Double Standards

There is a precarious double standard in our society in sports. It is obvious to virtually everyone who watches TV, listens to the radio or reads a newspaper.

The underlying reasoning behind acceptance of the double standard is because of ability. Athletic ability. Take, for example, someone of the stature of Bob Probert.

There is no need to discuss the antics of one of the finest and most physical hockey players to grace the ice for Detroit in the '80s. His saga is long, sober and depressing. For months, the Red Wings, their management, the media and fans put up with his troubles.

In many ways, his problems with alcohol were ignored. Oh, there were the drunk driving violations in both Canada and the U.S., and there was even alcohol rehabilitation.

There was the highlight, so to speak, of the Stanley Cup semifinals in Edmonton last May, when Probert, Petr Klima and several other Wings missed curfew while at a topless bar the night before Game 5. Despite breaking the rules - missing curfew is punishable by missing the next game - Coach Jacques Demers put Probert and Klima in the game.

Double standards.

The breakdown in authority led to the media placing a magnifying glass over the Red Wings situation. Why had any of the violators been allowed to play against Edmonton? And, if that, why only two - why not all the culprits?

Demers was one of the first to admit he had made a mistake. But the damage was done - to his and his team's credibility. Authority had succumbed to the win-at-all-costs notion. Screw the rules, it's the "W" that counts.

Grantland Rice would shake his head at this obsession. It was he who wrote those immortal words, "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game."

Sometimes the quest for a win becomes greater than the need for honesty. And when that happens - when the cancer spreads beyond the source and invades the entire group - the fallout can be felt for years. If the coach can't follow the rules, why should the players?

In February, University of Oklahoma quarterback Charles Thompson was arrested and charged with selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. Coach Barry Switzer is on the hot seat now - not only because of Thompson's problems, but because of a number of media-grabbing situations over the winter. A month earlier, Thompson's roommate, cornerback Jerry Parks, allegedly shot another football player in the chest after a late-night argument. Three other players were charged with allegedly gang-raping a woman a week later.

Meanwhile, in the February 27 issue of Sports Illustrated, Switzer was quoted as saying an important element in the Oklahoma success on the gridiron was his friendship with the players. "We don't inhibit, muzzle or restrict our players," he said. "You can't manage kids that way. I don't want to be managed that way."

The NCAA has already placed Oklahoma on three years of probation for "major violations" - and the judgement does not even include the student violence manifested by a benign management structure. Cash and cars were offered to recruits, and players were given airline tickets.

Double standards.

The cancer can spread among professional teams, too. A look at the 1969 Chicago Cubs proves that a good organization can fall apart when the ones running the show go AWOL.

Leo Durocher was the manager in '69, and the Cubs were taking charge in the National League East. But with the Cubs in first place in mid-June, Durocher took an unexpected leave to celebrate his upcoming marriage. teh upper brass, then under the direction of owner Phil Wrigley, excused his behavior.

About five weeks later, he became ill and took several days off. But Durocher wasn't really sick; he was visiting his son at a summer camp in Wisconsin.

At about the same time he was taking mid-season vacations, Durocher began to do commercials and radio shows. And the players, seeing that the boss was partaking in extracurricular activities, began to do the same - establishing a pot for extra funds from endowments and appearance fees, hiring an agent to keep them up to date on the monies rolling in, etc.

And then the team began losing. Durocher couldn't get the Cubs back on track, and the New York Mets won the division by eight games.

Double standards.

Billy Joel has a song called A Matter of Trust, where he lauds the value of believing in each other.

To believe in a structure, a team concept, one must have trust. And organization.

And while many teams, schools and organizations have a solid, honorable structure, there are those others. For example:

University of Kentucky, where basketball Coach Eddie Sutton resigned under allegations of recruiting violations;

Southern Methodist University, which received the so-called "death penalty" for an extraordinary number of NCAA violations;

University of Kansas, which won the 1988 NCAA basketball championship, then was put on probation for - you guessed it - recruiting violations.

Now, then - where does this lead to on the high school font? Let me hypothesize:

If a high school coach opts to ignore a suspension and put in a star-quality player in order to win, how do the other players respond? Do the benchwarmers appreciate winning over effort?

If a high school athlete realizes there is an aura of invincibility around him, will he turn to drugs as an additional source of income or pleasure?

If a manager or coach decides to slack off, what incentive does the team have to strive for perfection?

If management tries to get around the law in order to win, how does the player feel?

How does the player cope with society, when all the personnel who are supposed to follow the rules get caught with their hands in the wrong places?

And so on, and so on, and so on. We, the average people, put up with all of this for sake of the mighty "W."

What price glory?

This article originally appeared in The Marshall Chronicle.