“Sports aren’t that important.” We cling to those words, or some approximation, when the aftermath of a game turns ugly.
The latest catalyst for turning to these words of wisdom is England’s loss to Italy on penalty kicks in the final of soccer’s European Championships. Three Black players missed PKs for England, and what’s happened since has been regrettable.
To be clear: The racist abuse of Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho is 100% unacceptable and not to be tolerated or excused. It’s yet another argument to make participants in social media use their real identities. Anonymity equals cowardice and extremism.
But sports are that important.
Teams are worth billions.
TV rights are sold for billions.
Athletes make millions and are societal influencers well beyond their performance.
International competitions like the European Championships and the imminent Tokyo Summer Olympics make the world wave its flags in the name of sport.
So don’t blithely say that “sports aren’t that important” when an individual knows an unpleasant moment.
Sports are that important. Rightly or wrongly, individuals have been chewed up and spit out by sports since we started keeping score. That won’t change.
An own goal cost Colombia soccer player Andres Escobar his life when he was murdered after the 1994 World Cup. Bill Buckner’s error to blow the 1986 World Series haunted him until his death in 2019. Steve Bartman is a civilian, but has been in de facto seclusion since his fan interference led to the Chicago Cubs blowing the 2003 NL Championship Series.
Whether they should be or not, sports are that important. It’s not just a game.
One sports TV show mooted whether soccer should eschew penalty kicks to decide games that are tied after 90 minutes because the pressure on individuals taking them is too intense. That’s exactly the point of taking PKs: To see who can handle it, and who can’t.
Two Italian players missed Sunday: Andrea Belotti and Jorginho. But nobody’s going to remember that because Italy won, and because Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma bailed them out — just like the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger saved teammate Jerome Bettis from being football’s Buckner by making a shoestring tackle after Bettis fumbled at Indianapolis’ goal line in the playoffs that followed the 2005 NFL season.
If the Steelers lose that game, Bettis is a pariah.
But the Steelers won, and went on to win that season’s Super Bowl. So Bettis is beloved.
That’s the fickle nature of sports.
Rashford, Saka and Sancho blew England’s chance at a first major championship since winning the World Cup in 1966. They will carry that around forever, because sports are that important.
The real goat for England is manager Gareth Southgate, who subbed in Rashford and Sancho in the dying seconds of extra time specifically to take penalties.
Rashford is 23, Sancho 21. They came in cold off the bench. They barely played in the tournament. England would have been better served with more experienced players who had invested in that game taking penalties. It was an unfair burden on Rashford and Sancho.
Furthermore, England turned ultra-conservative after taking a 1-0 lead on a second-minute goal and after dominating play for 20 minutes. That’s on Southgate, too.
Rashford, Saka and Sancho will have to deal with missing those penalties for the rest of their lives. Sports are that important.
Rashford, in particular, is an admirable young man. He has worked tirelessly and raised/contributed millions to fight homelessness and child hunger in England.
But he still missed that penalty. Nothing can erase that. Sports are that important. Saying otherwise when it’s convenient is stupid.
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July 14, 2021 at 09:06PM
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Mark Madden: Sports are important, even in wake of unacceptable fan behavior - TribLIVE
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