|
Thursday, July 03, 2003
Taneo: Too much of good is bad; bullying tactics on and off the pitch
By Paul J. Taneo
Free-for-all
When an insider reveals the inner workings of an organization, everyone listens. It’s outside looking in and let us smell the dirty linen.
Manchester United midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron the other day said that Man U manager (coach to us basketball-inundated archipelagics) Alex Ferguson’s infamous boot (that’s studs, basketbolero) kicked that found the forehead of pretty boy David Beckham was not a rare incident.
Veron alleged that when Ferguson loses his temper or wants to make a point, he throws objects like bottles around.
“One time I had to dodge one which flew very close to my head. Ferguson doesn’t do it intentionally, he’s not looking to hit anybody in particular, but he throws them,” Veron told the Daily Mirror.
Right. And the Iraqi resistance does not intend to ambush and shoot to kill coalition forces in Baghdad.
The halls of short-tempered coaches is filled with highly-strung individuals who call the shots for their teams whether football, basketball, volleyball, swimming, baseball, boxing, etc.
But the most striking thing about the Agence France Press report was the phrase “dressing room bully who rules Old Trafford by fear,” referring to Ferguson. Veron was not quoted but it is not incredible.
The American cage coach Bobby Knight is well known for dressing down players who perhaps because of it manage to win championships. He has won NCAA Finals titles and international championships for college teams who later told sportswriters they didn’t fully feel like champions when victory’s adrenaline fell and they had to deal with the emotional drain – a big part of it due to Knight’s outbursts and bullying tactics on them not always their opponents.
Some coaches insist they have to be dictators or bullies to mold their teams and lead them to win after win. Total control equals championships. Liberalism and kindness are seen as signs of weakness, thus defeat.
UNFORTUNATE FOE. The death of Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe during their semifinal game against Colombia at the Stade de France highlights the dangers of playing sports.
Tennis had deaths on the court, so did marathon and basketball. So has boxing, especially boxing.
On-field violence, pitch invasion and riots between supporters of opposing teams are quite common, but a player who falls dead on the field is surprising and tragic.
Football/soccer players are some of the fittest athletes. And for a professional like Foe, who played for a world-class national team (Cameroon is a former Olympics champion) and a French first-division champion squad (Lyon), to die suddenly without warning is stunning.
They have highly-paid doctors who are supposed to tell them whether they are fit to play or not. Foe’s wife said her husband had suffered from dysentery days from the Colombia match and shouldn’t have been allowed to play.
But can you tell a mustang of an athlete not to play in the semifinal round of a first-rate tournament in one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world? Even if a platoon of doctors had advised Foe not to show up for the Colombia game, he most probably would still have. Come hell or high water. Come death or eternal life.
It there’s any lesson to be learned from Foe’s death, it’s that too much of anything is not good. Even too much love of the “beautiful game” is not good. It can even be fatal.
HAPPY DAY. Now, let’s turn natal. Today is our fellow Wednesday sports columnist Nyor Homer Sayson’s birthday. Homer is so nationalistic he deemed it safe to be born two days before the United States’ Independence Day. Happy birthday, nyor. May you have more NBA Finals credentials and children.
(sports@sunstar.com.ph)
(July 3, 2003 issue)
Want Sun.Star news on your mobile phone? Click here.
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
