O.J. Mayo – an ode to Frankenstein
WITHIN the last several months, we have been exposed to more evidence of major league baseball’s ridiculous lack of control over performance enhancing drugs, the Patriot’s “Spy-gate” scandal, and now recent allegations that O.J. Mayo – a collegiate basketball player for the University of Southern California – has been receiving money and benefits since he was in high school.
This is all because of overwhelming focus put on well, winning.
Fans and players both are becoming eerily similar to Dr. Frankenstein. Our ambition drives us to madness such that we are blind to the monster we have created. It is only when faced by their effects that we become aware of our sins, and like Dr. Frankenstein we are more disgusted by the situations themselves than by our own actions that gave them life. We have all placed too much emphasis on the “win at all costs” ethos that has ensnared athletics.
In the end we have to remember that sports are just games and games are meant to be fun. When we start cheating to win is when sports stop being fun for the participants and the fans.
It is not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. Play only to win and you will inevitably lose. Play for fun and you’ll win every time. No regrets.
It’s a nice theory, playing for love of the game. But I’m afraid it falls short in real world application. Cheating and corner cutting has always been the domain of unsavory, dishonorable sorts. But we can’t say that it has not worked for them.
In the words of George Carlin: It’s never just a game when you’re winning.
Don Lando
May 20, 2008 at 12:15 am
I think Don Lando has a valid point, though it does seem to me that Fryer Tuck has struck the nail on the head in paralleling Mary Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein in regard to the very specific monsters present in today’s professional and collegiate sports.
The Bruce
May 20, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I would not argue that there will always be people who try to circumvent the rules in order to gain an advantage and everyone will agree that winning is more fun. However, today’s sports culture is so focused on winning and records that it is ruining the games. In addition it has also created a situation where many athletes and coaches simply do not know how to handle losing. A perfect example of all of this is Bill Belicheck. Bill Belicheck had no problems secretly taping the opposing team’s signals or running up the score on teams late in the 4th quarter just to break records, but as soon as it became obvious that he was going to lose in the Super Bowl, he walked off the field before the game clock ran out pouting like a 4 year old kid. So it is perfectly ok for him to humiliate other teams by needlessly running up the score, but he can’t wait 20 seconds for a well played game to end once he knows he is going to lose? That is the kind of crap that today’s sports are slowly gravitating towards.
Fryer Tuck
May 20, 2008 at 10:18 pm