SPORT AND SOCIETY -- BROADCASTS

An archived directory of past broadcasts

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY OCTOBER 4, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



A remarkable baseball season came to a raucous close this past weekend casting several shadows over what should be glowing memories as we swing headlong into playoff baseball and the World Series. Any number of great stories, great achievements, and satisfying moments marked this season of record breaking hitting and home runs, and the Texas Rangers/Washington Senators finally reached post-season play.
Barry Bonds not only became the second player to join the forty-forty club, hitting forty home runs and stealing forty bases, he also set the National League record for walks in a season going over 150, and drove in 129 runs on a losing team. Across the Bay Mark McGuire and the A's hit home runs at a record pace and McGuire finished with 52 in his partial season.
Ken Camaniti of San Diego hit 40 home runs, batted .326, drove in 130 runs, and played sparkling defense to become a heavy favorite for MVP. In the American League the choice is less clear as front-runner Alex Rodriguez is not on a playoff team while Juan Gonzalez and Albert Belle are.
Cy Young is a bit more clear. Kevin Brown or John Schmoltz should win the National League, while Andy Pettitte seems to be a lock in the American League.
There were many more individual batting achievements in this year of the juiced ball, juiced ballparks, or just plain bad pitching. There were fewer individual achievements on the pitching side but three stand out: David Cone's comeback from the blood clot in his shoulder continues on a remarkable pace as the playoffs begin; Hideo Nomo's no-hitter in the hitters paradise at Coors Field Denver is a shocker; while Roger Clemens after a very bad start finished strong and tied his own record for most strikeouts in a game, twenty, against Detroit.
On the managerial side two veterans showed that they still remain among the best. Tony LaRussa took his American League computer-driven-mind to the National League and led the St. Louis/Oakland Cardinals to a divisional title with the same formulas and stratagems that he had applied so successfully on the southside of Chicago and in the Bay area.
In New York Joe Torre showed again why, in a game where day to day strategy is highly overrated, he remains one of the truly great managers of people. In 1982 in Atlanta Torre calmly led the Braves through a thirteen game winning streak to start the season, then in August through something like 20 losses in 21 games in a free-fall that saw them lose in every way known to man. There are not many managers who could have held a team together under these circumstances, and that is why Joe Torre is the perfect manager for the Yankees of New York where the paranormal is the order of the day and the owner from hell still holds sway.
Despite all these achievements the game managed to finish the season under a cloud. First, what looked like a great wild-card race between the Dodgers and Padres ended with a game on Sunday, the main object of which was to save your pitching staff for the playoffs. The unintended consequences of this ill-concieved playoff system produced a dreadful finish and it could have been much worse.
The regular season ended under a second cloud as the collective bargaining agreement has still not been achieved, and now the plans for inter-league play next year will likely be postponed. Jerry Reinsdorf apparently continues to believe that the only thing baseball has to fear is Fehr himself, as Jerry continues his personal vendetta against Donald Fehr and the players union.
If that wasn't enough along came the Alomar incident which everyone will find easy to remember. Nothing could justify either the spitting or the comments about the umpire's personal tragedy. Clearly the punishment handed out by the unknown American League president was a joke. However some reports indicate that a suspension for actions in the regular season cannot, or at least never have been, carried into the post-season.
One of the things I learned as an umpire from my father was that in certain circumstances you need to be able to walk away and close your ears. When John Hirschbeck blew the call he needed to close off the criticism rather than confront it. Alomar had gone back to the dugout and Hirschbeck needed to ignore the shouting and get on with the game. He was unable to do that and tossed a major player in a close and extremely important game. That is when Alomar went beserk and committed his dispicable act.
The case has been mishandled at every turn since, by the same major league leadership that never seems to know what it's doing.
What a week and what a year in Major League Baseball.
One final football note: the boys down at Houlihans, formerly the Tampa Bay Bucs, are now 0-5. This week they play "open date" and are a ten-point dog. My guess is they can't cover.

On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



All the color and pagentry of college football have returned. We've already experienced this year's first game of the century, and this year's first game of the decade. It's a wonderful time of year, when footballs fill the air and college athletes fill the courtrooms, police blotters, and the investigative time of the NCAA all across America.
About three weeks ago when Lawrence Phillips was sued by his ex-girl-friend-assault-victim, I decided to watch the news and sports wires and track criminal and NCAA violations by college athletes. The result has been mind-numbing.
A Clemson player was arrested for assault on another student, becoming the ninth Clemson player arrested since February. At Nebraska a defensive player and potential All-American was suspended for what looks like two games for drunken driving. At Mississippi State a basketball player was sentenced for probation violation after pistol-whipping another student on campus. The player had been placed on three years probation for cocaine possession and distribution charges in 1993.
At Texas Christian University a football player arrested for assualt on a student was found to have put together a two year string of other assault and public-intoxication charges. Three other players participated in the most recent assault, while all four remain members of the TCU football team. The victim has withdrawn from Texas Christian with a swollen brain, fractured skull, and facial paralysis.
At Virginia Tech a track athlete charged that he had been beaten by fifteen to twenty football players. Seven Hokie players have been arrested since November on charges including shoplifting, public intoxication, and disorderly conduct. Two players are facing a civil suit by a woman claiming she was raped by them in a dorm room.
Meanwhile at Miami the charges just keep on coming as ten players have already been suspended by the football coach this season. Many of these cases involved alcohol and disorderly conduct, including assault on a police officer as well as a girl friend. At Montana six players were placed on probation and four others were reprimanded by the football coach for their roles in a brawl at a fraternity house.
In addition there is a long list of NCAA crime and punishment growing across the nation. At Southern Cal a running back was suspended from the team for lying to NCAA investigators who were interested in a course in which thirteen of fourteen athletes received an "A" last spring. Coach John Robinson said that the player had not been charged with anything, he had only failed the investigation. Huh!? The NCAA apparently disagreed and extended the one game suspension to three. Meanwhile a teammate is just completing a one year suspension for taking money from an agent.
At San Diego State three players, including a Heisman hopeful, were suspended for accepting extra benefits. At Colorado a wide-receiver was suspended for one game for violating team rules, and a cornerback was ruled ineligible by the NCAA.
The topper came last week when Michigan State was slapped with four years probation for transgressions involving recruiting, illegal payments, academic eligibility, and other routine violations. The Spartans' academic advisor was found guilty of procuring academic credit and having grades changed for three players, while boosters provided the ever popular illegal inducements and emoluments.
All this in three weeks.
So what is going on here? Tom Osborne says that when you consider the number of football players on campus, the rate of problems is not too bad. I doubt that. At Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer wouldn't discuss the matter. Note that his team is winning. At Clemson, where college presidents have been dismissed for demanding too much of their coaches beyond winning, one hundred students met with Coach Tommy West to tell him they did not feel safe with his football players on campus. West's response was that he could not guarantee their safety because he couldn't be with his players twenty-four hours a day. It might be suggested to West that he try to find players he can control without being with them twenty-four hours a day, but then...
Is this a new problem? Are we looking at further evidence of the decline of college sport or American civilization? I don't think so. There have always been athletes on campus who didn't belong there, who weren't really students, who never saw the inside of a classroom. They garned more than their share of violations and arrests, some for assault.
The reason is simple and reform is not possible. Institutions of higher education for over a century now have been willing to compromise their academic, social, and ethical standards for athletic victory. Winning is the only thing. It's as traditional as a fall football Saturday afternoon, or evening, or Thursday night, or...

