You probably know that phrase from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan who used it in the context of rising stock prices and the pre-2008 financial crisis.
I’m going to borrow Greenspan’s phrasing and apply it to our near obsession with sports and the resulting irrational behavior we have endured having to read about in the headlines of late.
I’d guess many evening dinner conversations around the table in Louisiana begin and end with LSU, McNeese or your favorite high school team.
At the risk of sounding like a sports snob, I’m not sure Dad needs to be asking little Billy about the Tigers’ fake field goal before he gets around to that all-important math test or his AR goal. I can hear Uncle Joe wondering out loud whether the Saints’ recent resurgence is a sign of a real turnaround instead of discussing the state of our state as we’re about to elect a new governor.
The subject of sports leading off much of our social conversation isn’t totally unexpected or unreasonable. It’s just a small example of how sports fans and everyday citizens may have our priorities a bit out of line.
We’ll have a good test of my theory as LSU prepares to head to Tuscaloosa for another of its annual mega-matchups with Alabama. It’s a huge game all right, but let’s hope Tiger fans, at least, survive with their lives and emotions intact, win or lose.
Year in and year out there are stories and examples of how we’ve reach new lows in our sports-oriented behavior or of how much importance we place on sports in our lives.
I’ll admit I’m still surprised — even at my age and level of cynicism — when another college player gets death threats from crazed fans or rabid fans or hooligans storm a basketball court or football field, literally kicking, screaming and throwing haymakers aimed at players and referees.
I’m surprised when fans and the athletes themselves push sportsmanship and rational decorum aside and the fervor of passion turns criminal.
This problem is nothing new in sports; it dates back decades, here and across the globe. It’s probably more acute in soccer-dominated countries in South America and Europe.
The number of “football” players in Columbia and Argentina murdered because they failed to make a play or score a goal is high; that is well documented. Similar heinous killings have occurred on Middle Eastern soccer teams. And threats have been levied against European players as well.
It’s not much better in the old U.S. of A. It’s indisputable that we take sports over the top and too seriously in this country. That may be a sacrilegious thing to say in every Southeastern Conference city and state from Alabama to Georgia to Arkansas and, yes, Louisiana. South Bend, Austin, Eugene, Waco and Ann Arbor can’t be left out either.
If you didn’t see the end of the recent Michigan-Michigan State game, that’s OK because you were probably doing something much more important — like watching the Florida-LSU game, right?
Michigan had an apparent upset in hand, leading the higher-ranked Spartans with 10 seconds to play when Wolverines punter Blake O’Neill bobbled a low snap.
If Michigan gets that punt off cleanly, they beat arch rival Michigan State and vault into the Top 10 rankings well ahead of first-year coach Jim Harbaugh’s rebuilding schedule.
Things didn’t go as planned, as O’Neill recovered the loose ball, spun around and tried to rugby kick it downfield. But he fumbled it again, and a Spartan scooped it up and ran into the Michigan State history books for the most unlikely game-ending winning touchdown.
In the ensuing days, some twisted Wolverine fans did what is unthinkable but not totally unexpected in our sports-crazed society by sending the young Australian punter death threats amid profanity-laced emails and tweets.
No one in the state of Michigan and none of the hundreds of thousands who are the Wolverine fan base can feel as lousy and heartbroken as O’Neill. The knuckleheads who sent the threats have to know this. They have to know that there are more important things in life than this one game; that one bad play.
In this case, as in others, I am wrong.
Soon after the Michigan incident, we learned that a revered major college basketball program and respected university were so motivated to lure and sign top-rated recruits that they allegedly resorted to strippers and sex to close the signings.
A woman running an exotic dancer and escort service — more to the point, her business was selling sex — went to the national media to tell her story of stripper parties, prostitutes and sex arranged and paid for by former Louisville assistant coach Andre McGee.
In the aftermath of the story and scandal, McGee resigned his position as assistant coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Katina Powell, the Louisville madam, made these allegations with a private journal, text messages and phone records as her guide. What she said was that there was sex not only for the visiting recruits and those who were already Louisville players, but also for the recruits’ guardians or parents.
A number of recruits and former Cardinal players have confirmed parts of Powell’s allegations. Sex for the accompanying guardians or parents has not been confirmed. But on the surface, it seems that such an approach would make sure everyone goes home happy.
All this allegedly occurred in an on-campus players’ dormitory building.
Two-time national champion head coach Rick Pitino denied knowing anything about the stripper and sex parties that date back to 2010.
