Sports, profanity go together like peanut
butter and jelly
By Jed Wilcox, THG Sports
A recent article by Pat McKee of the Indianapolis Star
titled “Profanity must go, high school bosses agree” said that the clear
consensus among administrators at Indianapolis-area high schools is that coaches
and athletes ‘never should use inappropriate language at either practices or
games.’ (http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/146741-4345-036.html)
When reading this article, a clip from one of my favorite
movies, Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield, came to mind. In the
movie, tall-and-fat clothing tycoon Thorton Mellon
(Dangerfield) is sitting in a college business class lecture given by a
professor with no real business experience. After discussing several points on
how to run a fictional business that produces ‘widgets’, the professor asks the
class what would be the ideal location to build the factory. The class erupts
in laughter when Mellon yells out, “How about Fantasyland!”
High school administrators that really believe that they
can eradicate profanity from the playing field with their policies should buy a
one-way ticket to Fantasyland. Sports and profanity go together like peanut
butter and jelly.
Anyone who has competed at a high level and got the most
out of their ability will tell you just how intense sports are at all levels,
including high school. When emotions are supercharged, there are going to be a
few cuss words rolling off of the tongues of players and coaches alike—I am
sorry, but that is the nature of the beast.
I am sure that some of the administrators interviewed by
McKee really do not believe that there is going to be a complete absence of
potty-mouths on scholastic playing fields in Indiana. They know it happens, and
some probably do not really care if it does, but they aren’t going to say so in
the state’s largest newspaper. It is good politics to give lip-service to being
anti-profanity, even if they used to cuss like a sailor back when they were
coaching.
Administrators need to concentrate their efforts on more
important things, like Public Law 221 or their schools ISTEP scores and leave
the policy on profanity to the coaches. A little cussing and verbal abuse never
hurt anyone anyway—well, maybe it hurts some people’s feelings, but if it does,
I don’t want those sissies on my team anyway. Maybe they should stick to
something less stressful, like playing in the pep band.
(Dangerfield) is sitting in a college business class lecture given by a
professor with no real business experience. After discussing several points on
how to run a fictional business that produces ‘widgets’, the professor asks the
class what would be the ideal location to build the factory. The class erupts
in laughter when Mellon yells out, “How about Fantasyland!”
