CHANDLER (AZ) — The world of sport has changed drastically over the years, but there is nothing that has proven the point any more that what happened in Cincinnati this last weekend. Sport is no longer played for the shear enjoyment of the moment. At the pee wee level it is all about getting ready for high school and how good they can be. Parents have become maniacs on the side lines often being worse than their own children on the field when it comes to yelling, screaming and even fighting. At the high school level, everyone is getting positioned for college and playing for a Big-6 school. In college, it is all about making it to the pros and the big money. Whatever means is need is OK. If that includes getting in the heads of your opponents before, during or after a game, that is also OK.

Basketball, in particular, has become a game of the playground where there are no officials and anything goes. Let’s face it, colleges are filled with players that 25 years ago would never have been accepted at the collegiate level and would not today if they were not athletes. All you have to do is listen to post game comments and you have to wonder if these athletes are even learning anything in college. The lack of proper grammar is appalling. I don’t expect everyone to use the Queen’s English, but simple grammar should be expected when someone is in their third or fourth year of college. The student part of student-athlete is long gone and frankly most people don’t care as long as your team scores more points than the other team.

What is even more appalling is what happened in the aftermath. Although UC did a much better job of penalizing the guilty, Xavier did as little as they could and hoped for the best. Chris Mack did everything he could to justify the actions of his players and had the audacity to allow his players to speak to the press after the game which should have been Coaching 101 as an absolute no-no after a massive confrontation on the court. This is a religious university and it should behave that way.

The referees did a marvelous job of standing around and letting things get out of hand. They were more worried about looking at the videos after the game to decide if someone should be ejected from a game that was over than they were about making sure it didn’t happen in the first place. It was mentioned that any official that has officiated the game in the past wants to avoid the situation. Two of the three that did do the game had no idea what they were getting in to. The A-10 has sat back and actually said that the officials did nothing wrong which is absolutely ludicrous to anyone that actually saw what was happening. In addition, the A-10 felt that the penalties handed down by Xavier were enough. Did they really even look at the tapes? This is typical A-10 leadership behavior.

Football has done a good job of trying to reduce taunting, it is now basketballs turn. My son plays on one of the best high school teams in the country this year and he said that they words go back and forth all of the time so it starts early. This will never be stopped completely, but somehow we need to get back to where everyone understands that it is still just a game. I understand that there are millions of dollars involved in all sports today, but somebody really needs to take a look at this situation and make sure that it doesn’t get worse. Once it is OK on the field and on the court, it will only get worse in the stands.

The real question comes to this, “Should character be part of the recruiting process?” Has winning become so important that it is all that matters? The fact that there is a belief that UD is still recruiting Geron Johnson makes you wonder. I am a person that believes in second and even third chances, but at some point you have to realize that people for the most part do not change as much as we would like to think and typically it doesn’t happen in a year or two. It is a long drawn out process. If a stay in jail doesn’t change a person, I don’t know what does.

Every school and every person needs to take a look at what is most important to them. Is it the wins or the image? I cannot imagine that UD would have allowed what happened in Cincinnati to happen in either location, but that is my own personal prejudice, although I believe, well founded. Xavier has fallen into the belief that they can consistently play with the big boys and to do that they need to stray from their core beliefs. Let’s hope that the University of Dayton never does.