On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



No one in my neighborhood ran into the streets and fired a gun in the air. The cars along the expressways were neither blinking their lights nor honking their horns. Even in the sports' bars, the community halls of sport in the late 20th century, the event passed without much notice as college football remained the central attraction late last Saturday night. Yet Wayne Gretzky called it "devastating," "a hard loss to swallow," and assumed that his countrymen were crushed.

On Saturday night sometime between eleven o'clock and midnight Canadians came face to face yet again with a terrible truth. The Canadian National Team representing the best players that could be mustered north of the 49th parallel, were defeated for the s econd time in three games over six nights, and the third time in four tries over the previous two weeks, by the best that could be mustered for Team USA. It was a bitter pill that not all will swallow.

It was not the first time this has happened in Canada. In 1954 the Soviet Union won the World Championships in Sweden defeating a Canadian team 7-2 in the finals. Canada and the rest of world was shocked, not so much by the outcome, which could be dismissed as resulting from a poor Canadian representative, but by the fact that the Russians had seemingly overnight elevated their game to such a high level. In addition the Soviets played a style that featured superb motion and precision passing, a non-Canadian style of the Canadian national game. A bigger shock followed at the 1956 Olympics when the Soviets defeated Canada's Kitchener Dutchmen. This one was viewed simply as a national disaster.

The Soviets went into decline until the early Sixties, and then from '63 to '71 they would win every world championship. In desperation and exasperation in 1969 Canada retreated into isolation, withdrawing from world competition, arguing that the Soviets were professionals and Canadian amateur boys would no longer be sacrificed in hockey's Cold War.

All that changed when the two nations agreed to play "The Summit Series"; eight games against each other, four in Canada and four in Russia, in September 1972. In the first game in Montreal the Canadians jumped to an early 2-0 lead and then watched in horror as the Soviets led by Valeri Kharlamov scored seven unanswered goals, while goalie Vladislav Tretiak shutout Canada the rest of the way.

Team Canada came back to win game two, the third game was a tie, but the Russians won game four. National humiliation was within sight. In Moscow the Soviets won game one, but Canada won game two and three. Paul Henderson scored the winning goal in each of the victories. Each team had won three games, there was one tie, and a final game in Moscow would decide the issue. By then Valeri Kharlamov was gone, the victim of Bobby Clarke's slash in Game 5 that broke his ankle. Yet the brilliance of Vladislav Tretiak in goal had to leave the Canadian fans with at least some doubt.

The final game saw the Soviets build a 5-3 lead through the first two periods. Then Team Canada scored two unanswered goals and tied the game with seven minutes remaining. With less than a minute to go the score was still tied. Phil Esposito shot on goal and Tretiak made the stop, but a rebound came off and it was fired back by Paul Henderson. Again Tretiak made the stop, but again the puck rebounded to Henderson. This time Henderson was able to push the puck past the Soviet goalie with thirty-four seconds to play.

Most Canadians can tell you exactly where they were at that moment when they heard, or at least remember hearing, Foster Hewitt make the call.

This past weekend U.S. coach and Disney employee, Paul Wilson, said that the Henderson goal was probably the worst thing that ever happened to Canadian hockey. It allowed Canadians to go on believing that hockey was still their exclusive possession and let them avoid a serious overhaul of the Canadian hockey system.

Now that failure has been rewarded with a U.S. victory over Canada in the World Cup, as well as Russian and Swedish hockey parity with Canada. The aging Team Canada will probably not win another world title for several years to come as the decline of hockey in Canada continues.

The talent pool of Canadian farm boys is shrinking, while the player pool grows across the world. For Canadians there is no fallback position this time. They lost with their best. There are no others. There is no other time of year that this result would have been any different. There is, at last, no where to hide. It's time to look in the mirror.

For those in the U.S. who enjoyed this great hockey tournament and who enjoyed this victory for a growing U.S. hockey program, I can only say, do not crow too loudly. Your day will come. Someday the Dream Team will lose and you will have no fallback position to explain that one away either.

On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



In the last few weeks there has been an usual abundance of great moments in the games we love, a deluge of achievements and drama and struggle: Moments that have been historic and moments that have reached those heights of athletic achievement that make us all feel privileged that we were witnesses to greatness, as well as moments that demonstrate the best of human possibilities.

In baseball, tennis, and yes, hockey, it has been a particularly rich early September.

On the same night in baseball Eddie Murray joined an exclusive club, and Brett Butler rejoined his current club. Murray's achievement is historic, while Butler's is personal and dramatic.

