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The Science of "Poor Sports"

Have you ever flipped through the papers or surfed the net, and come across one of those new “studies” released by scientists revealing their latest discoveries to the world?

For the most part, their work does further the advancement of humanity. You know, like curing cancer and stuff. There are others however, that make you wonder why on earth a scientist would get involved in such a pile of bushwa in the first place, and even more to the point, you wonder who is paying them for it.

Studies like: "Caffeine, sleeplessness linked in teenagers;" “People on low-carb diets are more irritable;” and “Heavy social drinkers exhibit the same amount of brain damage as alcoholics.”

In other words, scientists have spent millions of dollars on confirming the following:

College students drink caffeine to stay up late at night to study or party and subsequently get little sleep; people are pissed off when they can't eat almost three-quarters of all foods they used to eat. And finally, people who booze to access suffer the same effects as those who booze to access.

Well, here’s another.

A professor spent 17 years and who knows how many taxpayer dollars to discover something that every sports fan knows, and didn’t need proven:

Athletes do a whole bunch of bad stuff - and they really don't really give a crap about it.

Sharon Stoll, a professor at the University of Idaho, has concluded that a great many jocks are "deficient in moral reasoning."
As in, they are spoiled brats, and don’t think the same rules apply to them as the rest of us.

Seventeen years.

For that.

Does this scream out, “and still no cure for cancer” or what!

Her research found that members of male sports teams scored lower in morals than individual sport athletes and that the longer they competed in sports, the more morally calloused male athletes become.

"In sport we have moved away from honorable behavior," Stoll said in the Seattle Times.

Over the length of the study, 72,000 athletes filled out questionnaires designed to measure their moral reasoning.
Stoll believes that there is more emphasis on winning at all costs and material rewards, than that old-school nonsense like sportsmanship, fair play and not cheating.

Seventeen years is a long time to study anything, but reaching those conclusions wouldn’t have taken me 17-minutes.

Or, I suspect, any other sports fan for that matter.

Being a fan of sports requires us to put blinkers on to this pandemic behavior. Elite athletes are pampered almost from the first time they demonstrate their unique abilities. They are given free passes that few others are afforded both in school and socially.

They become egomaniacal from an early age, and there are few who have the ability to avoid the trap.

It’s not really their fault. It’s the system’s fault. But in the end, they are left as they are. Magnificent human beings physically – but occasionally - damaged goods.

For the end user, as in us, we cheer for the athletes. We marvel at their ability. We even sometimes weep at their failures – but only those on the field of play.

For their failures off the field, if they are due to their lack of Dr. Stoll’s moral compass, it’s all but impossible for most of us to be sympathetic.

How can we be? Looking in from the outside, all we see is someone who won the athletic lottery, is rich, famous and has it all - yet they’ve throw it all away.

If scientists are going to insist in studying sports, instead of focusing in on the patently obvious, how about spending time on something that can actually benefits folks.

Like how to perfect a five game parlay.

Cheers – Gavin McDougald – AKA Couch

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NHL Futures are here - who will win the Stanley Cup?!

ATLANTA (AP) - The Atlanta Braves celebrated No. 14 like it was the first. For all those rookies, it was.

With a youthful, joyful exuberance that was there way back in 1991 - when it all started - the Braves wrapped up their 14th straight division title on Tuesday night.

And what a party it was, especially for Jeff Francoeur. The rookie got tackled on the field by Chipper Jones, stuck his head in an ice bin and got taken down again by Jones in the clubhouse.

"Let me at him!" Francoeur mockingly screamed.

He was held back by Marcus Giles, who is eight inches shorter and 45 pounds lighter.

"It's not worth it," Giles said. "We're going all the way to Halloween. You can get him then."

The Braves actually clinched midway through a 12-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies, the title assured when the second-place Philadelphia Phillies lost to the New York Mets 3-2.

Manager Bobby Cox cleared his bench, finishing the game with a lineup that included eight rookies and second-year player Adam LaRoche.

That was only appropriate, considering the Braves have used 17 rookies during an amazing season in which they shrugged off injuries and breakdowns by several key players.

