In the eyes of most people, sports have no connection to any sort of legitimately significant part of the "real world." Many people view athletes as over-paid and ungrateful for the lifestyle that they live. These guys make millions of dollars to play games, and they have no business making exponentially larger amounts of money than the average, every day, 9-5 working class members of society. And, in some cases, those people are correct. There are definitely athletes who abuse the privileges that come along with the fame and money they may have earned. However, that doesn't mean that there are also many times in which athletes can use their platform to do good as well, and we saw that happen in an alarmingly short matter of time over the past few days in Missouri.
When I heard that the Missouri football team was in essence, "going on strike" until the president of the University was removed, I will be completely honest that I had no clue whatsoever as to why they were doing so. As I looked into the details of the reason for the announcement for the football team doing what they did, I realized that what these kids were doing was very risky. Black students on campus at the university were becoming more and more outspoken about what they felt were racial inequalities that were not being addressed by the higher powers at Missouri.
At a university with a student body that is less than 10% black, it seemed like these cries were coming from a small minority, and this was likely one of the reasons that the university paid little attention to it. However, no one can argue the fact that the reason colleges exist are to educate people from all different backgrounds before the students graduate and go on to find careers as true adults. A very important piece of the full college experience is to be able to be exposed to peers that may be different in many ways, but ultimately, have the same goal in mind. It is the responsibility of the university to make its entire student body feel included, and if that is not the case, then the school is not doing what it owes to each and every student on campus.
Growing up where I did, and being raised as I was, it really never ceases to amaze me that racial issues still can be so drastic in some places. New York is a place filled with such a wide variety of people from places all over the world, that it is impossible to live here without being able to coexist with people from all types of different backgrounds. Whether it is skin color, religion, education level, or simply attitude, I see a wide array of each every day. That is why it just seems so hard to understand how so many people still see race as such a defining factor in judging the character of people. What was happening on the Missouri campus proved once again that there are still far too many people who have such closed-minded and outdated ways of living.
Black students at Missouri spoke of a number of different racial issues that the university was failing to address, and their pleads were not being heard by anyone with any power to bring about any sort of legitimate shift. However, that all changed when the football team became involved by threatening not to play its game this Saturday unless the president of the university was removed. Suddenly, in what seemed like an instant, the story was gaining national headlines. As media outlets from all over the country flooded to the Missouri campus, president Tim Wolfe stepped down yesterday, effective immediately. Not only had the football team brought attention to a continually overlooked problem, it also brought about a truly significant change. Had it not been for the actions of the football team, it is highly likely that no one outside of the campus of Missouri would even care about the issues that this small minority of students was trying to address.
Cynically, if you look at this situation and you hear that the University of Missouri would owe its opponent this Saturday, BYU, $1 million for the game not being played, you would say that once again, all this was about was money. And in all honesty, I would not disagree with you. Any university staring at a $1 million loss is going to cringe and do everything in its power to avoid something like that from occurring, and you would be ignorant to think otherwise. However, I would also respond by saying that the only reason any of this ever happened was due entirely to the football team standing together and representing the feelings of the student body that it represents.
On the field, this Missouri team is having a subpar season, and they are now simply fighting to stay out of the bottom of the standings in the SEC. The amount of legitimate pro prospects on the 2015 roster can be counted on one hand. That means that most likely, at least 98% of the kids on this team will never go on to a career in the NFL. Playing college football will be the best it will ever get for them as athletes, and they will have to make a living doing something other than playing a game. With that being said, I would also submit to you that every member of this team will have experienced something in college that goes far beyond the field of play. These kids brought about a truly significant change in the way that a college campus operates. Whoever it is that replaces Tim Wolfe as president will now be in full focus of the students, the media, and the governing body of not only Missouri, but the entire nation, and it will force a change to be made in the way people conduct themselves at that school, from top to bottom.
I am not going to look at this situation through some sort of utopian viewpoint and say that what the football team did will end all problems at Missouri, because it won't. Nevertheless, it will at the very least address some problems that the governing body of the university was wrongly either overlooking, or just simply looking at indifferently. Racial problems will still occur at this school, just like they will at schools all over the country, but what this situation showed us was that sometimes sports are more than just a game. Sometimes, sports and athletes can truly bring about changes that would not be otherwise possible.
When anyone who graduates college looks back at their time in school, they all have their fondest memories, and for each individual, those cherished moments will never be forgotten. For the kids on this football team, this season will no longer be remembered for hard times on the field, but it will be remembered for the change they spurred off the field. When head coach Gary Pinkel goes on recruiting visits to the homes of prospective players, he can look into the eyes of young men and say without question that not only does he care about what they can do on the field, but he also cares about what they do off the field as well. While that may not bring about any national championships, it surely is something he can offer that should comfort high school kids and their parents.
Sports will always be games played that have no true bearing on the way our society operates, and I understand why so many people see professional athletes and look at them misanthropically. However, sports can still be used as a platform to bring to light real societal issues that, if addressed, can truly impact the way we go about our everyday lives. Athletes have brought about significant changes before, and they will continue to do so in the future, and you don't have to be a die-hard sports fan to appreciate that.
Daily Giants Update: After a nice win last Sunday in Tampa Bay, the Giants still sit alone atop a very mediocre NFC East as we play into the second half of the regular season. The task this Sunday will be daunting though with the undefeated and seemingly invincible Patriots coming to the Meadowlands. I hate hearing about how the Giants are the "kryptonite" of the Patriots, because I feel like it almost puts more pressure on the Giants to win and casts the Patriots as the underdog even though New England has been absolutely dominant over its first eight games. As is the case going into any Giants game though, I have absolutely no clue what will happen because this team is the definition of bipolar. They could play great, or they could get run off the field. Hopefully the former occurs, because the division is there for the taking, and all you have to do in order to win a Super Bowl is make it into the playoffs. No team has been a better example of that in recent memory than the New York Giants.
Daily Rangers Update: Through 14 games, the Rangers sit second in the Eastern Conference at 10-2-2. It is nice to see guys like Mats Zuccarello and Oscar Lindberg at or near the top of the team leaderboard in points, and Antti Raanta is undefeated in three starts backing up Henrik Lundqvist. If Raanta can come anywhere close to equaling what Cam Talbot did in relief of Lundqvist last season, it would go a long way in helping keep the King fresh and ready when the playoffs start and things really get serious. A middling Carolina Hurricanes team visits Madison Square Garden tonight.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Starting pitching will definitely be the main focus of the team this offseason, and there are a few big names that will be on the open market. Zack Greinke and David Price will most likely be too expensive, but adding someone like Jeff Samardzija or Johnny Cueto would be a nice surprise. It might be expecting too much, but the new regime with Tony LaRussa and Dave Stewart in control spent more money than I expected last offseason, so maybe they will be willing to open the checkbook again to address a starting rotation that is in big need of help.
Daily NBA Update: We are less than a month into the season, but the Golden State Warriors look even better than they did last year, and they won it all last year. We are still eons away from the end of the season, but the Warriors and Cavaliers are a combined 14-1, so the two Finals participants from last year sure look like they have gotten right back to business in 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment