High life
Unsporting
Tala
Athens The good news is that the International 'Amateur' Athletic Federation has decided that there will be no end to the hypocrisy of athletes receiving appearance money under the table until it meets in Athens next September. The bad news is, of course, that the Federation has postponed until then admitting the existence of widespread cheating. The hypocrites have decided to end hypocrisy in its etymological birthplace. Fair, after all, is fair, and the reasons why an athlete refuses to run for his country will be made clear from now on; or rather next year. In the meantime, here are a few thoughts about professional sportsmen.
Recently, Mario Andretti, the racing driver, was quoted as saying that a competitor is smart for trying to cheat and that everyone does it. Cheating in sport today is rationalised as outsmarting one's opponent; which takes me back to ancient times. In Sparta, a warrior was expected to cheat and lie as long as he was not caught. In Athens, on the other hand, the citizens were taught the glorification of the Greek Ideal, which is 'a general, harmonious expansion of all the powers that make the beauty and worth of human nature'. In modern terms, the Spartans were today's professional athletes and the Athenians were the amateurs.
Sports are more important today than at any time in our history. It is impossible to turn on the television without seeing some inarticulate athlete endorsing a product that he may not even use. The networks use saturation coverage of every conceivable sport, maddening an already sportsdemented public even more. Whereas once people would break the ice with talk of the weather, today the topic common to all classes is sport. It was only three months ago that we were treated to the greatest English victory since Omdurman. When we opened the morning paper or watched the evening news, we saw a dozen English hooligans kicking a helpless Swiss fan. The man's crime? Rooting for his team. Like Smith in 1984 remembering the smell of a lemon, do you remember, oh so long ago, when the British were known for their sense of fair play?
Ever since money entered the sports arena, it was obvious that human nature, being what it is, would not be able to resist. That is why we have people like Roberto Duran and John McEnroe, not others such as Jesse Owens, Gottfried von Cramm, or Roger Bannister. The press and television, of course, are the main culprits. They are responsible for raising unworthies to the level of gods. It is the press that refuses to admit that the Olympic ideal is now dead. The Games remain only as spectacle and propaganda for totalitarian states, but the media cover them as if they were the Second Coming. And very few writers, while denouncing the mixture of sports and politics, decry the fact that 'democracies' such as Cuba and East Germany lead the boycott against South Africa.
It is incomprehensible to me, and should be to anyone with even the merest hint of intelligence, why anyone should be paid for taking part in sport. So, I say let's throw in the towel, we the public. Let's start playing sports instead of watching them. Ironically, the breakdown of sportsmanship and fair play has helped me get over the guilt I used to feel for not concentrating on one sport. There are a great many amateurs who have at least as much talent as many of the most famous pro names but find one game too tedious to play to the exclusion of all others. The ultimate truth is that the amateur glories in his natural talent; the pro glories in his monetary reward. The amateur will try the hardest shot even though he has had less practice; the pro will go for the percentage. It makes more sense but it makes for a duller world, and a more dishonest and less romantic one. Roger, Jesse, Gottfried, wherever you are, please come back.
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