Principles to Play By

This is an opportune moment to reflect on sports; in the spring and summer, they seem to envelope us. We're never without the American version of ancient Rome's "bread and circuses" for the masses. Besides the professional teams and the near-professional collegiate sports programs, we have golf, tennis, and that mayhem we call boxing to fill our TV screens. With our endless rounds of playoffs, championships, tournaments, final games, matches, and bouts of the year, the decade, the century, we find ourselves awash in games, games, games.

Despite aberrations such as this year's Super Bowl (played during the Persian Gulf conflict and laden with war language) and sports overkill in general, there remain obvious positive sides to athleticism. We marvel at Michael Jordan flying effortlessly toward the basket, ensuring a powerful slam dunk; 44-year-old Nolan Ryan pitching yet another no-hitter; hockey's Mario Lemieux splitting the defense and scoring an unassisted goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs; Chris Evert exuding unforgettable grace and dignity during her long reign as tennis' favorite daughter -- each of these stars evokes such pleasant images. And it's a wonderful sight to have Ken Griffey, father and son, playing side by side in the Seattle Mariners' outfield this year. When Griffey Junior makes one of his sparkling catches in centerfield the smile from Griffey Senior in left field simply dazzles.

These people and human stories, as much as final scores, are why we sports fans watch games. Anticipating them and actually seeing them gives us pleasure, brings back memories of other heroes and heroines, and renews an appreciation for well-trained women and men engaged in athletic events. The Olympic ideals of "faster, higher, stronger" thrill us fans when we see them achieved by talented sports figures.

HOW THEN DO WE accommodate the undeniable beauty and excitement of athletics with the tawdry, exploitative, and mind-numbing repetitive aspects of big-time spectator sports in the United States? We offer some common-sense observations -- principles, if you will -- as guidelines for doing what we are urged to do in a totally different context: "Test everything; hold fast to that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

The overriding guideline should be: It is better to participate than to "spectate." A corollary to this rule would hold that every phase of life's journey holds the potential for physical gracefulness. Acted on, these self-evident principles tend to get us off the couch and into the outdoors; they assure lasting fitness and produce gobs of mental health as by-products. Haven't we seen these truths alive in the attractiveness and health of an older couple waltzing or young children playing tag?

Almost as important are the next two dictums: Winning isn't everything (much less the only thing), and final scores do not tell who is No. 1 or No. 101. In fact, it would be wonderful to do away with most scores. Following the example of some wise Little League coaches, our society would be bettered if everyone participated and nobody kept too close a score.

Another principle, obvious but rarely acknowledged: Despite disproportionate salaries, teachers, nurses, mothers, prophets, and folks like them contribute more to the world than do professional athletes. An important corollary to this rule holds that the Special Olympics for the handicapped are truly "olympic" events.

Finally, from a societal point of view, two areas in sports require special attention and action by citizens. Stated as principles they are: In sports as in life, money tends to corrupt and big money corrupts big. Second, the business of sports joined with the business of television needs somehow to be corralled.

In this regard one or two rays of hope have peeped onto the horizon of big-time college athletics recently. In March PBS televised a 90-minute special by Bill Moyers titled Sports for Sale. No new ground was broken but surely public awareness was heightened with regard to out-of-control "student athlete" programs. Perhaps a citizenry, exploited and passive before the hype and glitz of TV college sports, will begin to react as a result of this Moyers special.

The 22-member Knight Commission presented its two-year study of collegiate sports, complete with reforming (not renewing, unfortunately) recommendations. While the commission found that unchecked and unmonitored sums of money flow through collegiate athletic departments, it could only suggest that college presidents exercise more oversight in this regard. The NCAA is urged to adopt a policy of "no pass, no play" and to conduct annual audits. Such self-policing by an already toothless NCAA hardly seems like an effective remedy for the gigantic problems facing big-time college athletics. However, the recommendations of the Knight Commission are a start, and noises are being made about turning them into national legislation.

By way of conclusion, may we recommend a small antidote to the enormous excesses of the sports industry in America? Let's make a commitment to spend our Saturday and Sunday afternoons this summer and fall away from the TV sets and go hiking, take a long bicycle ride, or fly a kite with the kids instead. That way we will have made a statement about the idolatry, consumerism, and individualism that this industry -- together with commercial television -- so blatantly promotes as the "best of America."

Joe Nangle, OFM, was executive assistant of Sojourners when this article appeared.