Recently in a football game I saw a young man score a touchdown. After entering the end zone he then proceeded to gesture in a manor in front of the opposing teams cheering section. For which a penalty for un-sportsman like conduct was called on him and his team.
His team was assessed a fifteen yard penalty on the kick-off. The opposing team then scored on the next series of plays and took the lead. As one of the announcers said, "The young man's actions just made it much easier for the opposing team to score." This has to be a coach's nightmare.
I personally believe that television and yes the Internet, print media and most recently social network works like Facebook, YouTube, and even Twitter are having a serious negative effect on many areas of life. Yes, even a college football game or sports in general. "Hey look here, I did something special, I scored a touchdown and now I will do a little dance, gesture,etc. In turn this will get me more exposure. People will talk about me, they will know who I am."
The former coach of the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins, Vince Lombardi used to tell his players, "When you score a touchdown, hand the ball to the official and act like you have been there before, act like it was what was expected of you. Cause it is."
I have come the conclusion that so much of social media is now making the "average" famous. Facebook, Youtube especially has the power to make average people, appear as something they really are not. Too often they make average people doing average things, "famous."
I am not saying scoring a touchdown is always easy, but it's what is expected if you go out to play a game of football. One should not be given the celebrity status that many are now being given just because they can score a touchdown, or put a ball in a round cylinder, or hit a little white ball out of a park.
The "average" is now being made "famous" but not for the right reasons. Once upon a time fame was primarily an honor earned, something heroic was done or performed. I think our society is becoming more image conscious and less quality conscious. Sadly standards and measures of what is or should be respected has changed. Success is void of real substance.
Maybe to paraphrase Lombardi's words, "Hey fella what's the big deal with you, this is what was expected of you."
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September 17, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson