Tuesday, April 02, 2019

Unsportmanlike or not?




I know I have seen lots of discussion about this but was curious what you thought about the LSU sprinter's reaction after the race. Was it bad sportsmanship? Good for track? Thoughts?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was ready for it to be much ado about nothing, then watched the video and think that kid should be suspended for a meet or two. Very weak. Screaming in the other guy's face and bumping, just no.

Anonymous said...

Houston have done their own share of screaming/showboating, since their recent resurgence of sprinting success. Not surprising... But pretty impressive times by both teams. They might not even see each other again until nationals, based on how West Regionals teams are seeded.

Albert Caruana said...

To me when I first saw the video, I thought the LSU sprinter was totally out of line. I don't know the whole backstory but that would make sense if Houston has chirped before and this was a response to an earlier race. I am not saying it's right but that might have been the impetus.

I think this is one of those situations where people take one side or the other and feel like they are totally right in how they feel.

I hope we don't see anything like that in high school and that Houston anchor deserves some credit for not reacting in any way after the race.

Anonymous said...

Houston did the same thing last year. This is minor... in hockey you drop the cloves. In baseball they charge the mound. I see nothing wrong here.

Anonymous said...

I think it was the epitome of bad taste — tacky, inappropriate and downright ignorant.

Anonymous said...

It's only an issue because it was a black guy, you know, a thug. If it was a white guy the headline would have been "Youthful Exuberance."

Albert Caruana said...

I hope that's not the case.

Dan T. said...

Ummm no, if it was my son, I would have pulled him off the track personally. You are part of a team, representing a school. Raise your hands, whoop it up, get excited, but no excuse getting in the guys face and purposely bumping in to him.

Patrick D said...

Other sports has rules against this, for very good reason. Moving into someone else's space to stare them down, show them up, make your point that you dominated them, etc. is what leads to confrontations that are not sportsmanlike. I agree with the previous comment: have fun, go crazy jump up and down, celebrate your team but it seems unwise to accept this behavior as good for the sport.

Patrick D said...

I think it's fine to celebrate your accomplishments but to move into another persons line/lane, stare them down, make a point that you dominated them is what leads to fruitless confrontations. By definition, that is not sportsmanlike. Other sports have rules agains this and for good reason.

Anonymous said...

Interfering (incidental or not) with your opponent during the race, during exchange or between exchanges is definitely subject to DQ. I think the subjective nature of a DQ based on unsportsmanlike reasons is dangerous. Individuals and ethnicities have different ways of celebrating. If they were to make contact with someone else during these celebrations, would be subject to DQ in my opinion. Good thread.

Anonymous said...

So...Houston screams, too, have done it in the past. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter what the back story is either. And the analogy to hockey is specious. Hockey is a contact, aggressive sport.

The conduct, for whatever reason, is inappropriate, and I agree that he should be suspended, but even further than that. The physical bumping, going into the other lane is beyond taunting. The team should have been DQ'd for unsportsmanlike conduct, but yes, we live in the day that we tolerate everything.

The comment at April 03, 2019 10:37 AM is a non sequitur and ridiculous.

Albert Caruana said...

I wasn't implying that if Houston has done this before that it's OK what the LSU anchor did. I am just saying that is why he may have reacted that way. Still not OK.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately the comments here are another example of white people trying to control black people and not understanding their culture. As a person of color there is systematic racism that would never cross your mind. Two brothers bump chests and white people are acting like two ghetto boys pulled out guns. Stop passing judgement because it doesn’t fit your white washed world.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous April 04, 2019 8:19 PM

Jump to conclusions much? It sounds like your comment might be directed toward me, amongst others, as I posted a couple of days ago calling out this behavior as the epitome of bad taste. Not that it matters, but I am commonly described as “bi-racial” (being of African-American and Irish-American descent). You want to tell me I don’t know about African-American culture? I’ll have you know that my 75 year old African-American granny would have run onto the track to smack me upside the head for “acting a fool” if I behaved as the LSU sprinter did. Certain behaviors are just inappropriate and calling it out as such is not a form of “racism”. It’s actually QUITE racist of you to presume the race and cultural orientation of an anonymous internet poster.

(Aside to Albert: if you chose not to post this comment, that’s fine with me. I apologize for hijacking this thread. I just needed to type out that comment, regardless of whether or not it’s published. Thanks.)

Anonymous said...

What about Wallace Spearmon at the Texas Relays when he looked to the crowd as he won the 4x100? Usain Bolt as he celebrated 5 meters before the finish at the Olympics?

Most other sports have their own form of showboating after succeeding. I get that physically contacting an opponent is a major concern but in the heat of the moment, especially between rivals, emotions take over and it's nice to see some fire of that in a sport that rarely gets appreciated (at least in the U.S).

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