Eddie Murray becomes the fifteenth member of baseball's exclusive 500 home run club and only the third player in baseball history to have hit 500 home runs and also have 3,000 hits. Hank Aaron and Willie Mays are the other two. Remarkably Murray is the on ly member of the 500 Club to never have a forty home run season, while Mantle is the only other switch-hitter in the club. Murray's homer not only tied a game in the middle of a pennant race, but it took place in Baltimore at Camden Yards exactly one year after Cal Ripken had broken Lou Gehrig's consecutive game record in that ballpark.

Before the game Murray, who had been looking for number 500 for a week, thought about the fact that it had been one year since Ripken's achievement, and he said that he believed that it simply could not happen that night. What is particularly fitting about it, is that Ripken considers Murray an inspiration and talked of his debt to Murray that night a year ago. On this night Cal was one of the first to greet Murray at home plate.

An hour later Brett Butler returned to the Dodger line-up in Los Angeles for the first time since May 1. Butler had undergone tonsil cancer surgery on May 21 and then went through subsequent weeks of radiation treatments during which he lost nearly twenty pounds. Most predictions were that Butler could not return to baseball this season.

But return he did. His third time at the plate he singled, and then in the eighth inning with the score tied he walked, stole second, went to third on a throwing error, and then scored the winning run of the game on a sacrifice fly. In one of those marvelous understatements Butler said, "It's probably the biggest day of my career."

A few days later David Cone came back from a blood clot in his shoulder to pitch brilliantly for the Yankees, after it was certain he would not return to baseball this year.

Less dramatic but still noteworthy Fernando Valenzuela won his eighth straight game this past week pitching for San Diego with one of those eight taking place in Mexico. Echoes of Fernandomania rattled around the memory bank as Valenzuela has resurrected his major league pitching career at the age of fortysomething.

The U.S. Tennis Open, under a cloud of controversy and a largely uninspiring event this fall, suddenly jumped up and produced one of the most dramatic moments in its history in a quaterfinal match last Thursday. Number one seeded Pete Sampras was stretched to the limit by unseeded Alex Corretja of Spain in a five set match that lasted four hours and nine minutes in the heat and humidity and ended with a tie-breaker.

Not only was there the drama of the big upset, but Sampras staggered through the final points suffering from dehydration and stomach cramps. Pete vomited on court, struggled to maintain his bearings, doubled over in agony between points, and somehow facing set point at 7-6 in the tiebreak saved the match. He then served an ace to go up 8-7 and Corretja followed with a double fault to end it.

Sampras had reached down deep to summon the will to go on. That he was officially crowned champion on Sunday only affirmed what we were witness to on Thursday.

Then there is hockey. The World Championship of Hockey is being played across two continents this past three weeks. What is most remarkable is that in September before the start of the professional season we are seeing playoff level hockey. Two matches in particular exemplified this. The Canada-Russia match in the first round was a thundering affair played with Cold War intensity, while the Canada-Sweden match went into two overtimes and was as nerve-racking a nail-biter as there could be. The finals between the U.S. and Canada is giving us more of the same. Through it all the world's greatest players are giving everything with only pride and not money at stake.

It is merely sport at its best and why we keep coming back to the games.

On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



Just over a week ago two events took place that will have a profound effect on the University of Central Florida as well as its athletic program.

On Thursday August 31, UCF football inaugurated its first Division IA season with a blow-the-big-lead, come-from-behind, and hang-on-to-win victory over William and Mary, 39-33.

The move to Division IA football means that UCF is making the biggest gamble a university can make in athletics, moving up in competition where the rewards are great, the risks are greater, and the chances of success are no better than fifty-fifty. In the world of IA football only a small percentage of the schools make money, some break even, and many ring up massive amounts of red ink. But if you were going to take this gamble, Orlando might be the best place to do it as football is a religion here and the pockets to support it are deep.

Florida, and especially Central Florida, is a place rich in football talent. UCF must convince that local talent to stay home, build a first-rate program, and lure the area away from its commitment to the Gators and Seminoles. This will take time, money, and dedication. The president of the university is well aware of these obstacles and has chosen to make the gamble for the big payoff that Top Twenty rankings can bring. The new era has begun.

Within a few hours after the game the athletic program and the University were struck by a tragedy much greater than most people on the campus may ever realize. At about 3 a.m. Friday morning Jerry Richardson, the head coach of woman's basketball, was killed when a stolen car moving at nearly 100 mph ran a red light and hit Jerry's van broadside.

Jerry Richardson, age 40, has been at UCF through four seasons and in that time has become a strong and quiet force on campus and in the community. He inherited a troubled program and last season took his team to a conference tournament championship and the NCAA tournament, a first for the UCF women's program. Not only was he building a program, but more importantly he was having a significant impact on the lives of young women in Central Florida.

This of course is not surprising. Jerry Richardson came to UCF from the Navajo Nation Reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico, where he transformed a struggling high school women's team into four-time State Champions. From 1982 to 1993 Jerry Richardson made the Lady Chieftans of Shiprock into a story of mythic dimensions. More importantly he changed the lives of the young women he coached. Eighty percent of them went on to college, mostly as non-athletes; this at a school with a fifty percent dropout rate in a population beset with poverty and alcoholism.

Richardson believed, and made his players believe, that there was nothing you could not do as long as you had two things: opportunity and a positive attitude. Jerry Richardson brought both to Shiprock and to UCF.

He was above all a teacher, not a coach. He understood the ephemeral character of victory on the courts, and the significance of preparing his women for life after basketball. "The trophies gather dust, the kids don't, they keep moving," he said. Jerry Richardson's players moved on, well prepared for the world after basketball.

On Wednesday at the Memorial Service on campus many people spoke about how their lives were touched by this remarkable human being. Richardson was on the Board of the Coalition for the Homeless and was actively involved in their projects. He gave his time and effort enthusiastically, and always gave his best. He knew no other way.

I did not know him well, but I had enough contact with Jerry to know that I was in the presence of greatness. His tall slender build, his quiet intensity, the dignity and strength he exuded left you with that feeling. When he spoke you knew you were listening to a voice of wisdom and compassion, a man of gentleness and firm will, dedicated to the people around him.

