Whatever Happened To Sportsmanship? New Editorial

[Maxman]

By JetNation's newest writer, Christopher Gardella (Westchester Jet). It is on the front page now:

http://www.jetnation.com/?p=432

Chris, welcome to JetNation. I know you have been here awhile but I just want to say thank you for writing this and we look forward to your articles in the future!

Good job.

[Bugg]

Thought-provoking. But I think you kinda miss the mark about Holmgren. He had his chance to win the trophy that's the pinnacle of his profession taken away in part due to lousy officiating. I don't think it was poor sportmanship as much as stating a simple fact. Holmgren, remember, contgratulated Bill Cowher in the lokcerroom.

But your core point is absolutely correct-the "check me out"Sposrtcenter nonsense has gotten out of control.

Can anyone explain why Nate Robinson was indulged with 14 chances to get hi dunk right? Heck, the whole slam dunk contest is a perfect example of what's wrong in this "me first" world of sports.

[4HCrew]

Great article...I just think today's sports are about money money money... the more the players express themselves, the more attention they get. The more attention they get, the more they can market and make money off of it. Sports used to be fun for the entire family, now it is a event where men can bet on it and get drunk and rowdy watching it. It has been a huge change.

[Maxman]

Holmgren owed it to the sport, his team, everyone watching...to shake Cowher's hand. Bad balls, no bad calls that is what he needed to do.

He showed a lack of class.

Great read Chris!

[faba]

Nice job Chris-it is not sports any more for the fun of it- all big business right down to pee-wee leagues in football and little league in baseball. Everything is so competitive to get an advantage over your rivals instead of enjoyment

[stormshadow19]

A very good read. The sportsmanship in sports is lacking. It's sad, but that's the way people are, now a days.

[The Troll]

That was a misunderstanding between Holmgren and Cowher. They were to meet at the 25-yard line each of them went to the opposite 25. That was not a lack of class by Holmgren, it was a misunderstanding.

A lack of class might have been his comments about the officials at the Seahawks "Super Bowl loss" party, but I would have done the exact same thing there. Those refs were as corrupt as I've ever seen and if I were Mike Holmgren, I probably would have said much worse.

[vanDoug]

The snowboarder deserved what she got. So does any other clown who starts showboating or letting up before they get to the endzone.

[Maxman]

That was a misunderstanding between Holmgren and Cowher. They were to meet at the 25-yard line each of them went to the opposite 25. That was not a lack of class by Holmgren, it was a misunderstanding.

Funny how the camera crews followed Cowher. Yet they couldn't spot Holgrem.

He is a big .

[Smizzy]

Funny how the camera crews followed Cowher. Yet they couldn't spot Holgrem.

He is a big .

Yea...It had nothing to do with the fact the Stellers just won the Super Bowl and the complete chaos that took over the field afterwards.

Great read but Holmgren isn't to blame for aything.

[Maxman]

Yea...It had nothing to do with the fact the Stellers just won the Super Bowl and the complete chaos that took over the field afterwards.

Great read but Holmgren isn't to blame for aything.

Oh man you are too much.

Holmgren whined like a little girl the next day. How about being a man and admitting that you got beat? (This question was directed at you Smizzy, now that I read it again, the same question could apply to Holmgren )

[faba]

Sportsmanhip is lost nowadays- everyone in pro sports just about is out for themselves- this is a reflection of society in general though and not unique to sports

[Smizzy]

Oh man you are too much.

Holmgren whined like a little girl the next day. How about being a man and admitting that you got beat? (This question was directed at you Smizzy, now that I read it again, the same question could apply to Holmgren )

So Now he's not a man because he didn't "admit" he got beat?? The scoreboard usually announces the winner and losers of the game,Not the HC.

I would have whined too. Did you watch the SB? How bad was the officiatiing against the seahawks??

The NFL should be disgusted by the refs performance on the field. ANYBODY who says they didn't change the outcome of the game is a fool.

Id rather have a HC tell it like it is then some POS cliche machine telling me how "we got beat by the better team" and " we'll get them next yr"

[Sharrow]

I don't see how you guys can call it a good article. It was very poor in my opinion. It was great while he was describing his own experience, but once he started making stuff up, making bad assumptions, and showing that he didn't research the facts, it went straight to the sh!tter.

Troll already explained the Holmgren situation, so I'll leave that alone.

