Nice Guys Finish First!

For decades we’ve debated the merits of whether or not we should consider professional athletes to be role models.  The debate is really unavoidable; it’s thrust upon us – and upon the professional athletes - for one simple reason:  our kids just happen to idolize, emulate and identify with these popular characters moreso than any other group of people. In 1993 Charles [...]

In the movie A league of Their Own Tom Hanks delivered one of the funniest lines in one of the movie’s funniest scenes.  As a washed up baseball coach who was hired to coach an all-female professional team, Hanks was dumbfounded when, after yelling at one of his players for a bad play, she began [...]

It seems that every corner of our society has its own lingo.  During a recent ski trip with my teenage sons I discovered my ignorance of an entirely new foreign language, that of the snowboard subculture.  I was ashamed to ask for clarification of such (apparently) basic terms as “dropping in” (i.e., starting downhill), “throwing down” a trick (i.e., doing a trick), [...]

Apparently ESPN long ago figured out the answer to a very intriguing question which has been baffling most adults over the age of 40 for the past decade or so.  That question is, since droves of children nationwide end up abandoning participation in youth sports after the age of 12 (e.g., the National Alliance On Youth Sports has reported that [...]

Until last week the number of people who were mad at Lane Kiffin was limited to the entire population of Tennessee.  For those of you who don’t follow college football, Lane Kiffin is the young man who left his job as head football coach at the University of Tennessee after just one year to accept the more high [...]

What has happened to the world of youth sports in our modern society? I think I know the answer to that question. We’ve all gone crazy. When it comes to youth sports, we’ve gone crazy with our competitiveness, crazy with our perspective, crazy with our level of involvement and crazy with our delusions of grandeur [...]

I miss Tony Dungy.  When Mr. Dungy retired as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts after the 2008/2009 season the team and their fans were understandably saddened.  Coach Dungy was the winningest coach in Colts history, won a Super Bowl there, and was arguably among the best ever to coach in the NFL.   I miss [...]