No one at Louisville is saying anything more on the record while the school’s internal investigation is ongoing. Commonwealth authorities along with the FBI are now poking around.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter has written a book on Powell’s allegations — Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen. Upwards of five former Louisville recruits or players have confirmed most or certain aspects of the sex allegations.
If this story proves to be true — and it appears likely that is — the scandal will set a new precedent in the dirty, seedy underbelly of college athletics.
How desperate did Louisville have to be to secure these high school prospects? Despite a recent national championship in 2013, how much pressure were Pitino and the Cardinals program under to get these guys locked down? Do other top-flight college programs resort to some similar tactics in recruiting?
Consider what former Michigan Fab Five, NBA All Star and current ESPN commentator Jalen Rose said of the story. On a recent radio show Rose admitted, “if I wasn’t getting laid [while on recruiting visits], I ain’t signing.”
I’m far from naïve, so this Louisville story doesn’t totally shock me. But it does confirm that some programs will go to new lows in an attempt to stay on top.
You’ve seen the results of amateur club soccer players attacking refs after calls and the volunteer game officials dying from injuries suffered at the hands of these uniformed criminals.
Remember the Alabama fan who poisoned and killed the historic Toomer’s Corner Oaks on the campus of Auburn University?
Last summer, Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott and two Bulldog teammates were attacked and viciously beaten near the beaches in Panama City, Fla. They were recognized and targeted by thugs who happened to be Florida State fans.
Recently, a group of LSU fans were denied entry and service at the legendary Destin, Fla., eatery Harry T’s. It seems the restaurant’s manager didn’t want these Tiger fans to co-mingle with the Florida Gator fans already there. A letter was sent to the Tigers’ fans stating that the restaurant had had problems with LSU fans before and that LSU supporters are not held in high regard.
It seems you can’t get a good grouper sandwich in Destin if you’re purple and gold.
The owners of Harry T’s have since discovered the error of their judgment and how much it could hurt their bottom line. They sent out apologies and offered donations to LSU-based charities.
Earlier, in the high school football season, there were two incidents in San Antonio in which a referee was targeted and hit — or should I say assaulted? — by young prep players on the field during game action.
In one case, the attacking players alleged an assistant coach directed them to target and hit the unsuspecting umpire from behind because of earlier penalties the ref called against their team.
How seriously whacked can this coach and players be to carry out such an attack on a football field — during a game, no less?
How about that recent bench-clearing brawl between members of two Mississippi junior colleges who got into an ugly street fight on the turf because one team was down 48-0 and its members were upset over a time-out called by the team in the lead. It seems the trailing team felt “disrespected.”
In Toronto, during the American League Divisional Playoffs, Blue Jay fans became upset over the bench clearing that resulted from a bat flip after star Juan Batista hit a game-winning home run. The fans proceeded to litter and pound the field and the players with anything they could throw.
What do all these cases of irrational actions say about our sports state of mind?
It is truly a sad commentary when fans can name their team’s starting offensive line but are stumped when asked the name of the Secretary of State or Supreme Court Chief Justice.
If you’re wondering, that would be John Kerry at State and John Roberts, Supreme Court Chief Justice.
NFL Sunday night, Monday night, playoffs and Super Bowls, of course, are regularly the highest-rated Neilsen TV shows in the country.
In a side note, the omnipresent Fan Duel and Draft Kings fantasy football websites have outdueled many advertisers and in some cases have spent more money on a national weekly basis in total marketing dollars on cable and the national networks.
What does that tell you?
We are an inundated and saturated sports society and our children are not immune.
Let’s hope we don’t witness an all-out donnybrook at a flag football game with 9- and 10-year-olds.
Look, we need passionate fans to shell out endless dollars to fill those 100,000-plus stadiums in Baton Rouge, Knoxville, Michigan and across the sports landscape. The problem is the passion is getting seriously out of control.
I may be somewhat jaded because I’ve covered and reported on way too many games in which I don’t have a tied allegiance.
I’ve been a self-proclaimed New Orleans Saints fan since 1966. But despite that, the idea of being a fan of rational thinking is buried in my sports soul. Is it wrong of me to want to see a good, clean, highly competitive game, even if it involves my beloved Saints or the Utah Jazz? Can I cheer and appreciate a great play even if it comes at the expense of MY team?
Is it too much to ask for Alabama or Texas A&M fans to walk freely around the French Quarter without fear of having a beer dumped on them from a balcony above?
I can’t be the only one out here who would never throw a bottle on the field.
Get Rick Sarro’s perspectives on sports on Soundoff 60, which airs Monday through Sunday nights at 9 pm on Suddenlink Channel 60 and Saturday and Sunday mornings at 10 am as well.
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