About Lindsay Jacobellis, I don't really see how you can put the whole trend of bad sportsmanship on the back of one 16 year old girl. Aside from that, I just read an article about this situation and completely agree with it. I don't think she was meaning any disrespect by it at all, she was being a typical snowboarder. Here's the article:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/snowboarding_w_sbx/5116870/detail.html

Also, I watched the medal ceremony, she didn't cry when she got her medal, thats a blatent lie. I don't see why anyone should feel the need to make things up to try and help their argument.

Now, what people don't realise when they say that pro sports is all about the money is that it is all about the money. It always was. Just because the players want what they think is their fair shair of the cut, doesn't mean they are greedy. It just means they don't want to be somebody else's whore. Now, of course in some cases all players do care about is the money, but not in the vast majority.

And to say that there is no sportsmanship in pro sports anymore is just an ignorant thing to say. For every one T.O. there are dozens of guys who show great sportsmanship. Its only decieving because the ones who show poor sportsmanship are the ones that get all the attention. And thats how it should be. The only problem is that a lot of the times the attention is good attention when it should be bad attention.

Whether a player has good sportsmanship or not all comes down to his coaches and whether or not they put up with it. As long as there's a coach who will allow poor sportsmanship, then there will be poor sportsmanship. But as long as the vast majority of coaches teach good sportsmanship, there will be good sportsmanship.

[Maxman]

I don't think she was meaning any disrespect by it at all, she was being a typical snowboarder.

This is the point exactly. What was the goal of her event? How did she cost herself along the way? Style points are not awarded. She lost focus. Just because it is accepted in the sport doesn't make it right.

[Maxman]

So Now he's not a man because he didn't "admit" he got beat?? The scoreboard usually announces the winner and losers of the game,Not the HC.

I would have whined too. Did you watch the SB? How bad was the officiatiing against the seahawks??

The NFL should be disgusted by the refs performance on the field. ANYBODY who says they didn't change the outcome of the game is a fool.

Id rather have a HC tell it like it is then some POS cliche machine telling me how "we got beat by the better team" and " we'll get them next yr"

Smizzy if you lost money on the game and need me to spot you just say the word.

The Big Ben play was close. Real close. They made the call on the field. It didn't get overturned. I watched it 100 times. I say if it got overturned everyone would be saying the Steelers got robbed. That is the way it goes.

Holmgren showed poor sportsmanship by not shaking hands. I think this was the point of the article.

[Sharrow]

Smizzy if you lost money on the game and need me to spot you just say the word.

The Big Ben play was close. Real close. They made the call on the field. It didn't get overturned. I watched it 100 times. I say if it got overturned everyone would be saying the Steelers got robbed. That is the way it goes.

Holmgren showed poor sportsmanship by not shaking hands. I think this was the point of the article.

People just keep regurgitating this crap. You guys need to start researching things before you keep spreading it. I'll give you the link, its the 3rd story down. Get the facts.

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/9214984

[Sharrow]

The same thing happened when Ricky Williams failed his latest drug test, everyone kept regurgitating the assumption that he was smoking pot again, which wasn't the truth. In fact, I think that this trend is worse than the trend of bad sportsmanship.

[StillerPaul]

Holmgren owed it to the sport, his team, everyone watching...to shake Cowher's hand. Bad balls, no bad calls that is what he needed to do.

He showed a lack of class.

Great read Chris!

The story i heard is that both coaches were supposed to meet at the 30 yard line after the game to shake hands. They did that, but at opposite 30 yard lines.

My problem with Holmgren is that he should have showed more class when he got back to Seattle. He chose to throw the refs under the bus instead of looking into the mirror. That is why he will never win another Lombardi IMO.

[Jack Straw]

Sharrow-

I respect your feedback. However, I stand by everything I said in that article.

You said

Also, I watched the medal ceremony, she didn't cry when she got her medal, thats a blatent lie. I don't see why anyone should feel the need to make things up to try and help their argument.

I never said any of that. Please, re-read the article.

Lindsey Jacobellis did stand in tears as she accepted her silver medal. She didn't cry at the award ceremony (I never made that claim), but she did stand in tears as she accepted (realized that she had blown the biggest opportunity of her life) the silver medal during a press conference.

When I said 'accepted' I meant it to be interpreted as 'acknowledged,' 'recognized' (they are synonomous).

