By Ronald N. Guy Jr.
Youth is positive and innocent. It sees mostly the good – in the world, people and sports. I was 13 when my athletic hero, Maryland’s
Len Bias, died of cocaine intoxication.
It hurt, but I attributed his death to a mistake made by a kid digesting
a suddenly complex world. Drug use and
Bias didn’t coalesce in my mind. His
dunks, All-American honors and two ACC Player of the Year awards were what I’d
remember; the drug use and his death were terrible and tragic footnotes.
I am much older now and my perspective, on Bias and sports
in general, has changed. My
unchallenged youthful optimism has been partially compromised by cynicism –
scars left by an imperfect world. Bias
still holds a place in my heart, but I remember a basketball program run amuck
and an athletic department brought to its knees as much as the on-court
brilliance of my favorite player.
There were more insults.
Pete Rose happened. I got his
autograph shortly after his book My Story was released. It was a fraud’s tale. I lived through the steroid era: first in
track and field, then in baseball.
Remember Tim Donaghy? He was an
NBA referee…until doing time for betting on NBA games. The head football coach at the University of
Central Florida, George O’Leary, lost the same job at Notre Dame in 2001 after
lying about his football accolades and listing a Master’s degree he never
earned on his bio.
I could go on, but that’ll do. I am cynical, not jaded - there is too much good in the world of
sports for that. And I got a dose of
goodness last week from an unlikely source: an awards show.
The Emmys, Oscars, American Music Awards, etc. - I revile
these things. They are contrived,
style-dominant and substance lacking.
Every now and then someone like Esperanza Spalding shocks the world and
wins a Grammy for Best New Artist, but award shows are mostly self-indulgent
ego strokes, beauty pageants for the most popular movies, television shows,
actors, songs and musicians. And then
the 2014 ESPY Awards (ESPN’s Oscar’s for the sports world) stilled my cynical
heart.
There was plenty of pandering to the popular but these ESPYS
offered three substantive moments not soon forgotten. The first ever Pat Tillman Award was given to Josh Sweeney, a
Marine who stepped on an IED in Afghanistan in 2009 and lost his legs. No matter…he scored the gold-medal-winning
goal in sledge hockey at the Olympics this winter. In a word: resilient.
The annual Arthur Ashe Award was given to Michael Sam, the
NFL’s first openly gay player. His
speech included this quote from Ashe: “Start where you are, use what you have
and do what you can.” Needless to say,
Sam is doing what he can to tear down stereotypes and thwart prejudice. In a word: courage.
The third poignant moment was ESPN’s recognition of one of
its own, long-time “Sportscenter” anchor Stuart Scott, with the Jimmy V
Award. I knew Scott had cancer. I didn’t know he was diagnosed seven years
ago or the depth of his medical challenges (which he very bluntly
described). I also didn’t know he was
the father of two beautiful daughters, a fact that put a knot in this father’s
throat. His speech was proud and defiant,
but also vulnerable and resigned. He
spoke, as Coach Valvano once did, of never giving up and of living life on his
terms. But he also admitted to needing
others to help him fight on days when the disease temporarily broke his
will. It was a brutally honest glimpse
into the world of a cancer patient. It
was, in a word, unforgettable.
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