Taking Names and Keeping Score
Two cents or less
Charlie Anderson
Ihave always been one who believed a person was much better off showing someone what they can do rather than telling them. If you want to convince me that you can do something really well, show me with your actions rather than try to convince me with your mouth. I know there are some people who brag about all that they can do and then have the ability and where with all to go out and prove it. Likewise, I know there are many more who only talk a good game and when it comes time to put their words into action, they are no where to be found.

That holds true in almost every area of life, but no where is it more pronounced than in the world of sports. There is rarely a day that goes by that I don't read something in a newspaper or magazine; hear something on the radio or see something on television detailing how an athlete is predicting some great personal accomplishment or the lopsided defeat of his or her opponent in an up coming contest. Just recently in the hype surrounding the highly publicized boxing match between Light Heavyweights Roy Jones Jr. and Anthony "Tony the Tyger" Hanshaw, both boxers made bold statements to the media about the outcome of the fight. Jones declared he would knock out Hanshaw in six rounds while Hanshaw predicted he would knock Jones into retirement. Of course everyone, who knows anything about the fight game, will tell you that it is all done to promote the fight and sell tickets. Possibly so, but inevitably one of the two has a lot of crow to eat.

Although boxing and other sports where the competition is one on one are more conducive for such rash predictions and' in your face' challenges, no sport seems to be immune from it now days. Whether it is at the professional level or in the amateur ranks, more and more we have seen members of one team or another go to the media with inflammatory remarks about their up coming opponent or self aggrandizing statements about themselves or their team. Sometimes attempts are made later to minimize or justify such remarks as merely an attempt by those making the statements to motivate their team or intimidate their opponent. Either way, in my book, such actions are a poor substitute for going onto the field of competition and showing what an individual athlete or a team can do.

To make matters worse, we have fans of athletes and athletic teams who take the same approach. They use any means available to them, print media, broadcast media, and the internet to boast about their favorites while putting down their rivals. Most of the time they speak about things of which they have no real knowledge. Even when what they are saying has some validity, it is often so exaggerated or embellished upon, that what truth there is can hardly be found.

Many times those who speak the loudest have never participated in athletics at any level and subsequently have absolutely no basis for understanding what it takes for athletes to become proficient enough to compete at the level they are talking about. Nor do they understand all the intricacies of the sport itself.

Unfortunately their useless bantering is sometimes mistaken by a gullible and uninformed public as factual information.

There is an old adage about sermons that says "the greatest sermons I ever heard were those lived before me." Athletes take notice! Show me what you can do rather than tell me. I will certainly come nearer believing it then.

For all you fans who speak from whence you don't know, what you are saying is worth two cents or less to me.

Until next time.......be safe!

Reader Comments

No comments have been posted. Be the first!

Other Stories With Comments:
Article	Comments
Football season starting	1
Taking Names and Keeping Score	1
Frances Nichols passes at 91	1
Bryant is a contestant in Ms. Senior Alabama Pageant	1
Dunagans to celebrate golden anniversary	1