To no fault of yours, you misinterpreted/misunderstood what I was saying. I need to do a better job of communicating with the reader, but in no way did I lie.

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2006/02/18/in_aftermath_of_losses_levels_of_disappointment_revealing/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Sports+News

don't think she was meaning any disrespect by it at all, she was being a typical snowboarder.

Using your logic, Leon Lett was not at fault in the Super Bowl because he was being 'a typical football player.' Sound silly? That's because it is.

And to say that there is no sportsmanship in pro sports anymore is just an ignorant thing to say.

I never said that. Re-read the article. I said that sportsmanship is lacking in sports today, specifically on the professional level.

Now to Mike Holmgren-

You can pull up every story you want defending his actions - it's all bullsh*t PR work. This was Holmgren's fourth Super Bowl (third as a head coach) and you're trying to convince me that he didn't know where to meet up with Cowher. BullSh*t.

[Smizzy]

People just keep regurgitating this crap. You guys need to start researching things before you keep spreading it. I'll give you the link, its the 3rd story down. Get the facts.

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/9214984

LOL OWNED.

SHAKING ON IT

Nobody saw Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren and Steelers coach Bill Cowher shake hands after Super Bowl X-tra L-arge, but nobody should interpret it as a rift.

It was more a miscommunication.

It was a lot easier for Bill Cowher and Mike Holmgren to find each other BEFORE the game.

The two coaches were supposed to meet at the 25-yard line. Holmgren went to one 25-yard line, Cowher to the other, and they never got to engage in the traditional hand-shaking act that most coaches do after every game.

While they each waited and looked for the other, the madness and grandiosity of the game swallowed them. Nobody was going to find anybody at that time. Finally, Holmgren opted to head to the locker room.

Later, in the Seahawks locker room, the two coaches caught up with other, with Holmgren congratulating Cowher on joining the fraternity of Super Bowl winning coaches. With nobody watching, the two shook hands and spoke.

Not only was there no feud between the two, but it's just the opposite. The two really like each other, so much so that after each won the conference championship, they spoke on the telephone and congratulated each other.

A FINE MESS

The real trouble Holmgren might have gotten himself into after the game was questioning the officials -- something Seahawks fans have done in masses.

Mike Holmgren and Paul Tagliabue might have some more things to talk about in the near future.

Holmgren said, "We knew it was going to be tough playing against the Steelers, but I didn't know we were going to have to take on the guys in the striped shirts, too."

Eventually, those comments are going to find their way to the league office, and the league will review them. But right now, two days after the Super Bowl, with the league traveling to the Pro Bowl, nobody has reviewed Holmgren's comments.

The league has had its own comments on the officials, those coming from spokesman Greg Aiello: "The game was properly officiated, including as in most NFL games some tight plays that produced disagreement about the calls made by the officials."

Officials didn't have the greatest postseason. Hey, neither did the Colts. But bottom line: the Seahawks didn't play well enough to overcome any questionable calls, for which there always are going to be some.

[Sharrow]

I did misread you, and apologize for calling you a liar; but I never saw any footage of her crying anywhere, not after the race or during any interviews, including the costas interview. If you have a link to that press conference you're talking about, then I'll check it out though. And if you watch the costas interview, she actually said she was partly happy after the race because she came away with a silver, and that she thought that she was completely out of it when she fell. That interview, in my opinion gives a good look at why she tried the jump and also why she isn't as upset as everyone else wants her to be.

Using your logic, Leon Lett was not at fault in the Super Bowl because he was being 'a typical football player.' Sound silly? That's because it is.

My logic doesn't compare apples and oranges. That is like saying all atheletes are the same no matter what sport they play. I did not say that, in fact I meant the opposite. Read that article I posted if you still don't know what I meant. Its not very affective to evaluate someone else's logic using bad logic.

I never said that. Re-read the article. I said that sportsmanship is lacking in sports today, specifically on the professional level.

That was in response to one of the other posters, not you.

You can pull up every story you want defending his actions - it's all bullsh*t PR work. This was Holmgren's

fourth Super Bowl (third as a head coach) and you're trying to convince me that he didn't know where to meet up with Cowher. BullSh*t.

