The Conceit of Sports

From the Greeks to the present, sport has been more than play. It is a mirror of the man, a training field for war and life, a blueprint and a crucible for the developing young. Practice, hard work, leadership, teamwork, goal setting, mental toughness, pain tolerance, preparation, health, sportsmanship, delayed gratification, exertion of the will--all these factors come into play in sport and, later, in life. So what did Penn State, about as high a level in college athletics as there is, teach its students/athletes and what does it teach us?

It teaches that at some point sport no longer is developmental, it is an end in itself and no longer teaches anything. The competitors have learned about as much as they are going to; they are now relying on their training not developing it. One might argue that we always learn but, when our formative years are over, learning is an accident, a by-product or a specific project of individual inspiration. As sport progress, the audience follows it for the diversion, the distraction, the fun and the empathy but the true uplifting moment--that character building moment that is the key to tragedy--that moment is rare. (The first and third Ali-Frazier boxing matches come to mind.) It is always hoped for but it is rare.

The problem with the Penn State scandal is that it is viewed as a problem with amateur athletics when in fact it is nothing of the sort. It is the end stage of athletics. It is a business. A product. A thing, an enjoyable thing but a thing nonetheless with all its youth, its nobility and its verisimilitude wrung out of it. Not to say it is not an enjoyable business to watch; it is. But the only time it mimics life is when it tries to pretend it is part of education, part of our growth.

At that moment it is like us: Hypocritical.