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When Michigan and Ohio State play a football game you know it will be a hard-fought battle. The 2024 contest was what we expected from those two programs. Though I am not a fan of either team I am a college football fan and appreciate a good rivalry game. This year's game was supposed to be an Ohio State blowout. Michigan was unranked at 6 and 5 and Ohio State was among the top teams at 10 and 1. The experts can talk all they want but the game is actually played on the field and, in this case the experts were wrong. The 19-point underdog Michigan was victorious. 

Even though it was a great game what everyone will be talking about is what happened after the game. The visiting Michigan team, after the game, of course, celebrated their hard-fought victory and Ohio State seemed a little stunned. During the post-game celebration, a Michigan player was running around, waving a big Michigan flag. The news reports said the Michigan player tried to plant the flag at midfield but I watched the video and all I saw was that Michigan player waving the flag, not trying to plant it. An Ohio State player pushed the Michigan player in the back and when the Michigan player turned around to confront the man another Ohio State player grabbed the flag and tore it off the staff. Maybe the Michigan celebration was a little over the top but today it seems all celebrations are a little over the top no matter what the sport is. What shocked me more than the celebration was the violence that the celebration was met by the Ohio State players. 

Is what happened after the game a reflection of what is happening in society? Just look how the majority of the Republican party would not admit that Trump lost the 2020 election. The Democrats were celebrating and the Republicans tried to rip that celebration away from them first, using the courts and then by attacking the Capitol. The world witnessed the ultimate poor sports behavior in Donald Trump. Trump and many Republicans still don't want to concede the 2020 election. This attitude that it is only a fair election when I win is just like it is only a fair game if I win. If I lose I will fight and claim I was cheated. In today's world, we are no longer humble in our victories or conciliatory in our defeats. What happens on the sports field is many times a reflection of the problems in our society in general. Not only do we seem to lack the wisdom of long gone generations but, we lack the class of them also. The days of two prize fighters shaking hands when it is all over and celebrating a good fight are long gone. 

Trump's Thanksgiving message was a great example of what is wrong with the country today. Trump posted, "Happy Thanksgiving to all, including to the Radical Left Lunatics who have worked so hard to destroy our Country, but who have miserably failed, and will fail, because their ideas and politics are so hopelessly bad that the great people of our Nation just gave a landslide victory to those who want to Make America Great Again. Don't worry, our Country will soon be respected, productive, fair, and strong, and you will be, more than ever before, proud to be an America." This message is like planting your flag in the middle of your opponent's logo at midfield. It is a message of ultimate disrespect that lacks the class of someone deserving of the highest office in the land. Can you imagine Reagan or Obama posting a message like that? How about John Kennedy or George H. W. Bush? I can't imagine any of them showing so much disrespect to almost half of the country. Not only was it an in our face type of message but it was also a lie. Less than 50 percent of the voters actually voted for Trump. Trump's margin of victory was one of the smallest in the history of our nation. This is not a man that wants a strong and fair America, this is a man that wants to weaken us more by dividing us more than we already are. If you think otherwise you are just lying to yourself. If you keep punching your opponent after you have already won it just shows how classless you are. 

One of the classiest football players that I ever saw was the great Barry Sanders of the Detroit Lions. When he would score a touchdown you didn't see him spike the ball or do some dance or fancy celebration. He was never in the face of his opponent. He let his play do the talking for him. He would just hand the ball to the Referee and trot to the sidelines. Just about the classiest politician I ever witnessed was the great John McCain. He gave a concession speech when he conceded the election to Barack Obama to not complain or divide the nation. He gave a speech to unite the nation around his opponent. Those were men of class and distinction who deserved to be honored in history. 



Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 5, 2024 at 10:11 AM

    I'm rooting for Oregon! Don't know how they'll do against beefier opponents but I'm looking forward to their game against Penn State this weekend!

    ReplyDelete

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