B4-Sunday News, October 19, 1980

sport

side-lines

by Andy Fraser

No matter how poorly

The recent news out of the University of Leth-
bridge that watching sports events makes one
hostile should not come as any surprise to anyone
remotely interested in the wide subject of sport.

Go to a hockey game, a
football game, in fact,
almost any contact sport and
you will find hostile reac-
tions very close to the
surface.

Of course sport was never
designed for the spectators.
It is only in later years that
man decided that there was
money to be made from
people who would sit down
and pay plenty of moncy to
watch other people take part

NEW YORK (UPD) - Fred
Lebow has turned down
sexual favors, $5,000 bribes
and pleas from the White
House , but the calls keep
coming anyway.

Lebow, 48, is the director
of the New York Marathon,
and everybody, it seems, is
willing to do almost anything
to join in the race.

An emissary was sent by
250 Frenchmen to plead for
Lebow’s favors, but was
rebuffed. Doctors call on
behalf of allegedly terminal
patients whose dying wish is
to run in the New York
Marathon. “Today | got calls
from England, Sweden and
France,” he sighed.
“Each one trying to

m a
activity.

Because of the swing to an
emphasis on entertainment,
the very nature of the sport
has changed. Rules, in
virtually every game where
admissjon is charged. have
changed to reflect the in-
terest of the spectator and
not the participant.

FUNNY GRASS

Perhaps the most damning

strenuous physical

get a runner in.”

The New York Road
Runners Club, which
sponsors the marathon, has
accepted 16,000 people for
the Oct. 26 race. But
another 20,000-odd _  long-
distance runners got left
behind, and some _ are
hopping mad.

“It's heartbreaking to
reject somebody who wants
to go through the pain and
agony of running more than
26 miles, but have you ever
heard of gridlock?” Lebow
asked, conjuring up visions
of 30,000 runners squeezed
into immobility on some of
the narrower city streets.

Turning down people who
claim they're victims of fatal
diseases used to be hardest.

Cougars catch Bulls

A close race for first place
developed last weekend in
the first division of the North
Shore Intermediate Soccer
League The North Shore
Cougars moved mto ate
with West Van Bulls by
defeating W V Rowdies 9 0

John King and Phil Y oung
picked up a goal cach and
Tom Barker scored the
winner as West Van Bears
ended the Bulls’ unbcatecn
streak with ao 3} 2. victory
Hears are only one point out
of first place, with a game in
hand

Bag Bard Sound came up
with thea firse wan of the
beating
bedgemont Hycaps 3 1

scason the

NORTH VANCOUVER
Minor Hockey Association

General Meeting
for all Parents

On Wed Oct 29/80 8pm
At Sutherland School in
the Drama Room

In second division North
Shore Wanderers shut out
No 5 Orange 34). while Big
Bird Sounders cdped West
Van © F 2 - Grant Silver
wood scored three goals to
lead WV Hawks to a 10 3
win over Edgemont United
Benfica defaulted to West
Van Eagles. and the North
Shore Cowboys sat out with
a bye

Three

teams boast un
beaten  rccords, as the
Wanderers Iead the sccond
division with eight) points

The Cowboys aad the Hawks

share second = place

cach
with a pame in hand over the

Bulls

has been the introduction of
artificial grass which
Shortens the career of
athletes and is universally
condemned by players and
trainers. But it looks pretty
and it shows up well on TV.

Another “winner” is the
gem of the CFL that
disallows sweaty skin from
showing between the top of
the sock and the bottom of
the pants.

As good old Teddy
Roosevelt once said:

“Better a man should play
a sport, however poorly,
than sit and watch it played
well.”

They’re ‘dying’ to enter race

said Lebow, “before Rosie
Ruiz.” Miss Ruiz was the
runner who made headhnes
when it was determined
she'd won the women's race
last year with some help
from the city subway system.

“I accepted her because
she told me she had a brain

But not very many seem to
believe that any more. We
would rather watch it, read
about it, phone open line
shows about it and become
self professed experts in it
without the bother of par-
ticipation.

Perhaps hostility comes
from watching because it is
just not possible for us to live
out our dreams through
others.

You don’t do that you say?
If you are a “fan” then think
for a moment about when
your team scores, or is
scored against, or when the
Official makes a call you
disagree with.

If we have dreams, then
they certainly cannot be
lived out by a paid mer-
cenary. Nor can they be
lived out by our children.

The big involvement of
spectators has brought about
ap unhealthy emphasis on
winning. Once upon a time a
te was aie perfectly  ac-
ceptable result in a game. It

tumor,” Lebow said ruefully.

The marathon is
egahtanan about its entry
policy, taking the first 10,000
entrants on a first-come,
first-serve basis, and
choosing the rest through
lottery.

indicated simply that both
teams, or individuals were
relatively equal within a
certain time or distance
frame. Now we must have a
win. For the players? Of
course not. The win is for
the fans who will be upset if
there is not a definitive

result.

BAD ATTITUDE.
And this attitude of
winning can create an

unhealthy attitude in minor
sports programs.

Kids want to win in their
games. That's natural. and
when they were left alone in
their sandlot games they
either won or lost and that’s
all there was to it. Now,
however, Mom and Dad,
sister and brother all want
the child to win. And the
coach wants it.

While there may be some
who state that they only
want the child to enjoy and
have fun, the extra pressure
is there and must be
carefully dealt with.

There are some who do
attend games who un-
derstand and appreciate the
intricacy and skill of sport.
They can appreciate the
good play, the delicate
touch, the ‘controlled
strength of the team and the
individual. But they are in
the minority.

For too many, sport is a
way of letting off steam, of
being able to say “We're
number one” when really the
only thing we have done is
pay our money and cheer or
jeer.

At its best sport hints at
the limitless ability of man.
Alt its worst it becomes an
event where paid en-
tertainers create a forum for
the expression of emotions
by a mob.

Sport can provide the
spectator with a hint of
grace, strength, and beauty.
In this area it serves a
prupose. But at its heart
sport is for the gratification
of the one who participates,
not the one who sits, and by
sitting creates hostility.

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