The testimony of his players from Shiprock and from UCF confirmed all those feelings. On Wednesday his UCF players spoke of him with love and awe. They prepared a video of Jerry at practice and in game situations which they put to the music of "The Wind Beneath My Wings." The question "Did I ever tell you, you're my hero?" resonated through the Arena.

True heroes in sport or elsewhere are rare these days, but Jerry Richardson clearly is a hero: A great human being whose life is worth emulating, whose values are worth adopting.

To say that Jerry Richardson will be missed would be an understatement of massive proportions. It was an historic week for the University of Central Florida.

On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY AUGUST 30, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



By the time Mozart was twenty he had several symphonies under his belt and was the toast of the European music world, so I suppose that the accomplishments of Eldrick Woods at age twenty are not all that fantastic. Nonetheless "Tiger" Woods is the toast of much more than the golf world as he turns professional this week.
For those who were lucky enough to watch any of the final eleven holes of the U.S. Amateur Championship last Sunday, you know that you were watching one of those memorable and extraordinary moments in sport. You know that you were watching an event of historic dimension and an athlete of exquisite talent. You were watching an artist perform a feat that had never been done before, in a way that was replete with drama. You were watching the very best that sport can offer: an athlete achieving near perfection in a less than perfect world.
No matter what else Tiger Woods accomplishes in his career, Sunday's achievements will be remembered for generations to come. When you realize that Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and the legend himself, Bobby Jones, were unable to win three U.S. Amateur Ch ampionships in a row; that Tiger Woods was the youngest ever to win a U.S. Amateur and Junior Amateur title; that Tiger Woods has a better winning percentage in match play than Bobby Jones; that Woods has won eighteen matches in a row; and when you realize that he won several of these by coming from behind on the final day; you begin to get a sense of the magnitude of these achievements.
As I tried to digest all of this it struck me that the Tiger Woods story contains three major characteristics of the contemporary sporting scene. First, and too often forgotten these days, we saw the highest qualities that sport can offer, the reason that in the end sport appeals to so many. We saw the great athletic performance. The aesthetic beauty of the golf swing at near perfection is a wonder to behold. The fire and competitiveness of a championship athlete battling overwhelming odds captures the best of the human spirit. And the combination of charisma and of youth have nearly universal appeal to humans struggling hopelessly against the ravages of time, a triumph over the finite. This is why we go to sport, why we care about it at all.
The second story is from the darker side of modern sport: The power and impact of money. Throughout the past week there has been considerable discussion of whether Tiger Woods would or even should turn professional. Of course in one sense he has been a professional since he was three, meaning that golf has been the central feature of his life, the primary activity. However in the sense of being eligible for prize money and endorsements he has remained an amateur. Now he is going pro.
For the past several weeks Phil Knight has been quoted about the earning potential of Tiger Woods. Last weekend Mr. Knight, founder and corporate head of Nike and one of the most powerful people in sport, followed Woods around the course. Stalking his prey, Knight was ready to offer millions, ready to do, as he said, "whatever it takes" to bag his Tiger. We now know what it takes, as Woods has signed a five-year forty-million dollar endorsement deal with Nike. Swoosh!
Titleist followed with a three million dollar deal to endorse golf balls, and no doubt many more will be forthcoming. So Tiger Woods has become a multi-millionaire before winning any money on the fairways and greens. Like all great modern athletes he is n ow a commodity to be marketed, and the management and marketing people are lining up to represent him.
On Tuesday The New York Times wrote an editorial under the title "Golf's New Tiger," one more measure of the impact of Woods. One line struck me as quite significant: "It seems particularly fitting that the leading candidate for golf superstardom is black ." Indeed, and what does that mean and what does it signify?
We know that in ethnic background Woods is Thai on his mother's side and African-American on his father's side. It is more than a little instructive that The Times did not write that Woods is Thai, or that Woods is African-American, or that Woods is oriental in appearance. The Times wrote that Woods is black.
Color remains a defining term in American society. It is a descriptor of choice in an article about a great new golf talent. In part this is the result of the fact that African-American golfers have suffered severe discrimination in this sport. Still it points out how important color remains in defining who we are in this society. Woods' color supercedes his ethnic identity, his athletic ability, and in fact obscures both.
These are the joyful, the bleak, and troublesome meanings of this remarkable story of a twenty-year-old rising star.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY AUGUST 22, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



