Today I log on to Yahoo and the front page story is about the Jets coach tripping a player. I could hardly believe it. A grown man, whose team is down by only 4 points, sticks out his knee for a dirty play.
What has happened to sportsmanship? What has happened to respect? Everyone out there is trying to do a job and someone has to win, someone has to lose.
I can understand the frustration. The Jets were slaughtered last week by the Patriots 45 to 3 on a Monday night game. What are you supposed to do when you are spanked in a game? You practice harder. You train daily. You reexamine your strategy. You don't resort to low measures like tripping a player.
I guess this is why I like martial arts. In kyokushin, if we are bad sports, we lose any trophies or medal that we won. There is no trash talk, no wishing of others ill. We respect each other.
I have not been to many tournaments, actually only three. The last tournament I was at, the world championship in Canada, the girls, that I weren't fighting, came up to me and gave advise on how to fight the girls I was about to fight. These ladies who were helping me, I have either fought in the past or will fight in the future. They are people who I will give no mercy too on the mat, but will go have a drink with after it is over. When the fights were done, competitors compliment each other on techniques or power.
Even in MMA, the majority of the time the fighter respect each other. Most give each other a hug after it is all done. There are a few that are bad sports and I tend not to watch those fights, even if it is to watch them lose.
