Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Yo Yo Yo...You Sounds Like A Mo!

As I watched the NCAA Men's Championship game last night I couldn't help but wince at the way the winning Florida Gator players acted and spoke during the post game interviews. I know these guys are young and were excited about winning and I congratulate them for a job well done! But do they have to act like they just fell off the proverbial vocabulary turnip truck minus a sufficiently operable tongue and intelligence?

You see this all the time in sports and I just don't understand nor like it. I think if I was the head coach of any college program that I would make it mandatory that my players take a speaking and communications course so that any and every time they were to conduct an interview they would represent themselves (and their school) appropriately. What is more embarrassing than having players who represent your school get on national television and flash gang signs and talk like they have no sense and have the vocabulary of a third grader? I mean seriously, does it bode well for the level of education your school is offering when your star players can't seems to put together a cognitive sentence?

Makes me want to line up and have my kids go to college there doesn't it you?

It begs the question of what your level of expectations are when you are out in a professional setting? Though I suspect that you don't have television cameras on and play like someone hit you with the retard hammer, it does give one pause to be mindful of how they act, what they say and how they say it. Or at least it should! I mean a professional businessman standing at a mixer who busts out with a bunch of Yo, Yo, Yo Jim-dawgs probably won't garner your respect much less demand your attention to be taken seriously.

So why then do these schools and professional sports organizations let their players say and do whatever they want on camera? Look no further than the sad state of affairs when Terrell Owens commands such attention from the media and yet rarely says anything productive or intelligent that is worth listening to. You would think that the Dallas Cowboys one of the cornerstones of the NFL would make it a priority to shut Terrell up or teach him to not embarrass himself or the team. But no....he just gets more ridiculous and more negative focus and then wonders why everyone thinks he's an idiot. Click on the link above and listen to his rap....it says a lot.

Perhaps what I saw last night was a sign of the times. Gone are the days when athletes could get on television and truly inspire people like me to want to be like them; to admire their skills, their grace and dignity. Maybe I am behind the times but I don't care. It bugs the hell out of me and I admonish the television networks and these schools for putting these idiots on television and allowing such ridiculous crap to permeate our society. It takes nothing more than a school, a sports organization and the networks to eliminate this problem by insuring their players, coaches and representatives don't continue to make it a problem. Imagine the message they would be sending to these athletes if only those who knew how to act like proper men and women were allowed to be on camera?

Mr. or Miss Athlete do you want attention? Go do something to get attention and then act like a professional when someone asks you about it. Novel fricken concept or at least it used to be.

One thing is for sure, I was glad my son wasn't allowed to stay up for the end of the game to see what those kids thought was an appropriate display of their excitement. Furthermore, I know that if any one of those kids were mine today their excitement would have been replaced with my size 10 Nike Cross Trainer Deluxe up their you know what.

At any rate, I hope it serves as a lesson to us all to be mindful of who we represent and how we represent them so we don't look like Mo, Mo, Mo, Morans!

Ripple On!!!

Steve Harper

3 comments:

Bob G said...

hate to visit without commenting, Steve - so here goes :) (I like Drew's place, too)
I was also struck with the post game "chatter" last night. It doesn't usually bother me but last night it did. Why is that? Partly I felt the announcer didn't do a whole lot to encourage any sort of "real" comments. Its as if he had won a championship. His exuberance was way over the top. The young men - some of whom I noted were pretty quiet - could have been served well with a better line of questioning.
My opinion is all -

Anonymous said...

Second your post Steve. I think that television is out of control and it needs to crack down on what people say and do. I think this is true for sports as well as our ongoing every second of the day cable news sources as well.

Loved your idea bout training the kids so they know how to really act when and if they get the chance to be on TV or interviewed in the media.

Excellent BLOG!

Cindy Montaeu

P.S. Found you on Mybloglog.com

Anonymous said...

It was at that point I turned off the television. When Noah discussed how they as a team were going to secretly celebrate...I turned it off. I was a little embarrassed for Billy Donavan, a little embarrassed for the University of Florida, and very embarrassed for Noah. I wondered to myself....

at the end of the game would it be wrong to pull your team aside and say, "Men, whether we win or lose this game tonight, we will do it with class!" They should practice it all season just like they practice lay ups and free throws!!

Great Observation, Steve!