Oh those wonderful owners. It was just ten days ago that it seemed like baseball was ready for a settlement and a new collective bargaining agreement. Donald Fehr and Randy Levine seemed to have reached an agreement after the owners had given Levine a gre en light to bargain even on the issue of service time. Then the owners reverted to form and pulled the rug out from under their chief negotiator.
As you may recall, if you care anymore, the major stumbling block for the past three years has been revenue sharing and a payroll tax. An agreement was reached on these issues. Under the terms of the negotiated agreement about five teams will be hit by the tax, and an equal number of low revenue teams will benefit. With that mountain having been climbed, what has gone wrong?
It seems that Levine has been undercut by Jerry Reinsdorf and others over the issue of service time credit during the strike, a strike forced by the owners. Apparently Levine was instructed by owners that service time could be given only if the players backed off lawsuits and unfair labor practice charges against the owners. Levine was able to negotiate an exchange with Donald Fehr on these issues, but when he went back to ownership for final approval they balked.
What is this about really? You can talk about the technicalities of service time forever, but for the players it is a bottom line issue they will not give up. For the owners it could be compromised as long as they got something in return, which they did, and as long as they got the payroll tax, which they did.
So what is the problem? I would suggest two or three factors are at work here. Some owners just can't stand the idea of service time being granted, although it always has been in previous strikes. Some owners are so caught up in the need to punish the union or crush the union that they won't accept any agreement. Some owners are so determined that others not be allowed to tell them how to use their property, that they are willing to go down in flames on this marginal issue. They will settle for nothing less than Don Fehr's head on a platter and the players on their knees. Then there are perhaps a few owners who see that service time concessions will mean that they will lose some of their good players at the end of this season, or be forced to pay them big bucks to keep them, and want to delay that eventuality for another season.
No doubt there are still owners who believe they can declare an impasse in negotiations, go back to the court of Judge Sotomayer, and get her to lift the injunction that prevents them from imposing their own settlement. With the negotiations having gone this far and with so many major issues settled, this is not a likely scenario. But some owners still dream the dream of unfettered power, a return to the good old days of owner dominance and player subservience.
So it seems that some owners haven't learned a thing and are willing to run the same route they ran before, forcing another strike by destroying the good faith bargaining of their chief negotiator who was on the verge of a major labor agreement. Oh, those wonderful owners!
Another disappointment this week came at the movies where I was sucked into paying my six bucks to watch Ron Shelton's attempt to do for golf what he did for baseball.
While "Bull Durham" had a feel of reality and showed a real love and affection for baseball, "Tin Cup" shows little real appreciation for golf and only succeeds in replicating the banality of a CBS Sports presentation. Annie's poem to baseball and Crash Davis' litany of beliefs were rich, even when corny, while Tin Cup McAvoy's attempt to do the same for golf is poorly written and devoid of any genuine feeling. Kevin Costner was great as Davis and grating as McAvoy. Unlike Crash Davis, Tin Cup McAvoy is a caricature with little human feeling who evokes little sympathy. Unlike Annie Savoy who was a marvelously rich and poetic woman with a passion for baseball, Molly Griswald is doll-like and displays little passion for anything. The supporting cast of "Tin Cup" shows some promise, but they have too little to work with. Don Johnson as David Simms is appropriately jerky, although a bit over the top. Only Cheech Marin as Romeo Posner gives a performance that is at all memorable.
This is a movie that was poorly conceived, badly written and directed, and not believable. It had its moments, but they were too few and far between. It was at least thirty minutes too long and laced with pauses that were awkward and boring, too often at one and the same time.
Believe me, "Tin Cup" is no "Bull Durham." The great golf film is yet to be made
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY AUGUST 16, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



It was being touted as the Women's Olympics even before it started. As the games proceeded and especially as the U.S. Women turned in excellent performances the claim that this was the Year of the Woman at the Olympics was reenforced. But what did that mean?
Commentators cited the performance of the U.S. women as evidence of the impact of Title IX. They talked about how the image of the female athlete had changed. How women are competing as children and adolescents in larger numbers than ever before, and in all kinds of sports, not just those that had been traditionally acceptable for women. Others talked about how women in African countries came of age in this Olympics. In fact women worldwide seem to be competing athletically in societies where previously competitive sport had been tabu for women.
For those who viewed the Olympics largely through the prism of the NBC television coverage, the year of the woman had a very different meaning. Dick Ebersol's feminization of the Olympics was not exactly the result of Title IX or the result of any great a dvance in social attitudes toward women and sport. In fact the Ebersol-NBC Olympics, seemed to be driven by many of the traditional visions of women and sport.
Prior to the games NBC spent countless hours in market research trying to determine what version of the Olympics women wanted to see, and then did their best to provide it. Ebersol told David Remnick of The New Yorker that NBC's ratings success was achieved by bringing a feminine sensibility to the games. Empathy with the athlete and their struggles, both on and off the field of competition, caused women to flock to television coverage.
It was really a simple matter confirmed by ten thousand NBC marketing surveys. Men come to sport "from the outside in" while women come "from the inside out." Men view the event and then might make a connection to the athletes, while women must connect to the athlete before they have an interest in the event. For women the story is the thing, while winning and losing are secondary concerns.
David Remnick suggests that as a result NBC took a soap opera approach to its presentation of the games creating a "seventeen-day-long, multi-character, open-ended narrative." In doing so they created a television show of enormous appeal to women, or so s ay the ratings.
Somehow I don't think that this is what people were talking about when they spoke about the Year of the Woman in the Olympics.
In developing their feminine Olympics NBC decided that women's team sport was of little interest. While 65,000 people, some of whom were women, jammed into Sanford Stadium in Athens to watch the U.S. Women win the soccer gold medal, NBC provided thirty seconds of highlights. While the U.S. women played before packed houses in Columbus at the softball venue, NBC offered a few minutes of highlights. Even the U.S. women's basketball team failed to get much notice from those sensitive to the sensibilities of women. General Mills followed the NBC lead when they ignored women from team sports for the Wheaties box.
To see the U.S. women marching to gold medals in three team sports, and to watch NBC ignore them, was an astounding sight and one that women and men will not soon forget. To see superb performances by unknown women from around the world, is indicative of a tremendous growth of women's sport worldwide. Instead what NBC presented was hour upon hour of swimming and gymnastics, two traditional women's sports displaying women in swim suits and little women in tights.
Then there was the Michael Johnson story. His great achievement in doubling in the 400 and 200 meter events was worthy of the coverage it got. But did you notice that Marie-Jose Perec of France did the same thing in the women's 400 and 200. Was this a less significant achievement than Michael Johnson's? What did NBC's market research indicate about feminine interest in this achievement? Was it a lesser achievement in the eyes of NBC because Perec is French or because Perec is a woman?
So who is right in their reading of the Atlanta games as the year of the Woman in the Olympics? Although television ratings and market research may tell us one thing, I suspect that event results and the large crowds that were attracted to women's venues tell us something quite different.
There is a market for and interest in women's sport, including women's team sport and women athletes over four-feet six-inches tall. In the future it will include your daughters and grand-daughters.
And that is the significance of these Olympics; an excellent storyline--better even than a soap opera.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY AUGUST 9, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9


(This broadcast was recorded July 29,1996)

