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