Don't let isolated incidents taint America's game

Football is back and everybody is giddy over it. And yet, as always, there are things happening in the sport watched and played by millions of Americans that make you scratch your head about what it’s doing to our culture.

Two of those events wasted little time imposing themselves on our national conscience, taking place on the opening weekend of high school and collegiate play. One was close to home, the other a little further away.

Both of them evoked passions over what is known as “the cheap shot.”

First, the one close to home, which took place in Eugene, Ore. during Eastern Washington University’s payday game with the University of Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12 Conference. Late in the fourth quarter as former EWU quarterback Vernon Adams, Jr., on a run up the middle, went into the slide designed to protect players from injury, EWU linebacker John Kreifels launched himself at the spot Adams was aiming at, passing over the sliding Duck and delivering an indirect blow to Adams’ head with his forearm and elbow.

Adams was down for a moment, then staggered to his feet and eventually left the game. He returned to the sidelines a few minutes later, but did not reenter the game.

Kreifels was ejected from the game for targeting, and upon exiting, taunted the Oregon fans with a gesture of “bring it on,” something that drew not only their ire, but that of EWU head coach Beau Baldwin.

The second incident occurred in San Antonio, Texas during a Friday night football game. In a video that garnered nearly 10 million views on YouTube, a pair of John Jay High School football players are seen targeting a referee, lining up behind the official with one player running into him while the other then plowed into him while he was down.

The official was luckily not seriously injured. Both John Jay players were ejected from the game against Marble Hall High, which John Jay lost 15-9, and subsequently suspended from school.

According to a Sept. 9 Reuters story, the Northside Independent School District also put John Jay assistant coach Mack Breed, 29, on administrative leave pending on investigation into reports he told the players “that guy (the official) needs to pay for cheating us.” Apparently John Jay players and coaches were upset at the officials for calls made against them they deemed unfair.

Are these incidents one and the same in defining a cheap shot?

In the Texas case, obviously officials are not to be hit — in any manner — during the course of the game or afterwards. Officials are not part of the game, and no matter whether their calls were fair and perceived differently, or truly not balanced, there’s no excuse for something that could amount to an assault.

Indeed, Marble Hall police have launched a criminal probe of the incident.

But take the officials out of the equation and insert an opposing player, and absolutely yes, this is a cheap shot. It’s a physical sneak attack with the sole purpose of inflicting injury as payback for some perceived insult.

Kreifels’ incident came during the course of the game, in the heat of battle, as it were. Most sports feature some form of intimidation as part of strategy. Baseball has the brush-back pitch, basketball the well-concealed elbow jab, hockey, well, that’s Webster’s sixth definition of the word “intimidation — see Hockey.”

And, there was a lot of extra emotion permeating Eastern’s game with Oregon, especially since Adams is a former Eagle and teammate of just about everyone on the current squad. But football is also played fast, and sometimes players make the wrong choices in those split seconds. Kreifels’ actions after he was ejected and leaving the stadium, taunting the fans, lacked sportsmanship and shouldn’t be part of the game, and Baldwin took the correct course of action in not only chewing him out in front of the fans, but also suspending him for the next game. Hopefully, lesson learned.

But while these incidents are undesirable outcomes of competition, people shouldn’t let them color football, or any sport, in a negative tone. Sports, played correctly, teach camaraderie, teamwork and sportsmanship and respect.

And these are qualities that are often found lacking even among the non-athletic among us.