Editor’s note: This commentary is by Jim Higgins, a freelance writer and retired public school teacher. It was first published in the Times Argus on Dec. 6 as Higgins’ regular sports column. Reprinted by permission.
[T]he impending Age of Trump might also go down as the Age of Impetuosity if our tweeter-in-chief-elect sticks to his well-known impulsive behavior patterns.
What’s the sports linkage here?
Simple. If our president-elect continues to lower the bar on civility once he’s installed in the White House — the world’s greatest bully pulpit — it’s quite likely that impulsive public speaking and behavior will gain a new acceptability. At that point I fear the seepage might reach down to our young athletes.
We have already seen what impulsiveness produces in scholastic sports.
Several years ago there was the rash of brutish behaviors reported at Burr and Burton in hockey and lacrosse where the number of ejections and game suspensions resulted in the Vermont Principals’ Association stepping in to chill things out.
Before that Spaulding boys’ soccer got themselves called before the VPA to account for a spike in yellow and red cards.
In basketball there was that frightening incident about four years ago when a Rice guy took out an airborne Spaulding player with a linebacker-like shot to his lower back. That hit went viral and resulted in Rice suspending the perp.
These schools righted their ships, but people took serious note.
Those are the kinds of behaviors I’m talking about, borne of impulsiveness and executed by strong and fast athletes.
The fights and impulsive cheap shots are rampant, more so, I believe than ever before. It sometimes appears like non-stop road rage out there.
Anecdotally, I hear from a number of sources this past fall’s football and soccer season was “about average” in terms of penalties and disciplinary actions.
Now, with high collision hockey begun, along with lower impact but equally intense basketball soon in the mix it will be particularly interesting to observe any Age of Trump trending changes in behavior, especially of the impulsive and retaliatory kind.
I mentioned the negative role modeling we might witness at the national leadership level which might seep down to affect sports behaviors, but right now high-stakes collegiate and NFL football and pro hockey fuels the fire quite effectively.
The fights and impulsive cheap shots are rampant, more so, I believe than ever before. It sometimes appears like non-stop road rage out there.
Even the staid Wall Street Journal has chimed in. Columnist Bob Greene noted in last Saturday’s paper, “The nomenclature of warfare that college football has appropriated for itself is ridiculous. Coaches as field generals?…”
Of course, Vermont has many counterweights to negative shifts in the behavior of athletes, starting with corps of referees whose very jobs are imperiled if they gain a rep for losing control of games.
Most, but not all, Vermont coaches I have observed over the years are also quick to nip rising tensions before the retaliatory impulse take over.
Perhaps the biggest counterweight is the low-stakes nature of Vermont sports. The number of D-1 collegiate scholarships awarded Vermont athletes is typically miniscule, although in the heat of any game – especially with the collision sports — random rage is possible in a heartbeat.
The reason I bring this subject up now is that something seems to have changed dramatically in the national mood. The spirit of the times is negative. It’s one of anger, fear, resentment and insecurity.
For those of us old enough to have come of age through the Vietnam War years, it’s a strikingly similar national temper.
But back then, we weren’t further stoked by a social media saturating us 24/7 with inflammatory “news.”
Not to mention the 16 million of us who daily receive provocative 3 AM tweets from our president-elect.
