It reveals bad sportsmanship, a lack of professionalism and a complete misunderstanding of the essence of sports
An anonymous National Basketball Association coach, whose team made the playoffs this season, recently said complaints from players about referee calls are “out of control.” I couldn’t agree more. The incessant crying and moaning by players (and often coaches) over seemingly every whistle by NBA officials takes away from the game and the fan experience.…
True competition means the pursuit of excellence in partnership with your opponent
As a member of a sports reform organization, I usually write about problems and issues in sports, and how to address them. But today I’m celebrating the beauty of sport at its best. Monday’s men’s U.S. college basketball championship game was a terrific example of passion, hard work, sportsmanship, teamwork, resilience, family and true competition.…
The untenable college system promotes the amateur myth and tries to suppress the fact that young athletes fill the seats
A few weeks back, Duke University’s star basketball player, Zion Williamson, blew out his Nike sneaker – and sprained his knee in the process – in a game against his school’s arch rival, the University of North Carolina. At the time, there were fears that Williamson had suffered a serious injury, one that might negatively…
Pickup games help kids learn to think for themselves and develop problem-solving, leadership and teamwork skills
For years, Fred Bowen has written a column for young readers on youth sports topics for the Washington Post. He’s also a successful children’s sports book author. If you have young athletes in your family, or work with them, it’s well worth introducing them to Bowen’s work. Recently, Bowen wrote a column that departed a little from…
Every time MLB moves away from its history, tradition and nostalgia, the game doesn’t improve a little, it dies a little
Baseball is a significantly different sport than football, basketball and hockey. It’s that uniqueness, and the tradition that comes from the fact that baseball has changed very little over the years, that accounts for a lot of its popularity. “There’s no crying in baseball!” said Jimmy Dugan (played by Tom Hanks) in the movie A…
The NFL’s officiating video review system needs to be fixed. And overtime comes down to who wins the coin toss. How is that fair?
I don’t know why some people aren’t sports fans but I’m certainly glad I am. Sunday’s National Football League games reinforced that feeling. What great drama and entertainment the NFL gave us with the conference championship games. Elite athleticism and clutch performances were on exhibit by players from each of the four teams. Sadly, the…
The organization that oversees college athletics broke the $1-billion mark in annual revenue for 2017. And it's considered a non-profit
The College Football Playoff (CFP) championship game recently generated millions of dollars for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, the universities involved and their media partners. The players who put on a great show of athleticism? Well, they probably got a nice steak dinner. Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma and Notre Dame made…
Colorado chose to give millions of dollars to someone who denigrates gays. We should all be offended
The Colorado Rockies recently signed free agent Daniel Murphy to a two-year, $24-million contract. On the surface, from a baseball perspective, it looked like a good move. Murphy has had some great seasons in recent years for the New York Mets and Washington Nationals, including finishing second in MVP voting following the 2016 Major League…
Leading a sedentary lifestyle is equivalent to having a major disease
The United States is considered a sports mad country. But the reality is that Americans enjoy watching sports, reading about them and talking about them. When it comes to the actual sweating part of sports – you know, participating – we’d rather sit on our couches, remote control in hand. As a whole, the United…
A ton of kids are simply being priced out of sports. And many are alienated by a coaching structure that emphasizes winning
The twin forces of WAAC (win-at-all-costs) and PAAC (profit-at-all-costs) continue to damage the integrity of pro, college and high school sports. But they have also severely damaged youth sports, an area of sports that used to be a bastion of innocence. That innocence is certainly gone. There’s just too much adult (adult ego, to be…
Selfishness and out-of-control egos destroy more teams with the potential to be great than anything else, including injuries
From a spiritual perspective, I don’t think there’s anything more beautiful to watch in sports than a team seamlessly working as a group. I once saw it described as a “commitment to the oneness.” I like that. Helping a teammate – and in doing so, helping yourself and the team as a whole – is…
The terrible degenerative disease is claiming more and more victims who played football at all levels
As a sports policy analyst, I’ve learned a lot more about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in athletes than I ever expected to. Actually, at this point, I’ve learned more than I really want to know. CTE is a terrible degenerative disease, and it takes an immense toll on those who are stricken, as well as…
They may well be, but the game certainly isn't as compelling or entertaining as it once was
It’s a perennial baseball topic: Were the players from the past better or worse than today’s? It’s a fun topic, often debated in offices, in sports bars and on radio talk shows – especially come World Series time. There are points to be made on both sides of the question. We asked our followers for…
Sports are an ongoing battle between ego and soul. If you choose soul, both sides can succeed, no matter what the scoreboard says
Win-at-all-costs (WAAC) ethos greatly damage sports, which at their best are a great socio-cultural practice. The WAAC mentality sees sport as a metaphor for war, in which opponents are evil and must be conquered. It’s a mindset that sees only one thing of value in athletic competition: winning. Football coach Vince Lombardi was quoted as…
The NFL and other pro sports leagues don't celebrate the military as gestures of patriotism. The only motivating factor is money
America’s major professional sports leagues – most notably the National Football League – have increasingly teamed with the military and corporations to serve up ugly forms of paid and forced patriotism. “The melding of sports and the military should be seen as inappropriate, if not insidious,” says William Astore, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant-colonel…
An anonymous National Basketball Association coach, whose team made the playoffs this season, recently said complaints from players about referee calls are “out of control.” I couldn’t agree more. The incessant crying and moaning by players (and often coaches) over seemingly every whistle by NBA officials takes away from the game and the fan experience.…
