John Kitsco

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Like most boys, besides camping and fishing, baseball was always a favorite.
Although hockey was a close second, especially with our cold Canadian winters,
 Our backyard rink brought over a few neighborhood friends. And do you
remember your own Mom and Dad using that common expression: "Now
Johnny - be  a good sport..."

Perhaps we all get stuck with that for life, in a sense. You hear it in the
classroom and later in the boardroom. Gosh, we often heard that expression
when we got a little too rambunctious with our friends. But our backyard
rink was temporary and eventually made way for the garden when spring
returned,  the crisis of  push and shout was short-lived (at least until next
winter).

Not with professional sports. A major threat or purposeful injury and you
are branded and in some cases the press lets you become the equivalent
of a marked man (or lady).  And its  evident all the time with skaters,
baseball and basketball players and pretty much every sport. Some simply
like to play fair and square and others consider winning the only option.

No matter. Life moves on. The bully meets a bigger and badder bully.
The same ill-gotten powerplay is repeated in traffic one day and the
recipient is rewarded with a special prize, a ticket for being a goon.

So, to be a good sport, includes decent values and intentions. To be a good
sport means to be a good person, not only in the boxing ring or on the golf
course but it goes deeper and further. So ah ha...Mom and Dad had a better
insight with those magical words, Sure they wanted us kids to be kids,
but if nothing else - to be a good sport.

We seem to reward our heroes a great deal with the tickets we purchase,
the jersey or cap we wear to sort of emulate their success. Likewise we
chastise our heroes when they sometimes falter (and they do, as like us
they are mortal human beings) but no matter how rich and famous they too
get to hear those meaningful words...."Now, be a good sport...."

And that says it all, we win the hearts of friend and foe by
being a good sport.