The Joy of Sox Movie

Our British friend Paul was for years the football (soccer) coach at a local high school outside of Manchester (home of Manchester United, whose fans might be as rabid as our Sox fans). While chatting about sports on our recent visit, one of his comments in particular impressed me. He said his student footballers were universally discouraged by their coaches from taunting their opponents. They were told to respect their adversaries, whether they were winning or losing.



“Trash talking” (our term, not theirs), would lead to a warning from the refs the first time it happened, and a penalty kick the second time. He rued the fact that pro players didn’t live up to the same standards of protocol that were taught to the juniors, and he was seeing a steady increase in self-centered behavior by the mega-wealthy stars. Seems like they have the same sense of entitlement that our stars do here (see former Man U star Ronaldo, above), and their managers are also less likely to set limits after the owners have invested tens of millions of pounds in a new contract to steal them from rival teams. Sadly, those attitudes are starting to catch on among the juniors, who view the stars, rather than their coaches, as role models, largely due to the unrelenting media coverage that glorifies celebrity behavior. Thanks, Rupert Murdoch.