Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Pounding the Chest in College Sports

I have something literally to get off my chest today.

It seems more and more college athletes are beating their chest after they make an outstanding play.

In basketball, you will see normally a tall guy dunk the basketball, get fouled and begin his act. In football, you normally experience a defensive lineman or linebacker sack the quarterback, begin pounding and even dance a bit.

I know we are into this self-expression world now, but whatever happened to the word “class.”

The old saying that nothing is originally probably means these college athletes have been watching too many professional athletes. What’s permissible for the pro guys must be okay for the college boys, right?

Not so much. Can you imagine Bobby Knight or John Wooden allowing their players to act like they are the greatest in the world? Hey guys, let the play stand on its own merit. Go ahead and high-five your teammate and move on. Remember the old sports talk: “there is no I in the word team.”

Former Oklahoma State and Detroit Lions’ running back Barry Sanders displayed class…and he was a superstar. Sanders entered the end zone often. He would simply hand the ball to the official and return to the sideline. No self-expression and no I’m the greatest routine.

Maybe more college players need to view some Sander’s videos and learn from Mr. Class.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

These athletes are simply imitating gorillas when they do their chest pounding.