"This ranks right up there," said Cox, standing outside his office in a champagne-drenched T-shirt that proclaimed another NL East championship. "This goes back 14 years."

Clinching in style, Giles hit a pair of homers and LaRoche also homered.

"We knew we had clinched in the sixth," the 21-year-old Francoeur said. "But we wanted to win. We wanted to earn it."

After Atlanta became the second team to wrap up a title, following the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals, everyone gave credit to the rookies. Yep, even Andruw Jones, a leading candidate for MVP with 51 homers and 128 RBIs.

"Sure, I've had a good season," he said. "But without them, we wouldn't be here."

The celebration at Turner Field took a while to get going. The Braves had just finished off a four-run fifth inning, giving them a 7-1 lead, when the Mets finished off Philadelphia.

A smattering of fans apparently learned of the Phillies' loss via cell phone or other means, clapping as soon as Bobby Abreu struck out. "Let's go Mets!" one man yelled. A tomahawk-chopping woman held up a handmade "2005" sign above the left-field seats, right next to the official pennants detailing each of the Braves' playoff seasons.

But most of the crowd was apparently in the dark. The out-of-town scoreboard merely showed the Mets leading 3-2 in the eighth. Even after the Rockies were retired in the top of the sixth, there was no mention of the division title.

Instead, the Braves showed the "Kiss Cam" on their massive centre-field scoreboard - encouraging couples to kiss when the camera turned on them.

In the bottom half, Giles hit his second homer, a two-run shot, to give the Braves a 9-3 lead. When the Rockies made a pitching change, the crowd passed the time singing "YMCA."

Finally, as Chipper Jones stepped into the box, the public address announcer revealed the news.

Mets 3, Phillies 2.

The celebration was on. The crowd of 25,306 gave the Braves a standing ovation, and several fans broke out signs marking the occasion. "In case you didn't know - 14 in a row," one said. Two shirtless men had painted a "1" and a "4" on their chests.

After Jones struck out, Cox began pulling his starters. Rookie Kelly Johnson pinch-hit for Andruw Jones. Little-used Brayan Pena batted for Brian McCann.

After Pena came through with a bases-loaded double, pushing the lead to 12-3 before he was thrown out at third, Cox cleared his bench. Starting pitcher Tim Hudson (14-9) was replaced by Jim Brower. Rookies Pete Orr, Wilson Betemit and Andy Marte entered the game.

Even Eddie Perez, who missed most of the season with a shoulder injury, got in as a pinch hitter - his first appearance since May 18. The Braves came out of the dugout to clap for one of the team's most popular players. The crowd chanted, "Eddie! Eddie!"

"A lot of people ask me what was my best moment in baseball," said Perez, who was MVP of the 1999 NL championship series. "This was it. This was No. 1."

The Braves overcame all sorts of adversity to do what they always do - win the East.

When pitchers Mike Hampton and John Thomson went down with injuries, Atlanta dipped into its bullpen for journeyman Jorge Sosa, who had a career record of 11-26. He's 13-3 this season.

When aging outfielders Raul Mondesi and Brian Jordan failed to recapture their past form, the Braves turned to Francoeur and fellow rookies Johnson and Ryan Langerhans.

When Chipper Jones was sidelined by a foot problem, Betemit filled in ably. When new closer Dan Kolb didn't work out, the Braves traded for Kyle Farnsworth. When catchers Johnny Estrada and Perez were ailing, McCann came up from the minors.

If nothing else, this season showed off the philosophy that has carried the Braves to one of the most remarkable streaks in any sport. It's all about scouting and player development, which was evident in the clinching game.

Atlanta's lineup included three rookies and eight homegrown players, the only exception being Hudson. And even he grew up a Braves' fan in neighbouring Alabama.

The youngsters were right in the middle of a four-run fifth, which essentially finished off the Rockies. Francoeur beat out a bases-loaded dribbler to third, driving in one run. Langerhans and McCann followed with bases-loaded walks to make it 7-1.

Aaron Cook (6-2) took the loss, giving up eight hits and six earned runs in 4 2-3 innings.

"This is pretty special," Cox said. "When the rookies came up, the veterans turned it up a notch."

Together, they knew how to celebrate.