No jokes, just a thought about jocks

What bothers/bothered me about sports is that "great" players or those that are successful at sports are those that are the least sportsmanlike. The biggest ass, you know, the one who is most willing to hurt whomever else is out there, is the one who is lauded as the best. The one who's willing to spike another player when he slides into second. The one willing to throw a few elbows. The one willing to lead a tackle with his helmet. The one who uses his stick to hurt the other guy when the ref isn't looking. These guys are what is wrong with America. And you know why that is? It is because we let them. Hell, we encourage it. We teach it. We teach that sportsmanship, playing the game, having fun, is all secondary to being the best. And being the best requires you to hurt the others. Its sports by attrition. Baseball wasn't meant to be a game about impact or hurting the other guy. Its supposed to be about fooling the hitter. Now its about intimidating him by throwing at him. Basketball is supposed to be about shooting. Now its about dunking onto somebody or about bullying your way through the lane. I won't make any statements that hockey and football aren't about grinding, but at times its taken too far. Just my two cents on that.