Bradley Patterson's parents must have been proud when they learned their son had made the University of North Alabama's football team as a walk-on. Patterson joined the team as a long snapper four weeks into last season.
His parents must have been equally humiliated when their son was kicked off said team on Sunday night - via Twitter of all things.
All of the major broadcast networks pre-empted regular programming on Sunday night to air remarks from President Barack Obama at an interfaith service held in honor of the victims of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.
NBC would usually air Sunday Night Football, but a national tragedy involving so many lost children took precedent over touchdowns and playoff positioning. Patterson expressed his frustration through social media and sent out the following tweet:
(Warning: This post implies the statement of a racial slur. The quote appears for informational purposes only and is not intended to condone or glorify any such behavior).
"Take that n***** off tv, we wanna watch football!"
Patterson must not have known that University of North Alabama athletic director Mark Linder was on Twitter Sunday night as well. Several re-tweets alerted Linder to Patterson's message. The athletic director responded with a tweet of his own:
"Thx 2 everyone who brought the inappropriate tweet to our attention. @UNAAthletics does not condone. He is no longer a member of the team."
Just like that, Patterson's football career at North Alabama was over. Some people will probably say Patterson should have never expressed his feelings over Twitter. True, but Patterson and the thousands like him who send out similar tweets have a bigger problem.
They don't respect their teams, universities, parents, communities or their country. Many of the principles of sportsmanship - respect, civility, integrity, and fair play - can be applied to life in general.
When Patterson sent out that tweet, he thought he was thumbing his nose at the president. In reality, he thumbed his nose at the parents who taught him right from wrong, the coaches who believed in him enough to let him play, and the teammates who competed with him.
President Obama wasn't on talking about the fiscal cliff or who he's going to nominate for Secretary of State. He was trying to comfort a room full of hurting parents and reassure a nation of frightened ones. There were bigger priorities than football.
Respect is neither earned nor given. It is a requisite quality of humanity. We cannot choose who to respect and who to disrespect. In doing so, we diminish their humanity and our own.
When our children are disrespectful, it reflects poorly on all of us. How many times have we seen a kid act out and wondered what's wrong with his parents, coaches or teachers?
We must do better as parents. Failure happens when your child becomes something others can do without. Until next time...
Be a Good Sport!
-Sol
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
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