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Category Archives: Sportsmanship

Payton College Prep Team Gets Wise: “Will Not Play for that Coach”

04 Saturday May 2013

Posted by CAPCOM in Bad habits, Baseball, Bullying, Good citizenship, Government, Harassment, Illinois, Incident, Mass media, Mission Control, NASA, News Radio 780, Positive attitude, Professionalism, Public service, Schools, Social media, Sports, Sportsmanship

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Baseball, Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, NASA, University-preparatory school, Walter Payton College Prep

…and who can blame them?

Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs

Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

KIDS GET WISE TO THE WAYS OF THE WORLD

Today on News Radio WBBM of Chicago came the article relating that members of the Walter Payton College Prep baseball team are refusing to play for the present coach.

I say to that one rousing, cheering, “GOOD FOR YOU, YOUNG MEN!”

The team captain brought the word out and if he is a good example the rest of the members will follow and that coach will not have the support of the team as a whole or members of the school community. Nor should he have their support as far as continuing him on the staff of the school or allowing anyone to play on a team run by him. If he is being a bully he needs another kind of support.

It is hoped that the members of the Payton team will continue to set a good example, but they cannot do that unless they have first a new coach and second a full understanding of what happened between them and the folks of the Brooks College Prep community. A breakfast between members of the teams is a fine idea and was apparently a huge success, but it will take more than one shared meal of bacon, eggs, and pancakes to foster understanding and better relations.

To be good sports it is essential that you begin with the first quality of what it means to be a good citizen, and that is RESPECT FOR OTHERS. These days it should never, ever matter what someone looks like or what they dress like or what their living situation is. Proverbially you cannot judge the book by its cover, so why judge instantaneously on someone’s skin color, someone’s mode of dress, someone’s accessories or hairstyle or anything else that is so changeable and variable.

English: Team publicity photo for 1919 Chicago...

English: Team publicity photo for 1919 Chicago American Giants, an African American baseball team (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Respect for others means exactly that – showing civility, courtesy, and decency towards EVERYONE YOU MEET. Rules of civility and good manners have been written and discussed for centuries, so the topic remains important to the expansion of understanding of human behavior and interactions and societies. Respect for others also takes in the aspects of trustworthiness, accountability, honesty, service, duty, and responsibility, all of these essential aspects of being a good citizen.

Baseball is supposed to be fun after all, and the element of the sport of baseball is the team. By its very nature, the term “team” implies that more than one person is coming together to work on something and to accomplish a goal. In the case of getting out there and playing a baseball game, everything about being a good citizen comes together – the respect, the trust, the preparation, the duties. Each member is expected to show up, to work out, to prepare by stretching and warming up and batting practice and fielding practice. Each member should be expected to come looking professional, with hair trimmed, with clothes neat, with a clean uniform, with no offensive odors or the wearing of fragrances that could cause others to sneeze or have allergic reactions.

Once the members are assembled and the team meetings are over, when the practices are done and when the fans are gathering, that is when the rubber meets the road, or in this case when the batter’s feet touch base. When you are then in the presence of thousands of supporting fans, who have paid good money to come see you, who have driven, taken busses, maybe even flown in for the game, or walked to the ballpark; when you see them sitting back and eating the popcorn, the hot dogs, the sodas or the nachos or the corn dogs, then you know you have something to work for.

That goal is not only to win the game but to be good sports, win or lose. And even when you lose the game score -wise, you never really lose the chance to learn, now do you? There is always room for improvement, as my father reminds me every so often, and he is correct. No team is perfect, no person is perfect, no sports program is perfect and no baseball park is perfect, so those who play in and come to those venues must expect that certain things will happen. But to understand that, the teams have to come out and play and the fans have to come out and support them.

The International Space Station control room a...

The International Space Station control room at NASA’s Mission Control Center. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There can be no more of such incidents as have stained Chicago’s world of high school and college prep sports as happened the past few days. Fortunately there was an opening for reconciliation.

There is one recommendation I would make for everyone involved in Brooks and in Payton, and that is to study NASA’s Mission Control. All the principles spoken of in this article are there, and you will find them, but on a different level. The people who designed and built and tested and worked with Mission Control really had a brilliant idea, and believe it, this is more than space science.

Study it, learn about it, and apply those principles. President Kennedy gave us the ball to run with to work up the space program, and this nation took it, ran with it, and put a crew on the Moon. Mission Control then… Mission Control now.

THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.

Early baseball game played at Elysian Fields i...

