Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
We talk a lot about hate these days.
Unfortunately, the conversations about hate rarely get anywhere constructive, because the definition of “hate” has changed in the last 10 years.
For thousands of years, hate was really easy to identify, and the perpetrators of hate were uniformly chastised for their attitude and actions.
Not anymore.
“Hate” is on the list of things that a certain segment of the population has evolved into something in the eye of the beholder.
In other words, “hate” is what each person decides it is, and each person decides what it isn’t.
How that plays out in the practical is this: If you don’t agree with my point of view, you hate me.
It’s ridiculous.
When it comes to sports, there is hate there, too. In sports, it looks different than out in regular society…or at least it should.
We all understand that there are some people who cross the line and can’t separate sports and reality and they carry out what’s in their hearts and it looks ugly.
We see this in videos of fans at sporting events participating in full-on brawls, both in the stands and while exiting the seating areas at the end of a contest.
I am almost 100-percent certain that level of hate receives its fuel from alcohol consumption. I recall the phrase I always used when reading news stories on the air during my various stints as news director: “Alcohol may have been a contributing factor in that incident.”
What I am talking about is sports-related hate.
I am talking about how Michigan and Ohio State people feel about each other.
I am talking about how Packers fans and Bears fans feel about each other.
I am talking about how the fans of the Red Sox and Yankees feel about each other.
You get my point.
I hate the Brewers. I do.
I hate New York and Los Angeles-based teams. I do, very unashamedly.
I hate LeBron James.
I hate Aaron Rodgers.
I hate Tom Brady and I hate the Patriots.
I hate both Michigan AND Ohio State.
As an Argos soccer alum, I hate Culver Military Academy.
But that’s sports hate, not real-life hate.
If Lebron walked into the room I was in today, I would gladly stand up and shake his hand and engage in as much of a conversation as he would be open to participating in.
It wouldn’t change my overall feeling—I’d still want him to lose every game he plays in, and I’d tell him that to his face. But I owe him something for what he’s accomplished and his position in sports history.
In other words, I would show him respect, because he’s earned that.
As a matter of fact, every one of the people and teams I just listed (oh, and there are more…I didn’t forget about you Cardinal fans!) are people and teams I hope go 0-for-their seasons. I hope they never win again. Like, I hope they lose every day to their kids in checkers.
You get the point.
And it doesn’t matter who does puffy news pieces on how good these people are outside of the arena, I still don’t have to like them, I don’t have to cheer for them and I don’t have to celebrate them.
I do, however, have to respect them.
And that’s where the line of all of this is.
Here’s an example: growing up in Argos and now broadcasting Warsaw sports, there is a common thread that runs through those two communities—sports hate for Plymouth.
We don’t like them and they don’t like us.
But do you know how many people from Plymouth made a special trip up to the press box Friday to say hello, to hug me, to congratulate me on my Hall of Fame induction? A lot!
They know how I feel about their teams and I know how they feel about ours. That’s what makes a rivalry a rivalry!
But if they said “come eat with us after the game” I would race to pack up my equipment and get there as soon as I could.
The joke about that says, “well, Jesus ate meals with sinners, I could eat a meal with Plymouth fans.” I am sure it’s said the other way in Marshall County.
Silly, right?
It’s about respect and perspective.
We’ve lost it in politics and in a lot of society in general.
Hate your foe, but make sure it’s sports hate, and nothing more than that.
