No words
I've been working on this post for a few days now trying to come up with the right combinations of words to describe the situation at the University of Maryland and the subsequent comments coming from the University of South Carolina head football coach.
What happened at Maryland is tragic, and what the fallout will be will lend more adjectives to the situation. The comments made by Will Muschamp, head football coach at South Carolina are deplorable and in my opinion, illustrate a definite gap between the athletics world and reality. The follow up press conference simply reinforced his original statement and stance.
Too often the public and those involved in sports view each other as unequal. Those outside of sports believe that they can do a better job coaching, recruiting, representing the sport or program than those who are currently involved in those three aspects are doing. Those inside of sports view the public as a nameless mass without the experience or knowledge required to make it onto the team let alone the practice squad.
I am generalizing here and for this post, I am ok with that.
There are many things that I can say about what's happened, but folks smarter than me, more experienced than me will do that.
I will say this.
No practice or sport or trophy is worth losing a life over. If you believe that your entire season hinges on one single practice, then I believe with 100 percent certainty that your training plan and practice plan are garbage and you need to start over. You need to sit down and reexamine your attitude and approach.
Accidents can and will happen. And having an emergency plan is no guarantee that when it hits the fan, things won't go wrong. No one wants them to happen, but they do and you do the very best you can when everything goes upside down.
But negligence? That is a choice. That is a result of a series of choices that were avoidable and clearly demonstrate you either did your worst, or you simply didn't care enough to make better choices.
What happened at Maryland is tragic, and what the fallout will be will lend more adjectives to the situation. The comments made by Will Muschamp, head football coach at South Carolina are deplorable and in my opinion, illustrate a definite gap between the athletics world and reality. The follow up press conference simply reinforced his original statement and stance.
Too often the public and those involved in sports view each other as unequal. Those outside of sports believe that they can do a better job coaching, recruiting, representing the sport or program than those who are currently involved in those three aspects are doing. Those inside of sports view the public as a nameless mass without the experience or knowledge required to make it onto the team let alone the practice squad.
I am generalizing here and for this post, I am ok with that.
There are many things that I can say about what's happened, but folks smarter than me, more experienced than me will do that.
I will say this.
No practice or sport or trophy is worth losing a life over. If you believe that your entire season hinges on one single practice, then I believe with 100 percent certainty that your training plan and practice plan are garbage and you need to start over. You need to sit down and reexamine your attitude and approach.
Accidents can and will happen. And having an emergency plan is no guarantee that when it hits the fan, things won't go wrong. No one wants them to happen, but they do and you do the very best you can when everything goes upside down.
But negligence? That is a choice. That is a result of a series of choices that were avoidable and clearly demonstrate you either did your worst, or you simply didn't care enough to make better choices.
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