Hundreds of coaches have reaped millions of dollars in fees for conducting clinics and delivering speeches that glorify Mr. Lombardi's philosophy that only winners qualify for respect. Thousands and thousands of eager young athletes have been permanently disenchanted with sports by the derisive criticisms of their coaches and teammates after dropping a pass, missing a pitch, or failing to block a shot. Maybe each locker room should keep a few pistols, with a single round at the ready, available for the hapless athlete whose blunder loses the game.
Lombardi drove his own players as if each game, each kick-off return, and each play would be the final judgment on their worth as human beings. While no one would dispute that encouraging each person to do their best is commendable, only the very simplest of acolytes would accept Lombardi's thesis. What Lombardi utterly failed to comprehend is that the process of practice, study, self-improvement and of playing (yes, "playing' is the operative term here) is the core of the sport-not the result, or score, of a game or season.
But for the generation of men and women who lionized Lombardi's philosophy, one solution (appropriate for those oafs who can never attain major league status in commercial sport-like activities) may be to convert their former love of the sport itself into a life style of TV viewing reinforced by the players, coaches and commentators who echo Lombardi's win-win-win approach.
Must We Disband CSBs Instead of Reforming Them?
The only feasible solution for the integrity of sports themselves is a complete dismantling of the ridiculous structures which have grown up to exploit our natural love of playing games.
As with the insurance companies that plague and distort the noble professions which organized to provide health care, CSBs are intrinsically corrupt and endemically inclined to sublimate the requirements of the sport they exploit in favor of their own (profit) goals at the expense (Amen!) of the fans or patients they should be serving.
So, let us all turn off our TVs and go forth to the garage, the attic, or the sporting goods store and pick out the gloves, balls, rackets, or whatever we need. Then, off we must go to the field, gym or court to lose ourselves once again in the pleasures of participation in games with our neighbors and friends in the sports of our choice.
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