SPORTS SCENE
SO MANY LESSONS LEARNED
by Bryan Houston
So much has taken place since we last met. But in that time, while covering some major sports stories, I’ve learned and relearned some lessons. Let me share...
1. A few bad apples do spoil the whole bunch. The LSU Tigers overcame a number of player suspensions, including one that sidelined starting senior QB Jordan Jefferson for the first month of the season, to put together one of the greatest regular seasons in college football history. 13-0 while beating 8 top 25 teams and winning the SEC Championship. But when they got into the BCS National Championship against Alabama, they got their heads handed to them by Alabama, 21-0. That the Tigers overcame so much selfishness and immaturity for so long is amazing, but it finally caught up with them at the worst possible time. The character of the Alabama players was too much for the “characters” at LSU. We were also reminded that when you have two quarterbacks, you really have
none. Especially when one of the QB’s, Jefferson, showed his leadership skills, or lack of, by getting into a bar fight two weeks before the start of the season. This mess stained a great season and carried over into the Tigers’ recruiting, as they lost three of the top players in Louisiana. Les Miles let the inmates run the asylum this year and it cost them a national championship. 2.“Kids would be great if it wasn’t for parents.” My head football coach told me this back in 1975 and in my experience covering sports over the years, truer words have never been spoken. Recently a very successful girls basketball coach was indefinitely suspended in mid-season because of “harsh treatment” of his players. The only reason I’ve seen for why the coach was suspended was
that he “yelled” at his players. SHOCKING! Many players and parents have since voiced their support for the coach. Full disclosure, before I made the decision to devote myself to broadcasting, I went to school to become a coach and teacher. Many of my best friends are coaches. I sympathize with them. They are only expected to be a surrogate parent, disciplinarian, make sure their athletes are in the classroom… and win every game or get fired. I have no inside knowledge of the situation, but my guess, based on 30 years of covering sports, is that an influential parent didn’t like it when his child got yelled at, and made enough of a stink that action was taken against the coach. If the coach crossed the line and was truly verbally abusive, then maybe the action was appropriate. But based on the
reaction of his supporters and others, it doesn’t sound like this was the case. What I have observed are parents who get much too involved in their children’s activities. The coach yelled at their kid, and they took action. Great. But how exactly did that help their child learn anything about dealing with personality conflict or adversity in general? When their child is an adult and gets yelled at by a boss, will mommy and daddy rush in and get that mean old supervisor fired? Good luck with that. Then what? Mom and Dad, you need to let coaches do their job. You need to sit in the stands and cheer words of encouragement to the team. You don’t need to be at every practice. News flash: your child doesn’t want you there. It puts undue pressure on them. Do you think your presence is going to ensure they get more playing time? What kind of message does that send to your child and the rest of the team? Also, if you insist on offering “instruction,” it will most likely conflict with what the coach is telling them to do. And as my 14 year old son tells me, it “creeps him out” when parents are at every practice. 3.We close with this question. Do you think Jerry Jones learned any lessons from the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants about running a championship organization? One can only hope... **Bryan Houston is in his fifth decade in broadcasting, first as a music radio disc jockey, then as a play-by-play announcer, TV sportscaster and finally a TV news anchor in the East Texas area since 1991. Now he’s returned to his roots. Sports and Radio. Bryan is the sports director and host of Bryan Houston’s Sports Radio Live on 93.3 TALK FM, Monday through Friday from 3-6p.m.