Friday, Jul 10

Probably the most you will ever hear me say about any sport:

Although he played tennis, biked, and swam a mile every day for over half a century, my late father was not a sports fan. I don’t believe he ever watched any sport – live or on television. The one sports fact that he knew – and often included in sermons – was that Sandy Koufax wouldn’t play in the World Series on Yom Kippur. When he heard that Michael Jordan was retiring, he casually mentioned to me that Michael Jackson was retiring. He really didn’t know anything about sports. He did, however, know about sportsmanship. “If you lose,” he would say, “you congratulate the winner, not begrudgingly but sincerely. Maybe next time it will be your turn to win, but for now, be gracious.”

He also taught us that sportsmanship is not only about sports. It’s about being clean in life. Integrity is everything. Honesty is paramount. There was once a very impressive political candidate whom my father supported wholeheartedly. When it was revealed that the candidate had been involved in an extra marital affair, my dad immediately stopped his support. “But you like his politics,” I reasoned with him. “Why wouldn’t you vote for him?” My dad replied, “If someone behaves unethically in his personal life, you can’t trust him to behave ethically in other areas of life.” His message was always clear, unequivocal, that honesty comes first. Better to lose honestly than to win by cheating. With that in mind, I can’t help but think that my dad would have been interested and outraged by a particular sports development this past week.

Those of you who read my most recent post know that the World Cup is an enormous event in my household. This week was very exciting as we rooted for Canada (our resident country), England (my husband’s country of origin), and USA (my country of origin). Canada lost while we watched, so they’re out. Sadness, of course, but our household was still cheering for two other countries. Onward.

In the USA match, a player got a Red Card. A Red Card is what the referee gives in response to any number of unacceptable actions. The penalized player is immediately ousted from the game, his team must then finish the match with one less player (which is an enormous handicap when you’re trying to defend against the other team), and the offending player is barred from playing in the next match or longer. It’s a pretty severe disciplinary penalty, but you take your lumps and move on. Folarin Balogun got a Red Card and left the pitch (that’s “field” in soccer lingo). Miraculously, the USA won that match in spite of having fewer players. What a celebration!

The next day, a similar situation in the England match. England’s Jarell Quansah got a Red Card, barring him from playing the next two games, which is really unfortunate for Jolly Old England, perhaps a bit less jolly than usual but still hopeful.

But then a surprise twist. The USA’s red card was suddenly suspended, allowing Balogun to play in subsequent games after all. How did this happen? Unbelievably (to me), US President Trump phoned Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA (that’s the organization that runs the World Cup) and requested a review, as he didn’t think the Red Card was a legitimate call. So guess what — it was rescinded.

I can’t decide what the worst part of this was.
1. The US President interfering (There’s separation of Church & State. Where’s the separation of Sports & State?)
2. The FIFA President kowtowing (since when does a sports leader have to take orders from someone outside of the sports world?)
3. The US Coach and/or the governing body of the US National Soccer team accepting the new ruling and having Balogun actually playing in the next match. The honourable thing to do would have been to sit out on principle and let someone take his place.
4. When the USA, with all of its players, lost spectacularly to Belgium, I was relieved and glad. How awful is that?! When something’s not clean, the experience is marred.

This week reminded us that good sportsmanship goes well beyond the field, the pitch, the rink, the court, and the chessboard. Good sportsmanship is in our day-to-day lives. It’s about being clean in all we do. It’s about having integrity and doing the right thing. Yes, everybody loves a winner, but sorry, if the win isn’t fair, why bother playing? Good sportsmanship is the first step to Tikun Olam, making the world a better place.

Shabbat Shalom (and go England)!