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NFL Report: The Commissioner’s View -- Summer,
2001 The NFL is America’s number-one sports passion, and NFL players represent the best in sports competition. Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk, Daunte Culpepper and Cris Carter, Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott, and so many others like them bring the same competitiveness, discipline, self-confidence, and respect for opponents to the game today that Otto Graham and Marion Motley, Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris, Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson, and others did in years past. Yet recent headlines highlight a troubling story about the erosion of traditional sports values that these players exemplify: PANEL EXAMINES SAGGING YOUTH SPORTSMANSHIP THREE STRIKES AGAINST SPORTSMANSHIP POOR SPORTS: GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP IS MISSING The decline of sportsmanship in America has become a widespread concern. “Incidents of bad sportsmanship, bad behavior, abuse, or worse at youth and high school sporting events are more commonplace than ever,” reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Another recent story on the front page of the New York Times detailed “a rising tide of misbehavior at high school and youth sports” and noted: “Some scholars attribute the rise in sideline misbehavior to a general moral decay in American society. Others say that more people are emulating the belligerent behavior of some professional and college sports figures.” These stories underscore the importance of the personal commitment to sportsmanship that drives NFL players. This commitment underlies the integrity of competitive games. It means that competitors will conduct themselves with respect for the game, for opponents, for game officials, and for fans. It means they will play by the rules. Without sportsmanship, competitive sport deteriorates from a positive experience into something destructive. We want football to continue to represent for everyone what it represented to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former President of the United States. Toward the end of his life, Eisenhower, who coached football at various Army bases in the 1920s, wrote: “I believe that football, perhaps more than any other sport, tends to instill the feeling that victory comes through hard work, team play, self-confidence, and an enthusiasm that amounts to dedication.” With NFL games being viewed by huge audiences, we recognize that the league bears an important leadership responsibility in the area of sportsmanship. We know that young athletes idolize and mimic players. Naturally, we want those young people to imitate the right type of conduct on and off the field. This year, in our Competition Committee’s annual survey of NFL teams, several head coaches called for a renewed emphasis on sportsmanship. Independently, the NFL Players Association delivered the same message. Veteran players Trace Armstrong and Nolan Harrison attended the Competition Committee meeting and urged the league to restore honor to the game through tighter officiating and fines. “Whatever happens during a game, someone is watching,” says NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “It reaches further than just playing a game. It affects our community and especially our kids. We have to be very careful not to let our game slip. That is why we decided that we had to take a position on sportsmanship and bring it back to what the game is all about.” Following the Competition Committee meeting, a renewed emphasis on our sportsmanship rules was strongly endorsed by our clubs and the NFLPA. The unsportsmanlike conduct rule was clarified to more clearly identify for players, coaches, and officials what is unacceptable so that we can eliminate it. This includes physical acts such as pushing, grabbing facemasks, and other cheap shots that demean opponents, game officials, or fans. It also targets taunting—defining the types of abusive, threatening, or profane gestures, actions, and language against others that will not be tolerated. Related to this are our uniform code and its importance in projecting the right image to our fans. “The biggest winners from having and enforcing these policies will be the players themselves,” says Minnesota Vikings head coach Dennis Green, who is co-chairman of the Competition Committee. “Right now, all the good things most players do—with kids, at community events, through their own foundations—are overshadowed by the public perception that some players are arrogant, irresponsible, and close to being out of control. Strict standards of sportsmanship, conduct, and appearance on the field will go a long way toward eliminating these misconceptions.” Similar policies in these areas are starting to work effectively in high school and college football. We look forward to these mutually beneficial programs providing a resoundingly affirmative answer to the oft-asked question: Does sportsmanship matter? |