Do you think good sportsmanship is a thing of the past?

Answer 1

Muhammad Ali ushered is a new era in sport. The loud mouth...and made a ton of money being loud.

But, we laughed at Ali as did his opponents. There wasn't anything vicious or hurtful about listening to Muhammad Ali and his nonsense. And, Ali's poetry was humorous. Ali's only misconduct was Ali's fight against Floyd Patterson as Ali punished Patterson for not recognizing Ali's name change from Cassius Clay. And, that incident happened in the ring under the auspices of a referee.

Nowadays, there is a heightened effort to sell tickets that goes beyond being accepted. Many ball players carry on foolishly and often display a viciousness at hurting the public and each other. Youngsters pick up on attitudes offered by professional ball players and often emulate the conduct of their sports hero.

I think the lack of control and too loose of an attitude toward drugs and conduct has allowed the idiot professional ball player to surface. The Commissioners office in every sport needs to step in, as should the owners of ball clubs.

The people-fans should ignore going to the games or buying anything from the concession stands (souvenirs) at the stadiums or at the local shopping malls with the name of any ball player who displays any form of hurtful or vindictive conduct. Don't buy that t-shirt with that ball players name on it.

The media must take some responsibility for not portraying the ball player more often who exemplifies good sportsmanship on and off of the field. Bad sportsmanship should not be condoned or highlighted under any circumstances and the Commissioners office and the owners must step in...ASAP.

Answer 2

I would agree with the above comments that the media (i.e. ESPN) has caused sportsmanship to all but disapper during the course of games. And there's no question that a lot of kids have been affected by watching today's pro athletes.

Football is a great sport to watch, the best sport to watch, in my opinion... but the end zone antics are just ridiculous, as are the antics of linemen who sack the quarterback... but they know that this is what gets you on ESPN, and with 80% of the players int he NFL, that's the object of the game...to get yourself on ESPN... the other 20%'s goal is to win the championship... anyone think Terrell Owens' goal is to win a championship? I don't see it. Chad Johnson? Think he cares about a ring? If you said yes, where's the evidence of that?

Chuck Noll used to tell his players "when you get into the end zone, act like that's what you're SUPPOSED to do, because it is... and what's more, act like you've BEEN THERE BEFORE"
Lynn Swann used to spike to ball behind his head like a reverse dunk when he scored, but that was the extent of it... John Stallworth and Franco Harris would simply flip the ball to the ground, or to an official...they knew it was their JOB to get into the end zone... not to get themselves on ESPN (of course, there was no ESPN in those days).

We're seeing more and more parents killed and assaulted over litltle league baseball, football, hockey and basketball games (only a couple of deaths have resulted from these incidents, but isn't one death too many?).

Every generation has little league parents that go a little overboard, but 30 years ago, the worst that would happen is a friendship might end over the outcome of a little league game... today, assaults are becoming more and more frequent... not a good thing to teach the kiddies...

These days, ESPN has even put high school football games on TV... what's next, Pop Warner?

There is absolutely no reason to televise nationally any sporting event below the college level... none whatsoever... and that includes the Little League World Series. There's really no reason to HAVE a Little League World Series, let alone televise it, and the fact that this year's LLWS was televised using a five second delay (to delete audible profanities) tells all you need to know about the state of sportmanship today.

I do like the fact that, despite all the trash talking that goes on during basketball and football games (professional level), the players can at least pay each other their respects once the game is over, and this sometimes gets televised... but I'd like to see a bit more sportsmanship DURING the games.

Fans are just as bad, and probably worse, than the players.

Answer 3

No, I don't think good sportsmanship is a thing of the past. However, I DO think that it's been relegated to the bottomless pit of the media hierarchy; they only want to focus on steroids, contracts and the like because these are the things the public talk about the most on a daily basis. I'm pretty sure there are some players out there who really do play the game because they love it and not because of the number of zeroes on their contract, but that congregation of players hardly make a blip on the media radar.

Answer 4

No there is still sportsmanship in sports.The problem is the media only shows the bad things & focuses on what they think is controversial.They run everything into the ground.There is still sportsmanship in sports.Albert Pujols hit by a pitch & threw the ball back to the pitcher,instead of charging the mound.I thought that was good sportsmanship.Although it won't be replayed as much as if he had charged the mound.

Answer 5

It shouldn't be, but unfortunately it seems that the current trend in almost all sports points to your assumption. I have been involved in organized sports since I was in grade school in the early seventies. All of the sports in which I participated in included T-ball, fifth and sixth grade flag football, tackle football, basketball & track in junior high, 9 &10 yr. old fastpitch' Legion baseball(13,14, &15yr.old),intramural
basketball in college,adult flag football, city league basketball &slow pitch softball. As you can see this list represents over 35 years of competitive sports. Up until I would say around the late 90's is when I started to notice the shift of good sportsmanship & the concept of team
start to fade away. It's a sign of the times and a sad thing to see transpire. Now, it's all about getting up in a players face and trying to demoralize them in any means possible be it a verbal onslaught, a cheapshot, or whatever. Gone are the days of respect for your opponent on the playing field ,court, diamond, etc. The focus in sports today is centered on individual achievements to the detriment of the team. I am the last of dying breed who actually admires and respects the effort of my opponent. Maybe someday good sportsmanship will be the rule and not the exception.

Answer 6

No. There's too much bad sportsmanship around, however.

We need to teach our kids the value of good sportsmanship and also be the good example.

Answer 7

Full of cheating? You're watching a far different Olympics than I am. The vast majority of athletes are honest and hardworking. Just like in any other profession, there are a few idiots. That doesn't mean the profession is full of idiots though.

Answer 8

Well, consider this: Albert Pujols gets hit on the thigh with a 90 plus mph fastball on real cold night last night. On his way to first, he tosses the ball back to the pitcher.
I don't think with some players it's a thing of the past.

Answer 9

It is not as prevalent as it once was, though this is not limited to sports. Sports are a microcosm of the world as a whole, and chivalry, courtesy and sportsmanship are going down-down-down the drain.

Answer 10

To a certain degree in baseball it is. At the end of football, and hockey (I only watch those 3) the teams shake hands or at least say good game to each other, in baseball, the losing team goes to their locker room. I would like to see baseball players saying nice game or shaking hands with the other team.