LOYALTY
While preparing for a graduate entrance exam a few months ago I was asked in a study booklet to answer an interesting question. The purpose of the question was to have the prospective student think through both sides of a topic and be able to articulate not only the answer but also reasons and examples of why that side was chosen. The question was Do you believe loyalty is a positive quality to have?
“What?” was my first response. But upon taking a second to think about the question I started to see both the positives and negatives of loyalty. Communism demanded loyalty–negative; our military also demands loyalty–positive;
As with any good thing someone can always take it to an extreme or abuse it. So with sound reason and thought out examples I proceeded to defend my belief of how important loyalty is.
For some reason or another that doesn’t seem to be the thoughts of those in college athletics. From both basketball and football coaches at West Virginia leaving for bigger jobs to Nick Saban jumping from LSU to the Dolphins to Alabama leaving players and families in his wake, college athletics has become a self serving business not interested in the broken contracts or wrecked loyalty.
But last week’s “eleventh hour” resignation and hiring of Bobby Patrino from the Atlanta Falcons to the Arkansas Razorbacks might have been the biggest slap in the face I’ve seen in my years of watching sports. To shake your boss’s hand and tell him that you’re the coach for him and 12 hours later to resign and have a 10:30 p.m. press conference for your new job is beyond disloyal. It’s dishonest and disrespectful.
No matter what sport you’re participating in—basketball, football, baseball or soccer—no matter if you’re a player or a coach, to be loyal to other people and something bigger than you as an individual is both exciting and rewarding. When the only person you are loyal to is you, you’ll never be able to experience the thrill of being a part of something bigger than yourself.
Mark Chapman