I admit that I was one of those who didn't believe that Shaquille O'Neal would leave Orlando for La-La Land. I also said a few weeks ago that if he did leave Orlando, the Magic had best purchase a large sign to display in front of the O-rena reading, "Game today, plenty of good seats still available."
Now that the dust is beginning to settle I want to try to reflect on what Shaq's departure will mean for the Orlando Magic and the City of Orlando. But first, it has been interesting to note public reaction to the exit of Shaq. Althogh people regret that the Magic will not be as good a team, there seems very little regret that Shaq, the person, will no longer be here. Recognized as a key player, Shaq was never loved in Orlando, and few tears were shed as he left.
In the short run it is obvious that the Magic is no longer one of the top teams in the NBA or the Eastern Conference. This is the result of both addition and subtraction with Miami, Atlanta, and New York having improved significantly, while the Magic have lost ground to both Chicago and Indiana. They may also find themselves struggling with what could be a much improved Philadelphia team. One wonders, in fact, if John Gabriel now wishes he had taken the GM's job in the city of brotherly love.
Over the longer run, things could get worse. The Magic is considerably over the salary cap and is likely to remain in that position, limiting the free agent signing it can do. As a middle level team it is not likely to be able to use the draft for any significant improvement, and now the Magic is faced with a future loss of other free agents, the biggest being Penny Hardaway.
A steady diet of mediocrity on the basketball floor with Miami taking over the number one position in the state of Florida, will not sit well with Magic fans. Already this past year the fans showed signs of being spoiled by Magic success. Constant complai ning and some booing in the O-rena during the games increased markedly. How these fans, who seldom saw the home team lose, will cope with mediocrity remains to be seen, but my guess is that the adjustment will not be easy.
As time goes on and things don't improve the impact will be seen in increasing numbers of empty seats, and season ticket holders who fail to renew in the face of higher priced seats for a lower quality product. The upside of this development is that the City of Orlando will not be asked to build another arena, and the political leaders will no longer say "how high" when told to jump by the DeVos family.
The impact on the city will take other forms. Over the last few years two major things have happened to the City of Orlando as a result of the success of the Magic and the presence of Shaquille O'Neal. The first is that this city, which had no real center and no real identity, has begun to develop one. The success of the Magic has played a role in that process. One need only recall how for the first time the entire city seemed focused on one thing during the 1995 NBA playoffs. Second, the presence of Shaq brought great attention to the city, not just across the United States, but across the world, reaching beyond the power of Disney as an identity point for Orlando.
I will never forget last May when I was 700 miles east of Moscow in a Russian University and I was asked by a student if I was from the same Orlando as Shaquille O'Neal and the Magic. Or last summer in Ethiopia where Shaq was as well known as any other world figure. This recognition for any major city is significant and it cannot be purchased.
This change will also be seen in a sharp decline of appearances by the Magic on national television. This attention helped create an image for the city, and if image is important, this will be a net loss.
There are many in Orlando who have come to benefit from this team. This includes local radio and television stations, the newspaper, the hotel and restaurant industry, the t-shirt and paraphernalia sellers, those who work at the arena, those who work the parking areas around the O-rena. All will be adversely affected by any decrease in Magic popularity. Much of the ancillary economic activity around this team has involved Shaq, and his absence will affect the level of that activity..
The Magic gave this city a sense of rising expectations, a sense of identity, and of being a city on the move. This could now be in jeopardy. But it need not be. Not because the Magic will somehow save the city, but because people in this city will have l earned what it means to be united around a local cause, and now will be able to find a cause, more worthy than a basketball team, around which to rally and shape a new identity of true urban greatness.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY AUGUST 2, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9


(This program was recorded July 29, 1996)

The Olympic games took one of those nasty, although not totally unexpected twists, Friday night. In Centennial Park a bomb went off and reminded everyone how vulnerable we all are in the modern city. For those killed and wounded it was of course much more than a symbolic event, and for those of us watching this staged pageant from the comfort of our homes it was a reality check.
Of course no one expected the games to be cancelled over this. If the events in Munich could not stop the games, nothing short of nuclear war could stop them, and even that would be doubtful if it didn't effect the venues. This should be another reminder about the nature of the modern world. Corporate investment and individual sporting ambition far outstrip a few deaths and a few hundred injuries.
We will have our moments of silence, and the flags of the Olympics will fly at half-staff, but the games must go on. The IOC says so, the USOC says so, the President says so, the AGOC says so, NBC says so, and let's face it, we all say so. Across the world people are at equal or greater risk each and every day, and life goes on because it must. Our games go on, although not for the same reason.
I went to my first Olympic games last week. Not in Atlanta, but here in Orlando to see several first round games in the men's and women's soccer competition.
This Olympics is nothing like what is on NBC. There are actually games, without commercials, without up close and personals, without any drama added by videotape manipulation. There are sometimes events involving no Americans. Yes, trust me on this. I saw Spain play France, and Nigeria play Japan, and there wasn't an American even among the referees, and it was still interesting. Please note that not only are they playing soccer in these real Olympics but there is an American women's team, and a very good one at that. And now that they are headed to the gold medal game NBC has been forced to acknowledge their existence.
The best of the soccer, that I saw, was in the women's game between the U.S. and Sweden. The speed, coordination, and finesse of this game was far superior to that of the men in France v. Spain, or even Nigeria v. Japan, although the Nigerians play a sparkling passing game of tremendous speed.
For me one of the main attractions was the chance to see Michelle Akers play again. The oldest of the American players Michelle Akers is a University of Central Florida product who in her prime was acclaimed as the best female soccer player in the world. While at the University of Central Florida she kept UCF Soccer near the top of the national polls, and in her junior year she was named woman's college athlete of the year, and won the first Hermann Trophy, soccer's Heisman.
When women's soccer held its first world championship in China, Michelle Akers led the U.S. to the championship, dominating both her opponents and the game itself. Shortly after that achievement she spoke in one of my classes about soccer, women in sport, and the world championship.
One of things she discussed that night was her desire to see women's soccer as an Olympic Sport, and her determination if that happened in '96, to be on the team. The intensity with which she talked was impressive, and the dedication she has displayed to her sport is equally so. Her dream was to play before the home crowd at the Olympics for the gold medal. She will have that opportunity on Thursday evening.
Over the past few years Michelle Akers has endured injury after injury to her knees and legs, and has been through an excruciating four-year battle with the Epstein-Barr virus which produces chronic fatigue. She has worked through all this, and despite en ormous odds and fading skills she still is a key figure on this team. No longer the best women's player in the world, and now even playing a new position, her skills still make Michelle Akers a formidable threat on the field, and you can still see the flashes of greatness.
After years of struggling with injury, with disrespect for the women's game, and with the movement of the calendar, Michelle Akers has not only played in the Olympics in the United States, but she has done it in her adopted home town. As she circled the field in a victory lap wrapped in an American flag the other night in Orlando, it was a pleasure to be there and see what those watching the NBC Olympics would not see.
Finally a quick note on the Women's Marathon. Fatuma Roba's victory is a great one for both her and Ethiopia, and if all goes well Ethiopian victories will follow in the Women's 10,000, the Men's 5,000 and 10,000, as Haile Gebreselassie and Derartu Tulu l ead the Ethiopian team. The barefoot Abeba Bekila's legacy is alive and well.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY JULY 26, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9


7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.

