By Joe Joe Wright

joejoe.wright@cordeledispatch.com

Now many people may say that not having enough athletes or not having many good athletes on a team is a sure fire way to lose ball games, Well they would be correct as well but I can assure you without reservation the number one reason for teams losing now days is. Get this Political Correctness. Yes that is correct. Now what does it mean when you say political correctness, well for the purpose of my demonstration here it means jumping on the (don’t you talk to my kid like that or my baby ain’t done no wrong) bandwagon! Use to be that a coach was allowed to do his job and well you know actually coach a kid. Oh NO!!!! Now if you fuss at a kid or punish him or her for their attitude or the sorry way they practice then you are a bully. Oh my God please folks get a grip. If your little boy is made of candy then you need to keep him at home because football ain’t the place for him. Really no sport is the place for him. If my high school coaches were coaching today half the county parents would want them locked up for abuse due to the political climate of today. What a sensitive sissified society we have become. I don’t know what the politics of the Georgia Professional Standards Commission is since they are appointed by a republican governor. They are for certain a little left of the center on their thinking as I see it. Fact is they nearly ousted one of Georgia High School Footballs best coaches over a motivating head butt on a player wearing a helmet. Luckily political pressure swung the pendulum in his favor and he was spared the axe. The new society of  “participation trophy moms” has taken it upon themselves to change what kind of memories every young teenage boy should have. For instance running till you puke and keep running afterwards watching and laughing at your teammates as they get chewed up one side and down the other for doing stupid stuff. Or how about a coach embarrassing you, within in reason for being dumb. On that note I will give a personal testimonial. Luke Raines will love this he only mentions it 12 times a year for 36 years. We are playing Dublin in 1980 and I get through the line and partially block a punt and the ball goes straight up. I get up off the ground see the ball coming down jump up and catch the ball I just blocked and I take procession of the ball. Hooray for us! Wrong the kicker who was about 6 inches taller than I was reaches and takes the ball from my outstretched hands. What was ruled was a fumble and Dublin’s ball. Oh this was embarrassing. However, on Monday afternoon at the end of practice which was about 8pm. The late great Buddy Cox our defensive coordinator takes me in front of everyone (including Luke) and proceeds with a series of drills requiring me to go after the ball full speed then run from it full speed (“ go get go get now get away get away”). Now this rather unusual punishment, which lasted about 10 minutes, served two purposes. 1. The next time I blocked a punt I did not try to run with it and 2. Coach Cox had a sense of humor. My point in telling this story is when I die hopefully many years from now I will never forget that year or that event. So here in is

the point I am making everyone, quit babying your babies you are making our society to soft. It is one thing to be a society of compassionate people; it is entirely a different thing to be a whole country of spineless jellyfish made so by do everything for our kids moms and dads nationwide. Children have to experience real adversity or they don’t learn how to compete. I have a very old saying, I have been using for about 30 years and goes like this. “ If we let the kids play, the coaches coach, the officials officiate and the parents cheer, everything will go just fine in our sports programs. Problems always start when someone crosses over their line and tries to do someone else’s job.  As always I welcome your comments!