Posted on 11/04/2021 8:24:40 AM PDT by Babwa
The World Series and Sportsmanship.
My family has lived in Atlanta since 1984. As an Australian who grew up playing and following cricket, baseball was not on my radar until 1991 when the Braves soared from worst to first. Since then, I have been a fan.
As the Braves clinched the series, becoming world champions for the first time in 26 years, my family and I cheered enthusiastically. But as I watched the post game celebrations and interviews, an uneasy feeling struck me. There were no on-field interactions between the Braves and Astro players. No handshakes. No congratulations. No Commiserations.
Not one member of the Braves, from owners to managers to players, even mentioned the Astros. The losing team was just mercilessly left to lick their wounds on their own.
What happened to good sportsmanship? Especially in the World Series.
Shouldn’t there be an official protocol at the end of a game for both sides to greet each other? An instructive demonstration of grace and empathy, that the “war” is now over and that former “enemies” are now peacefully coexisting. What a wonderful teaching moment that would be for all of us, especially for our youth, to see that when the competition is over former opponents can be friendly and supportive.
Baseball is filled with so many unique traditions. This one may need to be reevaluated.
Someone with the authority, please do something to upgrade the human decency dimension of Americas favorite pastime.
Rabbi Yossi New, Director of Chabad of Georgia, Atlanta, GA
MLB went woke.
Eff it.
I think if I got my butt whipped, and my dreams crushed and heart broken, I rather skip a hearty, smiling handshake from the winner.
I know they do it in football, but thanks, but no thanks.
It’s not different than any other World Series, the winning team always celebrates on the field, while the losing team quietly goes to the lockerroom.
Hockey is the only sport where the two teams shake hands at the end of the series.
Not to worry Rabbi, it's being brought back by Aware Americans!
Let's Go Brandon!
Fauci outlawed handshakes.
I gave up MLB when they embraced Burning Looting Mobs.
I don’t feel any sense of connection with professional athletes.
It's traditional in football for the coaches to shake hands after a game.
College basketball teams often shake hands with the opposing coaches and players.
It reminds me of the 2004 National League division series. At the request of Canadian-born Larry Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Dodgers and Cardinals shook hands at the end of the series, mush like they do in the NHL during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Walker said it was a tradition that didn't catch on, and as far as I know, remains the only time it has happened in MLB.
Hockey still has the players line up for the handshakes at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs and finals.
I wouldn’t shake the hand(s) of a cheater. Screw the stros....
You are right, of course. The team that lost the Series often looks on for a few minutes, thinking, forlorn, about what might have been. No mood for cordiality.
Where the rabbi is wrong is this: the winning team are fools if they don’t say “we just beat a great and mighty team of stellar players and feel blessed to have gotten past them”. And so I heard many Braves players say, to that effect.
Collapse judeo-Christian culture and import third worlders, make them the majority of your sports teams, you expect them to act like a bunch of Scotsmen? GTFO of here with that.
Thug ball doesn’t have the same values...
I gave up on MLB when it became BLM. The final straw was penalizing Atlanta for passing a voting law. I don't need the MLBLM to decide what laws a state can pass. It was fun here in Houston to see so many people wearing their Astros garb during the series, but I didn't watch it.
Interestingly, the last time the Braves had a similar year was 1914, when the Boston Braves were in last place halfway through the season, then zoomed up to first, then as the very-much-underdogs beat the Philadelphia Athletics in four straight, the first time a 4-0 World Series had ever happened (cf. here). I wonder whether the ending of game 4 was similar to today, with the Braves celebrating (at Fenway), and the As skulking off to the locker room on their way back to Philly.
Well, at least they don’t do like the Aztecs did when a team lost their Ring-Ball game.....................
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