Question: What one-hundred-year-old institution has become the biggest marketplace in the world?
Answer: The Centennial Olympic Games.
As I worked the paper products aisle of my local supermarket trying to locate the official toilet paper of the 1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games, while trying not to look too suspicious, it hit me. These are not the Olympic Games. They are the Peter Ueberroth Memorial Games, invented in Los Angeles in 1984 when he demonstrated that you could make money on the Games, because corporations would fall all over one another for the privilege of being able to associate their company or their product with Olym pic Gold.
There are three levels of sponsorship for these games and they come with different price tags for different privileges. Worldwide Sponsors have the right to market their products with the Olympic connection all over the world. The price, $40M. This is simply for the title, and does not include the cost of the actual marketing. Coca Cola is the leader in this group along with nine other corporate entities including a film, credit card, and computer firm.
An equally important second level of sponsorship, meaning they too pay $40M, are the Centennial Olympic Games Partners. The Partners get exclusive rights in their product line to advertise their connections to both the Games and the U.S. Olympic Team with in the U.S.
Anheuser-Bush, McDonalds, and Sara Lee, an American cuisine trio, are in this group, along with an airline, a bank, a telephone company, a communications company, a watch, and a home building supply company. IBM bought into both of these $40M categories. Total revenue to the Atlanta Organizing Committee from these two categories is $800M.
The third category is the Sponsors. These companies can use the Olympics in their marketing and have paid in cash or kind, some $10M to $20M. There are twenty-four Sponsors, and assuming that half paid at the lower rate, we are looking at an additional $360M for a total of $1.1B.
Beyond that there are some 120 licensees who are producing Olympic Logo products like t-shirts, pins, and cigarette lighters. They pay a percentage of their sales to the Olympic Committee. Certainly that sends revenues up into the $2B neighborhood before even discussing television revenues or ticket sales. NBC paid $456M for U.S. rights and they have already sold $650M worth of advertising and are likely to hit $700M. The biggest buyers are Coke at $62M, GM and Anheuser-Bush at $50M each, and McDonalds at $40M. Thirty seconds will cost $400,000, and one of the NBC innovations making the advertising more attractive, is that there will be exclusivity within product line. Visa, for example, will be the only credit card accepted at the games, and the only credit card to advertise on NBC's 170 hours of coverage.
It is eminently clear that these are the Coca Cola games. The soft drink giant was founded in Atlanta and has its headquarters there. As a significant Olympic sponsor for several years, Coke played a major role in bringing the centennial games to Atlanta. Estimates are that Coke will spend somewhere between $300M and $600M on the various aspects of the games. The only other drink in sight will be bottled water from Crystal Springs. Coke projects sales of 20M eight ounce servings of the real thing at the games.
There are any number of other interesting partners and sponsors. NationsBank will have exclusive territorial rights in Olympic venues with all competing ATM's shut down for the duration. Foreign Exchange will be their exclusive purview. Four years ago NationsBank provided the Atlanta organizing committee with $300M in credit.
Sensormatic is supplying electronics and surveillance equipment, while Borg-Warner provides security. "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" are the official game shows of the Olympics. Bell South directs the massive communications network along with Scientific Atlanta with its Video distribution capability. Nissan will provide the Official Import Light Truck, and the Import Sport Utility Vehicle, along with mini-vans. BMW will provide 1,000 special vehicles for special people, and 125 motorcycles for the less special. General Motors will supply the domestic vehicles. And all will be fueled by Texaco. Textron is the maker of the Official Helicopter of the 1996 Olympics, and you might even see the Avon lady flying in one.
International Paper has donated "Lumber, Wood Products, and paper for publishing, stationary and other uses." But not That One. So I regret to report that there is no Official Toilet Paper of the 1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY JULY 19, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



