I was once again disappointed by the topic and the quality of the sports coverage in The Eagle.ÿRather than stew in my own disappointment for another week, I decided to write in my two cents, and maybe more.ÿ ÿ
In the Nov. 11 "Sideline Scholars" piece, Owens is criticized for jumping ship from the Niners. This is one of the most common phenomena in sports these days, and again, the blame lies with media and fans.ÿIncreasingly, a player's career is not remembered for his efforts, character or meaning to a club - it's judged by how many rings he's wearing.ÿCase in point, nobody talks about how much heart John Stockton showed in those NBA Finals games during the Bulls' three-peat, but if I had a nickel for every time I've heard a "Choke Artist" or "never won one" type comment, I might be able to afford an actual paper and leave The Eagle's commentaries alone.ÿ
Nobody talks about the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles are the most winning football club over the past thee seasons, but people are quick to throw the "JV Bills" comment around.ÿOf course the Eagles would rather have three rings, but we're now gonna fault a team for three straight championship appearances, through the rise and fall of two "dynasties?"ÿ
We can't judge players on postseason victories and expect them to want to stay on losing clubs; it's unrealistic at best and horribly hypocritical at worst.ÿRather, I accept this and have made my peace with this desire, which is never criticized in players who are not demonized by media. I'd point to Scott Rolen and Curt Schilling, both class acts and world-class, dominant baseball players at their positions.ÿBoth were eager to leave a seemingly dead-end Philadelphia Phillies organization in search of glory under World Series lights, and even this die-hard Phillies fan was cheering them both on in their postseason runs.ÿIf you're going to criticize TO, you've got to criticize the Rolens and Schillings too.ÿIt's part of the game, live with it.ÿ ÿ
Next point - TO and the Ravens.ÿYes, he mocked Ray Lewis.ÿYes, I'm sure Ray didn't like it.ÿHe also caught 8 passes, had a 101-yard day and a TD, which of course, nobody was looking at.ÿI won't argue that TO was showing good sportsmanship, but what I will point out is that while you're condemning him for this offense, you're overlooking identical, and even more damaging, offenses.ÿYou don't have to look far for the identical offenses, and since you probably didn't see the full tape of this week's Eagles game, as it wasn't televised, you may have missed Hines Ward mocking TO and other Eagles' wing-flapping celebration dance.ÿThis is the exact same thing, without question, but those in the media didn't focus on this because Ward hasn't been demonized (yet). TO gets a bad rap and is mercilessly hounded in the media, but Ward gets a free pass.ÿYou can't only throw a flag against a guy you don't like.ÿ Try harder, look deeper.
Professional athletes are undoubtedly role models for America's youth, and for some reason we have focused on these celebrations as violations of that role, and thus our faith in their character.ÿSportsmanship must be factored into the equation, but we need to re-examine what kinds of sportsmanship we expect.
In the recent past, players have given the finger to the crowd, been incarcerated due to a murder plot, been tried twice for a felony rape charge, been charged with manslaughter, been caught driving drunk, brought up on drug distribution charges, violated leagues' substance abuse policies, admitted to using steroids and other forms of performance-enhancing drugs, thrown a chair into a female fan's face, let a bat fly into the stands, cursed fellow players on the field, and engaged in career-ending cheap shots.ÿYet the media doesn't look for the stories that require actual analysis. Instead they focus on the athletes that pull a cell phone rather than a gun and shake a pompom rather instead of throwing a chair.ÿIn addition to being ashamed of the athletes who we feel betray our definition of sportsmanship, we ought to be ashamed of our definition of sportsmanship.ÿWhen it comes time to teach my son or daughter the foundations of integrity, I think I'll start with drugs, murder and rape, rather than abusing the proper use of a pompom.ÿ ÿ
I'm not writing because I'm offended as a media critic; I'm offended as a sports fan.ÿWhen we pursue this nonsense, good sports events get lost.ÿThis TO attention has again distracted us from great football, which is what we should be watching.ÿFans of halftime high jinks and sideline scandal got what they were watching for, I guess, and while they did, football fans were seeing a rookie QB step up against the best pass-rush in the game this year, take big hits, make big plays and walk off the field with a great win.ÿThis kid's the real deal, period.ÿBen Roethlisburger became the first rookie quarterback to break a seven-game winning streak since 1999, when Donovan McNabb, who took the field against Big Ben on Sunday, did it against the Rams. This is to say nothing of the fact that Roethlisburger had ended the longest winning streak ever the week before.ÿ
This is the stuff that sports fans should be talking about.ÿGames like Pittsburgh's last two are the reason why players are drawn to take the field in the first place, why fans are drawn to watch and what writers should be writing about. There's no shortage of actual sports stories to write about, so let entertainment fans turn to Entertainment Tonight, and let sports pages cater to sports fans.ÿ
This kind of coverage is sad; it makes me sad that great contributions to the athletic world are going unnoticed because it's easier to watch somebody screaming on the sideline.ÿCan we try to get back to what's going on between the sidelines?
Samuel Ashworth is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences.
