Editor, Commonwealth:
It can be a wonderful thing to be a member of a team or organization that teaches the real value of teamwork.
I can recall what it meant to be included as a member of the Coleman Junior/Senior High School athletic family. Like all families, it had its ups, its downs and its troubled family members. However, I can clearly remember the standards and expectations established by the men who were responsible for coaching the various teams. To be caught in some grandstanding endeavor was unheard of, and an athlete critiquing the coaches based on his idea of how he should have been used in the game would have been insane. That person called “Coach” was a reminder to all of us of what it meant to care about your school, your community, your parents and those who taught you how to live.
Sadly, the best part of the team and what the game taught has been replaced with something called “just win, baby.” The exploits of the game, something called “we won,” have become the only thing that matters. As a result, when the game is over and it doesn't come out the way we wanted it to, you can hear a magnitude of griping, whining and finger-pointing.
To my amazement, there is a coach at a small college in the Carolinas who is attempting to restore some of those good-old values that were a part of how the game served a greater purpose rather than “just win, baby.”
You might remember Al Davis, former coach and owner of the Los Angeles Raiders, who coined that phrase. Mr. Davis seemed to be concerned with the business aspect of the game called professional football. On the professional level, that ball is a job. However, to apply that ideology to any other level takes away from the values that young people should receive by being a part of a team.
This college coach, on the other hand, is trying to restore the idea that the game can be used to make better people. He has created a vision he calls B.A.M. It is not complicated. B.A.M. stands for Be A Man. With this simple vision and approach, all the coach is insisting on is that his players have a little character, let go of the selfish sense of “it’s all about me,” and live up to some standards.
It does not take much for a coach to have a good season: Win your opener, beat your rival and don't leave the homecoming queen crying, and you can call that a good year. But to be successful, you should have also enhanced the lives of those young people under your guidance.
Finally, what the young men did at the University of Missouri was about taking a stand, and it involved a great many others who were not athletes. Sometimes, the right thing to do is simply the right thing.
In my opinion, these young men were not the problem. They were not whining, but rather they were willing to make a sacrifice in order to take a stand. It is important to smell the coffee before the pot boils over. As far as I am concerned, that is exactly what these athletes were trying to do. To those of us who live in a free society and don't get that, I cannot explain it to you.
Furthermore, if the goal is to make better people and build a little character along the way, then the most successful team in the nation this season was the University of Missouri. Go, Tigers!
Charles Brady
Greenville
