I love team sports, and especially college football. My love for football was born from working for Plano HC, John Clark, the greatest coach I ever worked for. That's quite a statement, given that at various times at OU, I worked for Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, Jimmy Dickey and four other then assistants who at one time in their careers were college head coaches.
But team sports are too often way different than they used to be, and not in a good way.
There was a time, a very long time, when the real value of team sports was about teaching the individuals to submit what might be good for them, for what was good for the team. That has changed since I was a student 42 to 49 years ago, and chasing a football around a practice field to get it spotted for the next snap.
This elevation of "me," to the detriment of the team makes it harder to win, and really defeats what ought to be going on. You ought to owe your best to your teammates. And that includes doing your job, and not violating rules to show off so everybody can see you scored a touchdown, forgetting that everybody had to do their job right to get your there.
So I have little affection for NFL touchdown dances.
I love it when an underdog wins, doing things the right way. And I despise ESPN's promotion of those who'd promote themselves.
A couple of people have told me over the years here, that my best post ever, was a tribute to Jack Mildren shortly after his way premature passing now seven years ago. I knew Jack pretty well. He gave me the nickname "Plano" in my first month as a student manager at OU. I think he was amused by my passion for Wildcat football, and a bit annoyed that I genuinely believed that my AA State Champs were the equal to his AAAA State runners up in 1967, his senior year. And I was wrong about that.
One of the things I wrote about Jack was that I felt incredibly honored to be the only non football player who was welcomed to some pretty intense games of Hearts in Jack's room, back in the days when athletes lived in the "jock dorm" until they either got married or used up their eligibility.
There was an unwritten rule in those games. When you played in those games, it was your job in three of every four hands, to make sure that the guy you passed to, didn't run the deck. If you were selfish enough to always pass your highest cards, it might have helped you individually. But even though Hearts is an individual game. Unlike Spades or Bridge, you don't ever have a partner. But it was your job to sacrifice for the team, anyway, and if you didn't, you weren't invited back. I'm not sure enough of today's athletes would get that.
My favorite Jack Mildren quote came after we smoked Kansas in Norman, 56-10, twelve days before the GOTC. Jack was interviewed on ABC about the long wait to play Nebraska, 1 vs 2, finally being over. Jack said, "Nebraska thinks they're better than we are, and we think we're better than Nebraska. On Thanksgiving Day, we're going to find out who's right." There was a sportsmanship involved in the game, that seems a lot harder to find these days.
There was no trash talking in 1971. "Gamemanship" and trying to get in the other guy's head to beat him that way, was not part of the game, not in any college game I was on the sidelines for. Now, we hear the talking heads place compliments on those who win that way. This has gotten worse than backwards.
I love tough guys, who mostly shut up and do their jobs. I loved Emmitt Smith, Kurt Warner and LaDanian Thomlinson. And Johnny Unitas. And especially Jack Mildren.
Not much positive to say or think about Terrell Owens, Randy Moss or Joe Theismann. Or the Boz. But Brian is starting to grow on me.
But team sports are too often way different than they used to be, and not in a good way.
There was a time, a very long time, when the real value of team sports was about teaching the individuals to submit what might be good for them, for what was good for the team. That has changed since I was a student 42 to 49 years ago, and chasing a football around a practice field to get it spotted for the next snap.
This elevation of "me," to the detriment of the team makes it harder to win, and really defeats what ought to be going on. You ought to owe your best to your teammates. And that includes doing your job, and not violating rules to show off so everybody can see you scored a touchdown, forgetting that everybody had to do their job right to get your there.
So I have little affection for NFL touchdown dances.
I love it when an underdog wins, doing things the right way. And I despise ESPN's promotion of those who'd promote themselves.
A couple of people have told me over the years here, that my best post ever, was a tribute to Jack Mildren shortly after his way premature passing now seven years ago. I knew Jack pretty well. He gave me the nickname "Plano" in my first month as a student manager at OU. I think he was amused by my passion for Wildcat football, and a bit annoyed that I genuinely believed that my AA State Champs were the equal to his AAAA State runners up in 1967, his senior year. And I was wrong about that.
One of the things I wrote about Jack was that I felt incredibly honored to be the only non football player who was welcomed to some pretty intense games of Hearts in Jack's room, back in the days when athletes lived in the "jock dorm" until they either got married or used up their eligibility.
There was an unwritten rule in those games. When you played in those games, it was your job in three of every four hands, to make sure that the guy you passed to, didn't run the deck. If you were selfish enough to always pass your highest cards, it might have helped you individually. But even though Hearts is an individual game. Unlike Spades or Bridge, you don't ever have a partner. But it was your job to sacrifice for the team, anyway, and if you didn't, you weren't invited back. I'm not sure enough of today's athletes would get that.
My favorite Jack Mildren quote came after we smoked Kansas in Norman, 56-10, twelve days before the GOTC. Jack was interviewed on ABC about the long wait to play Nebraska, 1 vs 2, finally being over. Jack said, "Nebraska thinks they're better than we are, and we think we're better than Nebraska. On Thanksgiving Day, we're going to find out who's right." There was a sportsmanship involved in the game, that seems a lot harder to find these days.
There was no trash talking in 1971. "Gamemanship" and trying to get in the other guy's head to beat him that way, was not part of the game, not in any college game I was on the sidelines for. Now, we hear the talking heads place compliments on those who win that way. This has gotten worse than backwards.
I love tough guys, who mostly shut up and do their jobs. I loved Emmitt Smith, Kurt Warner and LaDanian Thomlinson. And Johnny Unitas. And especially Jack Mildren.
Not much positive to say or think about Terrell Owens, Randy Moss or Joe Theismann. Or the Boz. But Brian is starting to grow on me.
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