I have the SB recorded, so I took another look. After the final play, if you watch carefully, you can see Holmgren walking off the sideline onto the field with 4 or 5 other people at the 40 yard line parallel to the 50 yard line, then it cuts away to Cowher and you don't see Holmgren again. For the next 5 minutes or so, they're all on cowher as he walks into the field and turns away from the 50 yard line and towards the steeler's endzone and then stops on the 25 yard line. It shows a closeup of him and he says "Where's Mike?" A little later a cameraman and another guy point with their thumbs towards the opposite end of the field. I don't know if thats what they were pointing at or not, but I do know that Holmgren walked onto the field at the end of the game. And why do you automatically put the blame on Holmgren? Maybe Cowher didn't know where to meet up with him? It looked pretty confusing to me. Looking at the footage of the game, and the news that the NFL released, I'm willing to believe Holmgren's side of the story.

[The Troll]

The Seahawks got completely jobbed in that game. Every single time Seattle made a big play, out came the yellow flag. Most of the flags seemed to come in at the last second as well. It's been stated many times that there is holding on every single play. Funny how they only seemed to call it whenever it benefited Pittsbrugh in the largest possible way.

The Roethlisberger TD was complete BS. The official came running in indicating that it would be downed at the 1, then he watched Roethlisberger stick the ball over the goal-line and then signaled touchdown. It could not have possibly been over-turned, but it never should have been ruled a touchdown in the first place.

If I were Mike Holmgren, I would have made an even bigger fuss about it. The Steelers did not win that game, they had it handed to them on a zebra-striped platter.

[Sharrow]

I forgot to mention that shortly after the game, it panned out to a wide view with a bunch of confetti, you can clearly see a large group of people gathered at the 25 yard line on the opposite end of the field that cowher was on.

[Jack Straw]

I did misread you, and apologize for calling you a liar; but I never saw any footage of her crying anywhere, not after the race or during any interviews, including the costas interview. If you have a link to that press conference you're talking about, then I'll check it out though. And if you watch the costas interview, she actually said she was partly happy after the race because she came away with a silver, and that she thought that she was completely out of it when she fell. That interview, in my opinion gives a good look at why she tried the jump and also why she isn't as upset as everyone else wants her to be.

My logic doesn't compare apples and oranges. That is like saying all atheletes are the same no matter what sport they play. I did not say that, in fact I meant the opposite. Read that article I posted if you still don't know what I meant. Its not very affective to evaluate someone else's logic using bad logic.

That was in response to one of the other posters, not you.

I have the SB recorded, so I took another look. After the final play, if you watch carefully, you can see Holmgren walking off the sideline onto the field with 4 or 5 other people at the 40 yard line parallel to the 50 yard line, then it cuts away to Cowher and you don't see Holmgren again. For the next 5 minutes or so, they're all on cowher as he walks into the field and turns away from the 50 yard line and towards the steeler's endzone and then stops on the 25 yard line. It shows a closeup of him and he says "Where's Mike?" A little later a cameraman and another guy point with their thumbs towards the opposite end of the field. I don't know if thats what they were pointing at or not, but I do know that Holmgren walked onto the field at the end of the game. And why do you automatically put the blame on Holmgren? Maybe Cowher didn't know where to meet up with him? It looked pretty confusing to me. Looking at the footage of the game, and the news that the NFL released, I'm willing to believe Holmgren's side of the story.

Fair enough (all points), sharrow. I don't know if I can find footage of her crying, but it's documented in the link I provided.

[Sharrow]

Fair enough (all points), sharrow. I don't know if I can find footage of her crying, but it's documented in the link I provided.

I read it through once and didn't see anywhere where it said she was crying. I tried going there again but the link didn't work for me.

[Jack Straw]

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2006/02/18/in_aftermath_of_losses_levels_of_disappointment_revealing/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Sports+News

In aftermath of losses, levels of disappointment revealing

By Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist | February 18, 2006

TURIN -- Chanda Gunn tried desperately to keep herself together, but in the end she lost the battle, exiting her postgame media inquiry in tears.

Lindsey Jacobellis shrugged off a preening faux pas that cost her a cinch gold medal and instantly became the American standard by which all such look-at-me demonstrations will be measured by saying, among other things, ''It was just a race."

The Olympics apparently mean different things to different people.

Chanda Gunn is the goalie on the US women's hockey team that lost its chance to earn a gold medal by losing a shootout to Sweden in a semifinal game. ''I've been in a thousand shootouts," she said, her voice quivering. ''This is the first time I've ever lost."

