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Sports Arena
Chariots of Sportsmanship
There’s a better way to celebrate National Sportsmanship Day.
I read with interest somewhere that last Tuesday was National Sportsmanship Day, as advanced by a group called the Institute for International Sport, with an eye to “engaging athletes and other community members in thoughtful discussions and well planned activities about the concepts of sportsmanship and fair play.ot; This sounded like an admirable idea, so I went ahead and did a little research on this group and discovered that their goal is to “use sport and the arts as mediums of peace.”
Peace and sportsmanship? Well, this sounded a little too kumbayah for me, especially when I saw that they sponsor an annual World Youth Peace Summit. It seems that sportsmanship has gone the way of most other virtuous practices; either being sloughed off as hopelessly out of date, or worse, underhandedly used to promote ulterior motives.
So, as you encourage young Johnnie to dutifully give a hearty three cheers and a warm handshake to his worthy opponent after a game, you can also train him to become a “Peace Broker” where he will take courses that will focus on “poverty, nuclear proliferation and the environment.” The Marquess of Queensbury would be proud.
Does true sportsmanship still have a place in America? Of course it does; just don’t expect to see too much of it at the professional level. But that’s not surprising since kids today don’t have too many role models of fair play anywhere at the national level. When their parents turn on the news at night, boys and girls are bombarded by stories of folks elbowing their way to the top and politicians who, when they don’t like the rules, pick up their bat and ball and go home; or to Illinois.
And with a few exceptions, gone too are the days when the Olympic Games were bastions of amateurism, sportsmanship, and fair play. Take, for example, the Olympic Oath as sworn in 1920: “We swear that we will take part in the Olympic Games in a spirit of chivalry, for the honor of our country and for the glory of sport.” Today’s oath?
In the name of all the competitors I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams.
As is true of most important things in modern life the past few decades, we find that a notion like honoring one’s country is considered hopelessly outdated, while a Christian ideal like chivalry is, as they say, dead. And the deposit of these virtues seems to find expression only in fantasy-type children’s movies where, readily on display by lions and blue aliens, they are merely to be ooh-ed and aah-ed at; not actually lived or imitated.
By happy coincidence, the very week I chanced on Sportsmanship Day, I happened to watch a movie wherein a true story of the real thing was wonderfully on display. The folks over at IIS could take a lesson from watching the splendid Oscar-winner, Chariots of Fire; a mostly fact-based story of two participants in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, and a banquet for those who love inspiring films.
The film chronicles the preparation of two 100 metre runners; one, Harold Abrahams, a hard-driven English Jew at Cambridge and the other, Eric Liddell, a Scottish Christian missionary. The film devotes much time to the anti-Semitism faced by the former and the temptations of fame by the latter, which culminates in a non-climax as the long awaited match-up of the two never materializes, as Liddell refuses to run a qualifying race on a Sunday.
Yet to me, its greatest attribute is in depicting the genuine profundity of the characters; whether it be Abrahams’ classmates or the members of Liddell’s congregation. They lived in a time when faith, patriotism and even love of sport were all lived out in the day-to-day demonstration of their devotion. One wonders where in the realm of modern high-level sports competition, might be found a champion who would utter, as does the Liddell character: “I believe God made me for a purpose…for China. But he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.”
Today’s youths are so confused by mixed media messages and modern watered-down notions of faith, patriotism, honor and fair play, they would probably be confused by Liddell’s refusal to run on the Sabbath, but would most certainly understand an oath decrying doping and drugs. Maybe next year on Sportsmanship Day, instead of holding peace marches, moms and dads might just rent a copy of Chariots of Fire for the kiddies.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (20) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 3.9.11 @ 7:10AM
The MARQUIS of Queensbury might object to being turned into the Marquess of Queensbury.
Sportsmanship has gone the way of keeping the Sabbath holy, giving your seat to the elderly, the infirm and to ladies, and not using filthy and blasphemous language. That is, it has become a quaint idea designed to inconvenience men and spoil their fun.
For those who are too young to know history, in the scene in Chariots of Fire where the *committee* attempts to talk Liddle into betraying his principles, David the Prince of Wales is the man who eventually becomes King and abdicates to marry Wallis Simpson, making way for his brother George VI, star of The Kings Speech.
ConantheContrarian| 3.9.11 @ 9:33AM
I think marquess is right. It is the English equivalent of the continental marquis, markgraf, or margrave (I like "margrave" better than marquess but I didn't make up the rules). I think that the Scots use Marquis. Marchioness is the female counterpart for marquess. Just below a duke in rank and above an earl.
ChrisC| 3.9.11 @ 1:33PM
Marquess of Queensbury is the correct title. It refers to both a man and a set of rules for boxing.
vb| 3.9.11 @ 9:16AM
I have only one quibble with this piece--about renting Chariots of Fire. I suggest buying the disk and giving it to your child so that it can be watched again. There is something about receiving a physical gift that says, my parents think this holds special value.
David| 3.9.11 @ 9:33AM
One of my favorite films- - its original title was to have been "Running." The decision to change the title is surely one of the unheralded triumphs of marketing in film making history. The opening scene is a memorial service for Harold Abrahams. Long overdue is a similarly crafted film about Eric Liddle and how he ended his days, in Japanese internment during the war, freely giving up his opportunity to be released to a fellow prisoner who happened to be pregnant, only then to die of uncertain causes there in his beloved China before the war was over.
