This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Athletic Loyalty

It should be no surprise to anyone that Penn State, and now Syracuse University, have a built a culture that decreed that the football and basketball programs were more important than any victim.

Loyalty is a vital to the leadership process. Leaders have to be loyal to their followers and followers must be loyal to the leader. Loyalty is admirable and enjoyable in college athletics. In fact, loyalty is the primary lure to collegiate sports. It is pure, emotionally visceral, somewhat naïve and innocent in intent. Students, faculty and alumni become loyal to the university. The loyal collegiate identity extends to many communities as well as entire states. There is a celebration around mascots, colors and nicknames. Loyalty embraces legendary figures that have in the past brought athletic honors to the team and the school.

Collegiate fans tend to be more ‘consistently’ loyal than professional sports fan. Not in all cases. The NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox enjoy a fan base (as in the collegiate example) that is identified with generations of the family. In New York City the town is divided between Met and Yankee and Giant and Jet fans. Pro sports fans however are extremely fickle. Their loyalty is mostly predicated on their team winning.

Since the death of Jack Kent Cooke, the Washington Redskins fans' loyalty is almost measured quarter by quarter of the game. That of course is created by the initial lack of loyalty from the present owner to anything but his own ego. Many forget that just a couple of years ago fans were being thrown out of the stadium by an owner so focused on his own importance, who ejected fans from his stadium when they held signs disagreeing or protesting his decisions. To me it's all ridiculous how someone’s personal identity can be so wrapped up in an identity of any sports team; and I’ve lived in sports daily for 30 years!

Find out what's happening in Herndonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Loyalty is always tested in the bad times

But in the examination of a leader we must teach the limits of loyalty. Loyalty to a losing team can be an admirable trait and can teach values. We should be loyal to our team; to the process of playing a game or our team at work. So much is made of the parallel. Loyalty is always tested in a bad time. The delicate balance of loyalty can easily become corrupt. Misguided loyalty is dangerous. The students protesting Joe Paterno's dismissal and rioting in the streets a few weeks ago provided an example of loyalty beyond reason. The fact that the coach’s past history was successful and benevolent to the university does not excuse his inability to essentially cover up a scandal and alleged criminal activity of such proportions.

Find out what's happening in Herndonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It should be no surprise to anyone that Penn State, and now Syracuse University, have a built a culture that decreed that the football and basketball programs were more important than any victim. Those cover up decisions were simply about money. The Penn State football program generates a net $52 million a year; second only to the University of Texas. That number is not the total athletic program revenue, just the football program. The money stream from donations, concessions, memorabilia, oh yes, ticket sales and TV revenue, all needed to be protected. In reality, the big business of collegiate football has evolved a loyalty to the money the program generates. The culture masks itself in the pretense of loyalty to the universities and to the values of the collegiate amateur athletic program.

That pretense is now being uncovered week by week. Eventually goodness prevails; even if ever so slowly. Greed is overcome by compassion. Honesty and justice are the true benefits of a free, objective and investigative press (which of course tries our patience from time to time) and the persistence of those who speak out.

The past few years we have been assaulted with the failures of public leaders in which we tendered respect and loyalty. If we can learn anything by these tragic events we should value the importance of teaching leadership rather than the assumption that somebody is learning it on TV. The delicate balance of loyalty exists constantly in our lives. Loyalty can bind us together as a family, as a community. It also can excuse and protect those who seek to use us to support and indulge their own narcissism at the extreme.

While being vigilant against the purveyors of blind loyalty we must not become so negative as to lose sight of the true nature of the human condition; in many ways we depend on each other. We must trust each other to do the right thing for the right reason; it is inherent in the word team.

John@Pinkman.us - follow Pinkman Baseball on Facebook. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?