Lindsey Jacobellis is an American women's snowboardcross competitor. She was within two jumps of the tantalizingly close finish line and she was so far ahead that no other racer was even visible on the TV screen. You know how we often say in some of these events, ''All she/he has to do is not fall down and he/she will win a gold medal?" Well, all Lindsey Jacobellis had to do was not fall down and she was going to win a gold medal.

But Lindsey Jacobellis went all Hot-Doggy on us. Rather than protect her lead by taking her last two jumps as carefully as she could, she chose to execute an unneeded ''method-air" maneuver, complete with hip-shake. She landed on her rear end, and before she could spring back to her feet and resume the race, a startled and grateful Tanja Frieden of Switzerland had zoomed by her to take possession of the gold. Jacobellis was able to take second ahead of Canada's Dominique Maltais, which tells you how far behind she was when the 21-year old snowboarder from Stratton, Vt., decided to change her name to Lindsey Jacoembellishment. All she had to do to become an Olympic champion was sink a simple layup. But, no, she had to go for the 360 dunk.

''I was definitely excited," Jacobellis acknowledged in a conference call with interested media as she was en route to her evening medal ceremony. ''I got caught up in the moment. But at least I got a medal."

Chanda Gunn and the rest of her teammates still have a chance for a medal, but it won't be the one they sought. They will be playing Finland for the bronze. They will have a long two-plus days to think about how they outshot the Swedes dramatically, especially in the first two periods, but missed countless good scoring opportunities. They have to live with the fact that they had a 2-0 second-period lead before Sweden's Maria Rooth struck twice in the span of 2 minutes 23 seconds, the first time on a highlight-film backhand spin-o-rama that would have caught any goalie by surprise, and the second time on a point-blank shot after taking a pass from Erika Holst, who had stolen the puck behind the US net from Lyndsay Wall. Making matters worse, the tying goal was scored shorthanded.Continued...

[Sharrow]

Yeah, that was the woman's hockey goalie, not jacobellis

[Jack Straw]

LOL.. sorry, wrong link

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxMDYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY4ODE1MTImeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2

Fool on the hill

Saturday, February 18, 2006

By ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI

TURIN, Italy -- Here was Lindsey Jacobellis, standing in the medals plaza, Piazza Castello, done with the tears that had abruptly ended a late afternoon conference call with incredulous reporters. Soon, she would be standing with a silver medal around her neck, saluting a Swiss national anthem that should've been "The Star-Spangled Banner," and Jacobellis still didn't understand the fury of the firestorm over her disdainful disposition.

She had been winning something called women's snowboard cross on Friday, the way that Secretariat was winning the Belmont Stakes in 1973. Only, Secretariat didn't stop, preen and start wagging his hoofs to the grandstand on the backstretch until he fell over and Twice a Prince passed him across the finish line.

This was Jacobellis' act in the most unforgettable moment of these forgettable Winter Olympics. Up in the air, Jacobellis reached down, grabbed her board with two hands, a showboating-hot-dog-whoop-de-damn-do move of the Olympics, and this pigtailed 20-year-old wiped out and lost it all.

Jacobellis was dribbling for the winning basket in the final seconds of Game 7 of the NBA Finals, but decided against the layup and tried a 360 reverse jam.

She was running for the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, but started high-stepping and got caught from behind.

Lindsey Jacobellis was standing over the winning tap-in putt at Augusta National, but decided to swing the club backward, through her legs, and ran the ball past the hole.

After the race, she insisted that she hadn't been hot-dogging it. "Styled it too hard," her coach, Peter Foley, said. She tried to make some case for grabbing your board as a way to get back down on the ground faster, a strategy used in the sport. Only, her coach called it, essentially, a load of garbage.

"I got ahead of the pack and got caught up in the moment and forgot I still had to race," she said. "At least I didn't miss out on a medal at all." This was one of those rare cases when an athlete didn't win silver, but lost gold. After defending herself in the postrace interviews, she did a conference call with reporters and completely capitulated to falling back into her history with the half-pipe.

"I was feeling great and wanted to share it with the crowd," she said. "I messed up.

"Oh well, it happens. ... It's just a race and anything can happen."

She was asked, "Just a race?"

She replied: '"It's just a title. I have the first silver for snowboard cross ever, you have to give me something."

