In 1978, Jay J. Coakley and The C. V. Mosby Company published a book entitled “Sports In Society: Issue and Controversies”. Written for college classroom study, the book dealt with the influence of sports in American society.
Have we, in the ensuing years, heightened these issues rather than lessened the anxieties and emotions surrounding sport?
Talk is prevalent around this year’s NCAA basketball tournament, for example, that returning to the practice of allowing high school seniors to graduate immediately into NBA ([professional] National Basketball Association) drafts and competition is on the horizon.
I love sports, but in the light of today’s angst over safety and better playing conditions for sporting events, is such a proposal the right move? Eighteen-year-old bodies aren’t ready to go up against veteran NBA bodies.
Are we gambling away the futures of our youth with our sports angst? On page 116 of Coakley’s stirring book, there is an attention-getting photo of a small boy — perhaps 10- to 12-years-old — sitting on the concrete floor all by himself in the corner of a baseball dugout. He’s all alone, and his face conveys it. He’s in uniform, his batting helmet carelessly flung at his feet, but he’s not in the game — ever.
Coakley discusses in his book the concept that sports in the United States are either an opiate in our society, or an inspiration, which, either way, floods our mainstream lives, disrupts our family circles, and prompts youngsters to learn more about sports figures and stars than any other persons in other professions.
I’ve always been on the side of taking inspiration from sports, but…
What happens to the psyche of youngsters who watch their peers play while they are never chosen to participate, or who observe their adult parents, or caretakers, spew hatred over the playing decisions (and off-field antics) of sports stars?
And even though giving back and community service are a solid routine for many sports stars, there are the constant issues and publicity over illegal drugs, cheating, and youth pursuing professions in sports that last only a few number of years. Are the real risks and the angst too dominant, as Coakley suggests?
Is sport truly a microcosm of life? If so, was Coakley on the right track those many years ago to bring our attention to this risk and angst we seem (still) to harbor concerning sports? Or is there adequate joy and family lessons attached to sports to make them worthy of our time and love of competition?
The love of games — from the early Olympians to the present — and the love of participation, the joy of being a spectator and of viewing spectacular athletic feats, has been part of society forever, in one form, or another.
So, does sport more often doom our children to the angst of failure and separation, as Coakley asks us to believe, or does it prompt the joy of teamwork and individual accomplishment, even against the odds of risk and corruption?
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Images Credit: Photos courtesy of http://www.pixabay.com
random complaint dept 