It was a week that featured the ridiculous and the sublime, and as usual the former exceeded the latter. I had planned to have an Olympic topic this week but events intervened and forced themselves upon us.
The ridiculous came in two major forms. The first was the fiasco at Madison Square Garden where people went to a fight and a fight broke out. The scheduled fight was between Riddick Bowe and some guy named Golota, a fighter from Poland, who is apparently under indictment in Poland on assault charges. Well at least he wasn't the heavyweight champion of New Jersey. Golota surprised everyone by outpointing Bowe, but in the end, by hook or by crook, Bowe took four low blows and Golota was disqualified.
This is when the fight broke out. Bowe's corner people rushed Golota and one of them pounded Golota with a cell- phone to the head. Others joined the fray in the ring and then fights spread to and through the stands. Before it was over it was a bloody mess and a tribute to Garden security and to the cesspool that is the heavyweight division.
It is not entirely clear why the Garden crowd went berserk but in may have been that word of the upcoming spending spree by the NBA owners had spread through the crowd--a wild theory but after the last few days all things seem possible.
That the Miami Heat would sign two players for $212M over the next seven years seems ridiculous. That Atlanta could pop for $50M for five years, or Seattle for $88M for seven years, or that the Magic would find that $115M for seven years was not enough to sign Shaq, all would have been regarded as ridiculous just a week ago. The only thing that seemed within the realm of reality was the $30M for one year for Michael, even though that is greater than the total payroll of 24 teams last season. Now "Michael Money" seems almost like chump change, even though if the Bulls play 100 games next season, Michael will take home $300,000 per game.
One wonders where all the money is coming from to fuel this spending frenzy. I have two possible explanations. Either the owners were making massive profits before last weekend and no one knew it, or David Stern is the drug lord of the universe and the NBA is fronting for him.
We know of course where the money originates. It comes from luxury box sales, season ticket holders, television sponsors, paraphernalia buyers, and the fleecing of taxpayers at the local, state and national level. All have contributed in various ways to this massive money machine.
Two interesting comments were made over the last few days about all this. Former player and coach Fred Carter recalled that when salaries went over $100,000 less than two decades ago, people warned the players that they would kill the goose the laid the golden egg. The other observation, which may be the most insightful of any, came from one of the beneficiaries of this madness, Gary Peyton. He was talking about his contract and said, "$75M or $85M, what's the difference. You can never spend all that money anyway."
These sordid developments that raise serious questions about the Decline and Fall of Roman Empire were thankfully offset by the sublime.
When Kirby Puckett announced his retirement this week a great career came to a premature end. The eye problems that developed suddenly in spring training and robbed Kirby of depth perception, finally proved untreatable, and one of the great people to ever put on a baseball uniform was forced from the game.
The numbers are his Hall of Fame ticket, the leadership qualities are not measurable, the sight of this squat body made him look like an improbable athlete, and in the end he is one of the greatest players to ever wear a Minnesota Twins uniform. Number 34 jumping high over the glass in centerfield to rob opposing players of home runs was a marvelous sight. Watching Kirby run the bases was worth the price of admission, while Bob Casey's introductions became both a trademark and a call to watch greatness in action.
He played every minute of every game with an enthusiasm that was contagious, and his smile could light up the darkest corners of the Metrodome. His teammates and many other players in the American League are now wearing number 34 on their hats and uniforms as a tribute to his greatness.
As Kirby left he reminded his teammates how proud he was to have worn one uniform throughout his career, and could have told them he was able to do this because he took less money to stay in Minnesota. He told them not to worry because Kirby Puckett would be all right. He asked them to play with pride and integrity. And then added: "Don't take anything for granted, because tomorrow is not promised to any of us."
And you can take that to the bank, Magic fans.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.


SPORT AND SOCIETY--BROADCAST OF FRIDAY JULY 12, 1996
ON WUCF-FM 89.9



There is almost a sense that time stops when you leave the country and go off to a place in which the media presence is minimal, and in a language you can neither speak nor read. You get a very good reality check as the obsessions of the world of sport, the daily patterns of wins and losses, the battles over money and egos, all fade quickly to the background.
At the same time you are reminded of the important role that sport plays worldwide, and the fact that soccer is every bit the obsession in other places that baseball, football and basketball are here. You are also reminded of just how great a job has been done by the marketing gurus of the NBA, as well as how dominant American popular culture has become across the world.
For the fourth time in less than three years I have had the good fortune to travel to Russia, not just the familiar cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, but to go to the east some 700 miles from Moscow, near the Urals, to the city of Izhevsk. This is an industrial city in the heart of the former Soviet military-industrial complex which was off limits to outsiders until glasnost.
In Russia the major sporting interest while I was there was the battle for the European Cup, Euro '96, in which Russia was an unsuccessful competitor. Russian soccer, like all Russian professional sport, is in trouble as the best players are attracted to teams in the West paying the big money.
Russia has become the international equivalent of baseball's small market franchises, able to develop young talent, but not able to pay the price to retain this talent. In addition the future of Russian soccer and hockey, and other local sport is in doubt as the grand subsidies of the era of Soviet Sport have ended. Russian Sport is not as large as Soviet Sport either geographically or financially, and this will no doubt be increasingly apparent in the Olympic games.
What is remarkable is the growth of the marketing presence of the NBA. Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls are omnipresent in Russia. I noted this phenomenon with some surprise three years ago in Moscow and later in St. Petersburg, as well as in Africa. The presence of Michael Jordan is daunting, not just in Moscow but across the landscape and even in Izhevsk where NBA, Bulls, and Jordan paraphernalia appear with some frequency.
I had dinner one night with one of the New Russians in Izhevsk during which we had an extend conversation through a translator concerning the relative merits of Jordan and the Bulls, the problems of trash talking, what he saw as rude behavior, and inflated salaries. There were also the nearly inevitable questions about why African-Americans dominate the NBA.
We were driven to that dinner in a car that had an Orlando Magic logo on the center of steering wheel.I asked through an interpreter if the driver knew what the Magic logo meant. He did not.
While a guest in another home for dinner I saw a Shaq-Fu video game, and asked if the ten-year-old boy who played with the game knew who Shaq was. He did.
Indeed at the level of popular culture the westernization of Russia proceeds at a rapid pace with video games, popular music, film, television, junk food, and sport, all penetrating the market and mass consciousness. Russian radio, even out in Izhevsk, has the sound of American pop/rock radio, and two or three songs per hour are in the English language. "Santa Barbara" remains one of the most popular programs on Russian television. What all this means remains to be seen, but for those in Russia suspicious of the West this cannot be an encouraging development.
Returning home I was able to see the end of this year's version of Wimbledon. On the women's side the story was familiar. Steffi Graf, despite injury and sinus problems, was still too much for her opponents as she won her seventh Wimbledon singles title. Graf is now clearly one of the all-time greats of women's tennis, and Martina Navratalova's whining cannot change that fact.
On the men's side however the story was much different. The top seeded players dropped by the wayside, some quite early, while the semi-finals had only one seeded player and the finals none. In some ways the match of the tournament was the two day five set plus battle between MaliVai Washington and Todd Martin, with Martin up 5-1 in the fifth and final set and unable to close the deal.
In the meantime Richard Krajicek was mowing down his opponents with the big serve. Krajicek's serve never left him, and on grass he was nearly untouchable. It might even be that we will look back to this tournament as a marker of another changing of the guard in men's tennis when new names moved to center stage at center court.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.