Today many people in sports are discussing the unfortunate death of a Notre Dame student, but it's not a sports story. The fact that the young man was filming the football team is largely irrelevant. Work Place Safety is the phrase people should be discussing. Much of the anger at Notre Dame lies in deep-seeded dislike for the University not, in all cases, true outrage over the incident. The problem for Notre Dame is quite simple. Someone knew, someone had to know, someone gets paid to know better. That young man never should have been in that tower. Whether he was recording football practice or a theatre production, he... wait. He wouldn't have been up in a scissor lift in 50 mph winds for a play or a musical. Therein lies the sports story.
For generations Notre Dame has painted itself, not always inaccurately, as a special place, a different place. Sadly, they've proved they're very much like a lot of other places, they prioritized football over the safety of a student. Football is King. Some of the horror stories from the south have proven that over the years, but Notre Dame is supposed to be special. Where athletes room with regular students and academics and character stand for more than most. As tarnished as the UNC brand has become over the last several months, ND may have done even more damage.
Notre Dame bought into the overinflated sense of self-importance that football coaches and players carry around with them daily. Someone at Notre Dame who knew the dangers and risks involved with putting that young man in that scissor lift ignored both OSHA and manufacturer recommendations, regulations and warnings regarding high winds. All in the name of football. All in the name of a 4-4 football team that has an indoor practice facility.
That Jim Tressel, Ohio State's head coach, expressed concerns for his cameramen just a day prior will not help Notre Dame's case, but another instance from earlier this very year illustrates the football over safety mentality that coaches often operate under. The Denver Broncos had a practice in May (May people! May!) with high winds including gusts over 70 MPH and head coach Josh McDaniels noted that he was concerned about the cameraman in the swaying 30-foot-high scissor lift, but not enough to let him come down until after practice.
Football players have to constantly convince themselves of the importance of the "mission", how else could they willingly launch their bodies into the fray to take such physical abuse again and again. Coaches often have a similar mission first mindset that makes them appear callous and dismissive of things not directly related to the mission. Why do so many coaches not go out onto the field when a player is injured? Because they have to stay focused on the game plan, because an injured player cannot help with the task at hand, because they're the one who sent the young man onto the field where he was hurt, why? The reason certainly differs for all coaches, but there's an element of bravado, of not wanting to appear weak, of not wanting their other players to be concerned with their own safety. It's why players fight to get their helmets back after injuries, its why team doctors get yelled at by coaches for holding a kid out, it's why the very players whose lives could be made better after football by a rule designed to protect them rail against it. They believe winning football is the most important thing, even though in nearly all cases the impact of winning or losing is far greater in their mind than in actuality. It's part of the make-up needed by many to convince themselves to keep playing or coaching. Unfortunately, in Notre Dame's case someone was blinded by this football first mindset, that players and coaches need to be protected from in many cases, and it cost a young man his life. The accident isn't about sports, but it's all about sports too.
Thursday, October 28
The Negligence at Notre Dame is Not a Sports Story...
Monday, February 9
The Day Harangody's POY Chances Died
Pauly Pavilion has been home to plenty of history in its day, and the latest chapter was written on Saturday. Any chance Luke Harangody had of winning the 2009 Player of the Year disappeared. His numbers are comparable to Blake Griffin's and while his team was struggling, that the performances were equitable and he plays in a tougher conference would have some voters leaning his way. All that changed when the Fighting Irish played at UCLA and "the Goad" was held to five points on two of twelve from the field.
He's just the most recent POY candidate to be held in check to the point of single digits. Arizona State's James Harden was kept to just four points in a loss to USC. Tyler Hansbrough had only eight, when Carolina survived thanks to a buzzer beating 3-pointer by Ty Lawson at Florida State. Only a few of the POY candidates have avoided a single digit game, namely Jodie Meeks and Blake Griffin. With Meeks's team struggling through a three-game losing streak, his field goal percentage and chance at the award are slipping. While the award appears to be getting close to defaulting to Griffin, there's still another candidate that will garner some votes. Stephen Curry.
Stephen Curry was also victimized by a low no scoring night, thanks to Jimmy Patsos, but because his team still won by thirty he should feel no ill effects. With so many of the top candidates having rough patches during the season, Curry will become a fashionable choice. It's like people that claim Paul Giamatti is the country's best actor, not because of anything factual, but because he does independent and artsy films and it makes the person saying it feel superior, as if they are smarter than the average person who just can't appreciate that type of greatness. I love Steph Curry as much as the next guy, but it's a thin line between Kevin Martin and Steph Curry, and that line has a name: Jason Richards. Being paired with Richards (a NBA-caliber point guard) in the back court last season enabled Davidson's incredible run, and without that run Curry's name doesn't even enter the conversation. Curry's an incredible player, but if people were going to give Harangody the lean over Griffin because of conference, Griffin has to be extended the same courtesy.
