Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Back to playing the game

Friday, Nov. 28, 2003 | 8:56 a.m.

FOOTBALL SEASON has reached its most important phase as high schools play for championships, colleges play intrastate rivals and maneuver for a shot at bowl games and NFL games are determining who will be in the playoffs. Football fans are in their own special heaven now and for the next several weeks.

This is also the time that basketball fans get their first taste of the 2003-04 season. Now is overlap time for those who love athletic competition. Writer Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times does us all a favor when taking a close look at one of the athletes on the UCLA basketball team. What we learn from Plaschke about John Hoffart is a story that is repeated in some form or other in several sports. The heart of many teams beats the strongest in an athlete waiting for his or her opportunity to play.

This column doesn't have space for the whole story but let's extract a taste of it for you: "That's John Hoffart, and if younger teammates want to better understand the dignity of this program, they should turn their heads to the right.

"Yeah, down at the end of the bench. That pale figure with the Kiki Vandeweghe eyes and Bill Walton grin.

"The one who has been here four years and played a total of 23 minutes.

"The one who has scored two baskets and taken no rebounds.

"The one who arrived four years ago as a walk-on, worked two years for a scholarship, then lost it last spring.

"The one who refused to quit. 'It's bigger than me,' Hoffart says. 'It's bigger than all of us. It's about those four letters. I still sit there during games and go, 'Wow!'

"On those few occasions when Hoffart gets into games, the Bruin fans have that reaction.

"They chant for him. They rise and cheer like the dickens for him. They understand him. For the old-timers, they are he."

Sports have played an important role in the lives of both fans and athletes. Over the past seven decades I've watched competition increase and the skill of bigger athletes grow beyond our imagination. At the same time, there has always been athletes who have given sport the heart and stability needed by our society as a whole.

Some outward changes have also taken place that disturb athletes and fans from my era. In high school and college we might have given some thought to challenging a coach but that's as far as it went. We also learned that we didn't draw penalties by taking action that made us feel good but cost the team points or yards. When pushing and shoving started on the field or basketball court after a play, other players would stop it. If it went beyond that, the perpetrator was soon sitting on the bench.

Players learned control and along with their competitive juices most of them responded in a positive manner when serving with the military in the time of war.

During the past 20 years, increased violence and poor sportsmanship has become flagrant among professional athletes. These bad habits have been picked up and copied by too many high school players and their coaches haven't shown the strength to stop these displays of poor sportsmanship. Sending a temperamental star athlete to the showers or home is an example too few players have seen or experienced. When this does happen, it only draws a negative response from the principal, mommy or daddy, attorney and sometimes even a judge. Then the entire mess continues or infects the athletes of other schools and sports.

Recently there have been some NFL coaches setting an example for athletes and fans. It's hard to believe the amount of abuse that Tampa Bay coach John Gruden took from Keyshawn Johnson shouting in his face. Finally, Gruden had enough and he deactivated Johnson. Also the NBA has taken action against basketball players of the Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers for abusing their coaches. These actions are long overdue and we can only hope that professional sports will take additional and stronger actions against their millionaire brats.

So does bringing athletes back into line start at the professional level or the high school level? Because of television, it has to be a part of the game from bottom to top and back down again. As athletes get bigger, faster and stronger our tolerance of uncontrolled violence must come to an end.

Fans go to football and basketball games to see the test of skill and strength under the control of rules that must be followed. They don't attend to watch an unscheduled fight or screaming match. So let's get back to the basics of football and basketball and please the fans.