Early baseball game played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey (lithograph by Currier and Ives) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Divi Logan, Chicago, 2013.

Related articles
  • Walter Payton students ask baseball coach to step down (wgntv.com)
  • Parent: Some Payton baseball players want beleaguered coach out (suntimes.com)
  • Controversy Over Forfeited Baseball Game (cltv.com)
  • Worried parents force cancellation of Payton-Brooks baseball game (suntimes.com)
  • GAME ON: After controversy over cancellation, Payton to play at Brooks on Saturday night (suntimes.com)
  • Mayor Emanuel exploits the kids of Brooks College Prep. (illinoisreview.typepad.com)
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College Prep Baseball: It’s Academic! Payton and Brooks to Meet

02 Thursday May 2013

Posted by CAPCOM in Bad habits, Baseball, Behavior, Chicago, Culture, Depression, Despair, Education, Good citizenship, Illinois, Mission Control, Positive attitude, Professionalism, Public school, Public service, School uniform, Schools, Sports, Sportsmanship, Teachers, Teamwork, Teenagers, WBBM Chicago, X-15

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Baseball, Chicago, Madison Street, Roosevelt Road, State Street, Walter Payton

COLLEGE PREP SCHOOLS CAN PREPARE STUDENTS FOR MORE THAN SPORTS.

Crossroads of the Chicago Address system

Crossroads of the Chicago Address system (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well now, the players from Chicago -area schools Walter Payton and Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory academies are going to sit down to breakfast together before their game this weekend.

Now this is a story that is so convoluted it is hard to believe the people on the Payton side of the issue. First the Payton people said it was a “safety” issue, and everyone jumped all over that one (so transparent it was not hard to see what the REAL thought train was), and then it was AP exams, then it was a “transportation” concern.

So you spoiled folk could not get a charter bus to get to the stadium? Sure. Ever heard of a carpool or hiring a van or taking a train and then some cabs perhaps? I mean come on; if you want to get someplace you CAN and WILL get there. And as to chartering a bus or one of those large limousine vehicles, there are enough companies around here with busses and coaches and limos to accommodate anyone. If they can handle conferences and the airports and the bus stations they can surely find a bus or a large van to handle a baseball team’s travel logistics.

Also, you Payton people seriously dissed the people of the Ninth Ward and Alderman Beale and the entire school population of Brooks. You snubbed an entire community and smeared the culture of academics and sports because of a few places that have been in the news as violent or as tough parts of town.

Of course you know that the moment you cross one inch south of the intersection of Madison and State Streets in the Loop you are on the “south side”. Just look at the address numbers. The “south side” does not start at Roosevelt Road and State Street; it starts the moment you cross south of Madison Street in the Loop. And do not get the mistake of thinking that the “north side” is perfect; violent events happen on the “north side” too if you pay enough attention to the news.

Well, what now, Brooks side? After you have breakfast with the Payton players will you continue to want them off your schedule for good? Will this meeting over a meal help smooth out the situation and get everyone on good terms again, where you can focus on being good sports and on what baseball means and what being part of a team can do for everyone involved? I think you would be good sports and visit the Payton people on their home grounds even though the “north side” can be a violent and disturbing area of town. I also hope that when the game happens you beat the stew out of Payton and send them packing, tails tucked, with something like a score of 20 to 0. Get those base hits, get those home runs, get those pitches in there for strikes and when you get a hit run it out hard! RUN IT OUT, gentlemen, and run them right back north with the shouts of your victory echoing in their ears.

Everyone can learn from what has happened between Payton and Brooks schools; every person in Chicago can wake up and take a close look and understand what the situation meant and what can be done to make sure nothing like this happens again.

Divi Logan, Chicago, ©2013.

 

Related articles
  • Worried parents force cancellation of Payton-Brooks baseball game (suntimes.com)
  • Controversy Over Forfeited Baseball Game (cltv.com)
  • What Led Payton Prep To Cancel Game On South Side? (chicago.cbslocal.com)
  • Players from Payton, Brooks to meet at breakfast Friday at CPS headquarters (suntimes.com)
  • GAME ON: After controversy over cancellation, Payton to play at Brooks on Saturday night (suntimes.com)
  • Controversy Over Forfeited Baseball Game (wgntv.com)
  • Mayor Slides Into Middle Of High School Baseball Controversy (chicago.cbslocal.com)
  • Education Experts Question CPS Clout List Kept Under The Duncan Administration (progressillinois.com)
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