessman are negotiating in Tokyo. Breaking for lunch, they walk along a busy sidewalk.They stop for the red light at the crosswalk. A huge bottleneck crowd quickly gathers. Despite the absence of any cars driving by in either direction, the entire crowd waits patiently for the light to change. The American exclaims: “This is amazing! In New York or Chicago, everyone would be jay-walking across the street.” To which his Japanese counterpart replies: “Well, there might be a child watching.”
Somehow, it is hard to imagine that story happening in America.
One need not look very hard to encounter sportsmanship issues across youth sports: Coaches quitting due to disrespectful players or pushy parents; a national shortage of referees; altercations in post-game hand-shake lines, leading some leagues to actually eliminate them; crude, demeaning and profane insults shouted by fans at games; and nasty personal attacks on social media platforms.
Don’t get me wrong, a bit of trash talk can be both fun and effective. And I would even go so far as to say that with no trash talk, things can get pretty passive and boring. However, our national problem is that we lack a national consensus on how much is too much. And because we lack a definition of “too much,” the final determination falls to the subjective eye of the beholder and/or the taunter.
Meanwhile, coaches, rec directors and school administrators are left to pick up the pieces as they wonder: Do we now let our 3rd graders do the “can’t see me” hand gesture? Do we let them skip the post-game handshake line if they would prefer to taunt their opponents?
With the NCAA powers that be consumed with such matters as name, image and likeness stuff, we should not hold our collective breath waiting for them to offer any guidance on these questions. But, at the same time, all that “takes a village” talk can really backfire should the village turn dysfunctional.
So, to fill the void, permit me to start the meter as your friendly self-appointed commissioner, channeling Bill Maher with some “New Rules” under the heading “If You Must Trash Talk …”.
• Trash talk should be directed exclusively at the eyes and ears of your opponent, not for the benefit of the crowd or viewing audience.
• Once the outcome of a game is clearly established, trash talk stops.
• Failure to participate fully and appropriately in the post-game handshake results in ineligibility for the next game.
• Parents will refrain from undercutting the coach’s game plan or decisions while a game is in progress.
• Only coaches and captains will speak to the referee.
I’m sure there are better rules than these, but we need to start somewhere.
Finally, it occurs to me that I should not sign off without weighing in on the issues of gender and racial equity as they relate to what I will call “athletic self-expression” during the heat of competition. As we address the double standard that has long existed on both fronts, I ask that a simple question be given due consideration: Will the pursuit of gender and racial equity end with a lowest common denominator where everyone possesses the right to engage in any expression of sportsmanship – good or bad – of their choosing?
Or will we, as a society, embrace a highest common denominator that makes room for the idea that, somewhere, a child is watching?
Send questions/comments to the editors.
