The Lost Art Of Class

Class- of high quality, integrity, status, or style

This is the definition of class according to dictionary.com.

This past weekend of sports has really proven that class may be gone in sports.

Serena Williams is one of the most accomplish tennis players in world. She holds 11 single grand slam titles and has been ranked number one in her career. Williams also had one of the most disgusting melt downs in U.S. Open history this past weekend.

Williams was called for a foot fault that inevitably lost her the match.

Williams had obvious reasons to be upset, but the way in which she handled this situation made it completely unacceptable.

She cursed out the line judge, and obviously made physical threats to her. Then Williams proceeded to tell the public that she handled the situation poorly, but she still believed that she was right.

This is what got me.

The fact that Williams believes she was correct and has the right to act like a spoiled kid in a Toys R Us is why class is gone.

Another example from the U.S. Open: Roger Federer.

This guy epitomizes class usually. He always says the right words, and Federer always treats each loser like a winner.

The only problem is that we usually only see the winning side of Federer.

This past U.S Open final against Juan Martin del Potro, we finally saw this side of Federer.

Federer became infuriated when del Potro took too long to challenge a call (this is no where in the rule book). Federer started cursing out the head chairmen and clearly lost his cool and composure.

Federer ended up losing the match and did not appear to be the most gracious loser.

This is not only happening in the world of tennis.

While watching the first week of the NFL I saw more player to player fights and more coaches yelling at the referees than ever.

The media glorifies this style of play too.

This morning all I saw on Sportscenter was the top story: a Yankee/Blue Jay brawl.

The anchors acted as if it was such a horrible thing that happened, but they ended up giving it more exposure and publicity than any other story that happened last night.

I miss the days when players played, coaches coached, and referees enforced the rules.

Nowadays it is perfectly okay for "superstars" like Kobe Bryant to go complain about every call in a basketball game, or to see players like Joba Chamberlain fist pump after a big 8th inning strike out.

What happened to players like Bill Russell, who would dunk the ball as quickly as possible to get back on defense, or Cal Ripken Jr. who would show up to work everyday?

Until we stop glorifying these “superstars” there is no real solution in sight.