Petronius| 3.9.11 @ 9:39AM
Being involved in an Olympic sport, I remember some of the highlights; and the lowest of the low. For every 1980 hockey Gold which is won heads up, there's a Kerry Lynch who gets deprived of a medal by anti American 0fficials from the Scandinavian countries who control that sport and consider it their property. He lead the Nordic combined after the jumping when the jury restarted the competition and nullified his scores. There were also the underhanded dealings in ordinal vote trading among European figure skating judges. And whether it's real competition or a recreational film after the fact, the best and worst don't always get their due. Witness the treatment of Bob Goalby after Roberto DiVicenzo forfeited the Masters. Chariots serves as an object lesson. If you want to make it stick, watch 8 Men Out and follow that with The Greatest Game Ever Played. Francis Ouimet's 1913 Open Championship Title trumps the lot for idealism.
WB| 3.9.11 @ 9:43AM
Indeed, it is an outstanding movie! Sad that the sentiments of sportsmanship, love of God and love of country are now of a bygone era.
Hillel| 3.9.11 @ 9:59AM
Actually Abrahams comes off modern and badly. He is so assimilated that he eats pork,runs on the sabbath, and uses special coaching (apparently a violation of the rules). He ends up a "grand old man of sports (his source of income is never clarified). The trend of modern sports of course is with him and not Liddel.
Brubaker| 3.9.11 @ 10:14AM
"Yet to me, its greatest attribute is in depicting the genuine profundity of the characters.... They lived in a time when faith, patriotism and even love of sport were all lived out in the day-to-day demonstration of their devotion."
The same could still have been said of America in the '50s and early '60s. The great change, the birth of a national cynicism, began with the war in Vietnam. That is perhaps the most terrible legacy of that terrible time.
Richard Baker| 3.9.11 @ 2:50PM
Remember, Abrahams did it with his own money and not as a paid athlete. Is there anyone today who does such without governmental money? I'd be curious to know if such a creature exists.
Lindsey Walker| 3.9.11 @ 3:11PM
I am a resident of West Hartford, Connecticut and am familiar with the work of the Institute for International Sport. My only comment to the writer is that most of the facts are incorrect. If you review the website the World Youth Peace Summit is not held annualy, this is the first ever Summit. In addition, the "Peace Marches" will be held on May 21st while National Sportsmanship Day was held on March 1st.
Concerned Conservative| 3.9.11 @ 4:13PM
I support organizations and programs working with youth and trying, on a grassroots level, to make aspects of this world a bit better. While notions of ‘peace’ are idealistic and grandiose, mutual understanding and respect on the most basic levels, between children, are most certainly tangible goals. Parents, I would recommend encouraging your children to participate in sports, arts or other programs in which they interact with their peers versus sitting on a couch with a movie!
TrueConservative| 3.9.11 @ 4:54PM
An article by someone who hails from the "Republic of Connecticut" according to her own website? Give me a break! The commentary is just simply not factual and is pretty much empty-headed. Poor grade on the your homework assignment, Liza. The truth is there are extreme liberals and extreme conservatives, such as the author, who are blinded by their ideaologies and can't see something that just might be worthwhile and non-political. Most of us are in the middle 60-70% on these things and will actually make the difference, in spite of the extremists on either side. A few corrections: the Peace Walks are not held in conjunction with National Sportsmanship Day; they are two months apart. The Institute for International Sport does not sponsor the World Youth Peace Summit annually. It has been held all over the world in past years, and the Institute won the honor of hosting the 2011 event. What is not mentioned is the lead-in event, the Scholar-Athlete Games, which honors the brightest and best scholars, athletes, and youth who focus on the arts. The author laments about the lack of positive role models, yet she has completely failed to see that the National Sportsmanship Day is all about reflecting on such role models as Stan Musial, Tony Dungy, Billie Jean King, Jack Nicklaus, Cal Ripken, Lou Gehrig and the like. I am a solid conservative, as the author claims to be. But I see absolutely nothing "underhanded" about reflecting on the truly honorable sportsmen of the past and present via the National Sportsmanship Day, or congregating great kids focused on being the best they can be in sports, scholastics, and the arts via the Scholar Athlete Games, or collecting cream of the crop youth from around the world in a forum devoted to sharing ideas, fears, and needs in a positive environment via the World Youth Peace Summit. The Institute's website is quite impressive in the breadth of its supporters, from Colin Powell to Bill Clinton, from Bishop Desmond Tutu to Al Gore, from George Mitchell to Rudy Giuliani. Quite frankly, we need more people like those at the Institute for International Sport and more events like those the Institute is sponsoring this year and a lot fewer naysayers and haters, apparently such as the author. Anybody can sit at a keyboard and criticize, Liza. How about participating in one of these events and doing something constructive? So Liza, are you an example of a truly ethical and honorable sportswomen? One more point - remember that todays youth are simply a reflection of their parents and the people around them. I'll place my bet on the Institute and similar positive, constructive groups, individuals, and events.
CalMark| 3.9.11 @ 6:51PM
In sports, where sportsmanship is needed to ensure civility and fair play, chivalry and sportsmanship are dead. Outmoded, replaced by tatooed, performance-enhancing drug-shooting thugs who yap in-your-face.
So, sportsmanship--Politically Correct version--reappears in so-called statecraft, giving a new name to the dangerous old practice that used to be known as "cowardly appeasement."
Creative Recreation | 8.11.11 @ 2:08AM
is good
Creative Recreation | 8.11.11 @ 2:15AM
is good