I don't know if other people experience it but there's always a memory that comes flooding back with certain associations that is at such an extreme level that it almost gives you cold chills thinking about it. That memory will need some explaining and I'm going to try to do just that with the story I'm about to tell you.
I can't say that I was a saint by any means but I did try to play by the rules as much as I could. Some of my examples when I was growing up were not exactly what they should have been, but not all of them. I can remember wanting to play basketball desperately but I was not good enough for our school team and I knew that so I tried out for the church team and lo and behold I made the team. You know what, I was shocked too! I worked hard and got frustrated one day in practice with what I was being taught and said something to the coach that I probably shouldn't have, I apologized and he forgave me, so I was back on the team. Finally, we started playing other churches. In the league we were in we played all around Memphis. One day the coach pulled me from the bench and told me to go in and take out a player? I did not understand and I asked somehow for clarification. I didn't remember exactly what I said but he said don't break anything but put him out of the ballgame. I was shocked but I wasn't the brightest bulb in the box in those days, yes, I was a little nieve in those days and I did so want to play basketball so I did as I was told.
We were lined up for a free throw and I came up and under him with a knee in his thigh to do my best to hurt him just enough to keep him off the floor for as long as possible. The official, you know the guy with a striped shirt and black pants, pulled me to the side and told me if he ever saw me trying to hurt another player he would make sure that I never played in any league again.
I lied to him and
said I wasn't doing anything. He told me he wasn't born yesterday and he had played basketball himself and knew exactly what was going on and to just mind my pees and cues and I would be all right, otherwise, it would be trouble.
Something like this came up later in my life and I think I've told a little bit of the story before. I was umpiring a baseball game and the game was extremely close. I was sweeping off home plate and thought I heard someone say don't let it hit you in the head but take the hit. I thought maybe I heard it wrong so I didn't think much about it but I did see the coach talking to one particular player. The first batter hit a double and the second batter hit a single and then the young man I saw talking to one of the coaches of his team came to bat and I noticed he was just a bit anxious and he was bobbing and weaving in and out of the strike zone which, in itself, is not incriminating but it made me a little more curious than normal. I was watching him just as close as I was watching the pitcher and the strike zone. The picture wound up looking at first and second, he threw the ball and it was looking like it was going to be a perfect strike, then I noticed the young man crouch into the strike zone and pull his leg up as if to step into the pitch to hit it. I noticed the strangest thing, his eyes were closed as tight as they could be and he was making a face as if someone was about to give him a shot of penicillin. Then I heard a thud, the baseball hit him directly in the shoulder which was right over the strike zone. He
made no attempt to move out of the way or fall to the ground or any movement like he did not want to get hit by the pitch and that's just not natural. A lot of things raced through my mind,
the coach that asked him to do something that was unsportsmanlike and who I presumed was a coach asking a child to put himself in danger for a game, this not only was unsportsmanlike but it
was dangerous. A batter can not block the plate and the strike zone by the rulebook. I could've called it a strike and or if I thought that the player was doing it intentionally I could
call him out, and I did. I also walked over to the coach and told him why I called him out and I said if I could prove what I suspected I would not only rule the player out but that I would
see that he never coached again.
I, for one, don't believe that someone that a child should look up to should ask them to do something that should not be done whether it's morally or ethically or in the spirit of the game. Winning has little to do with it, it's that you will always be someone that they look up to and someone that they need to have as a role model and mentor and, as such, asking them to do
something they should not do is breaking a sacred trust because remember it's not whether you win or lose it really is how you play the game.
I have to tell you that most of my coaches through junior high and high school were people that I could look up to and almost always were of the highest character and I love them all dearly and would not take $1 billion for the time that I spent with the coaches and players of the teams that I was on. Yes, winning means a lot but being able to look at yourself in the mirror and saying to yourself I tried to be the best I could be, for me is more important than any amount on any scoreboard could ever give you.
It seems that nowadays that the little white lies are accepted no matter what the reason. It seems that making choices between the lesser of two evils is acceptable. I, for one, stand with you and
promise you that I will never accept cheating, lying, stealing or any other less than ethical behavior in my life. I am no saint and do not expect you to follow me. If you look you'll see I do not have
nail scars in my hands, but I try each and every day to be like the Man that did.
