Good Morning, today’s topic class may bore many of you that are not into sports however, it does shed some light on how we view integrity in our athletes and why perhaps they feel they are sometimes bigger then life itself and further more attempt to get away with issues that you and I would normally pay dearly on.
This subject snow-balled during a radio program with Mike & Mike in the morning. A professional golfer disqualified himself during tournament play this week. J.P. Hayes can sleep at night, knowing he did the right thing.
That doesn't mean the last few days haven't been difficult and it doesn't mean the coming months won't be a challenge.
They have been, and they will be.
But as a professional golfer, playing a sport that is self-policed - a sport in which integrity is as important as winning titles and cheating is practically non-existent - Hayes knows he did the right thing.
His sin?
Hayes inadvertently played a non-conforming golf ball - one not on the list approved for competition by the United States Golf Association - for one hole of a second-stage qualifier in McKinney, Texas.
The 43-year-old Appleton native disqualified himself from the second stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament last week. The first DQ of his career was especially harsh because it left him ineligible to play fulltime on the PGA Tour in 2009.
Though it is not uncommon for PGA Tour members to call penalties on themselves - Menomonee Falls native Mark Wilson called a two-stroke penalty on himself at the 2007 Honda Classic and still went on to win -
On his 12th hole of the first round at Deerwood Country Club last Wednesday, Hayes' caddie reached into his golf bag, pulled out a ball and flipped it to Hayes, who missed the green with his tee shot. He then chipped on and marked his ball. It was then that Hayes realized the ball was not the same model Titleist with which he had started his round. That was in violation of the one-ball rule, which stipulates that a player must play the same model throughout a round. I look at this as all golfers do; honesty and integrity mean more then trophies and plaques. In our Golf League we play winter rules and in the rules allowing movement of the position of your golf ball which gives the golfer the ability to have a cleaner shot with that ball. This does prove helpful in making the game and league more competitive for all our golfers and their abilities to keep pace. That being said, on the Radio program with Mike & Mike a question came up on all sports and integrity of said sports. Baseball, Football and Basketball does not promote player integrity and I will explain why. In these sports they all are kept in check by a referring crew or umpire crew to keep the game somewhat on the up and up. Football players could all agree that holding could be called on every play it is up to the ref’s interpretation of the infraction. Human error happens however integrity be damned and the game and team is more important then one players integrity. I will give an example. I believe if players were instructed to police themselves, call their own fowls the true sportsmanship would prove to surface…however when you have ref’s and umps watching and in charge of infractions and fowls players tend to try and get away with more. Trapping a line drive and calling it a catch, Trapping a forward pass and claiming it did not hit the ground. Stealing signs from apposing teams or hand check fowls and bumps in basketball. The ref or umps are paid to police the game and players use the fact of human error to their benefit. Is it right? No, but it is part of the game. How about a ump that calls a pitched ball in the strike zone a ball, the batter has an idea of the strike zone and when the ump gives him or her a break on a pitch that was really a strike do they come out and say…ah, no you were wrong it was really a strike and I am out!...doesn’t happen. Athletes use this to their benefit daily and it may be why some use the term no harm no foul…Integrity in sports…My hat is off to the golfer.
I will not single out all the sports hero felons because some leave a bad odor when I hear their names any longer. It seems the phrase roll model to our children and children’s children is not getting the point across. I feel that jury’s, judges and lawyers all are affected by a star status sports hero. I believe the term hero need not apply when said player turns into said felon.
People are human; this I know…if not they would be animal or robotic. So where do we go from here… I tell you where stop paying mere thugs millions because they have either a god given ability to dribble a ball and put it in a basket while hordes of people cheer and boo. Or stop fawning over their autographs while they sign your book, and you not knowing they are being paid to do such a thing…do not kid yourself we have created monsters who think in some cases… that they are larger then the game they play.
Again my message today may be boring to those not associated with sports. However you are associated with children in your family, a friends family or co-workers family that are associated with sports and they look up to these athletes and idolize them. The real person (sports hero) shows themselves at times we think “ah, he or she was just in a moment…no harm no fowl…” Yeah…and that is why they will continue to get big bucks and be not liable for things you and I would never attempt to get away with…
I hope this opens eyes…minds…and perhaps, just perhaps we can change the game for the better.
A huge hug
Marty