If she wants to screw around on the snowboard cross circuit, preen for the stoners on the tour's Killington stop, she can knock herself out. No one is saying that these kids can't have fun with this sport, can't bring an irreverence, innocence, to these Games. God knows it's been too stuffy, too long with all the IOC suits and corporate sponsors that overrun these Olympics every four years. This isn't about that. These are the Olympics, and the events themselves -- the competition -- is damn sacred. Mostly, it deserves your best shot.

It isn't a big deal when you don't win a gold medal. It's a big deal when you screw around, blow it and start sniffling on a conference call because people aren't congratulating you for your silver medal. She's 20 years old. She's immature. Someone should've grabbed this kid, coached her and spared the embarrassment of disrespecting herself, these Olympics and everyone's intelligence. Her story kept changing on Friday, but one thing didn't: The whole culture of snowboarding took a hard, hard hit.

Mistakes happen. People do the dumbest things at the dumbest times. All of us, we can accept it. That's sports. That's life. This is something else, this is telling us that style is more important than substance, that the Olympics are just a race, that this is just one more stop on the sport's knucklehead circuit. The Winter Games have to be more than that, or what are we doing here?

Listen, we'll watch their crazy sports. We'll cover them. We'll learn the rules, the terminology. We'll show it some respect. But if they don't care, why should we cover this stuff? Why should you watch it? Visa didn't give her an endorsement deal because it thought that maybe she would finish the race in first, or maybe she would have some fun, fall on her butt and just leave with the silver.

No, winning isn't everything. No, you shouldn't cheat to do it. You shouldn't hurt someone. No one is incredulous over this kid's attitude because we believe any of those things.

This isn't just snowboard cross. This is a generational problem. For example, AAU basketball gives us this idea that winning doesn't matter, that just showing up, just entertaining, is plenty good. After all of this on Friday, I asked her, "Are you heartbroken that you didn't win a gold medal?"

"It's just a race," she finally said.

And so, there was Lindsey Jacobellis standing in Piazza Castello on Friday night, saluting the Swiss anthem for the gold medalist, listening to the words in her head, glancing at the silver around her neck, and she had to be starting to wonder something that she will for the rest of her life: Was this really just a race?

[Maxman]

I think a little bit is getting lost here in the Mike Holmgren thing. Here is an example and this is why I agree with the premise of the article so much.

I played my nephew in a pickup basketball game. I am terrible at basketball. He is 17 and is a really god athlete. I beat him in that game. At no point was he worried about winning. Along the way all he was worried about was "breaking my neck" by faking me out. Granted his Iverson like spin moves were a thing of beauty. But isn't scoring the actual goal? He wanted to look better than me.

Mission accomplished. He looked much better than I did. He lost though. To me, that is the problem. The goals seemed to have changed.

[Sharrow]

From that article, the way I read it was that she was crying because of the way the reporters treated her and not because she got silver. I would be kind of angry too if no one congratulated me for a silver medal in the olympics, whether I threw away the gold or not. And when we talk about her losing a gold for her country, we should remember that without her we wouldn't have gotten any medal in the event.

Max, maybe he let you win, or knew he could easily beat you so he had a little fun with it.

[The Gun Of Bavaria]

I hate this Good Sportsmanship crap. This is a game, this game involves competition. Competition involves a winner and a loser. Losing sucks and should never be tolerated. Any athlete worth their weight should hate to lose and work harder after losing to make sure it doesn't happen again. Unless it's some church social league, competitiveness is good, and the antagonizing relationships built from it are even better.

Some of the best sports rivalries are built from antagonism built from so-called bad sportsmanship. When the Wings play the Avs, when the Yanks play the Red Sox, when the Redskins play the Cowboys, 'sportsmanship' goes right out the door as it should. There's more to sports then just showing up and 'having a good time. There should be a desire to win, and if that desire upsets the other side then too freaking bad

[Maxman]

when the Yanks play the Red Sox, when the Redskins play the Cowboys, 'sportsmanship' goes right out the door as it should. There's more to sports then just showing up and 'having a good time. There should be a desire to win, and if that desire upsets the other side then too freaking bad

Guns,

You brought up the Yankees but you used the example incorrectly.

This is not about the desire to win. It is about losing with class. It is about not being a crybaby. Derek Jeter is the ultimate gamer. Yet win or lose he is right there after the game. Being a stand up guy.

He plays the game with class. That is what is becoming so rare these days.