Sports Commentary: Fear factor

  “Crying?  There’s no crying in baseball!”

In the movie, “A League of Their Own,” the character played by Tom Hanks barks out those famous words.

Those words are directed toward a weepy player on the team he manages.

The statement is accurate:  In fact, there’s little place for tears in sport.  Similarly, there is little place for fear in sport.

A running back who flinches before being belted by a linebacker will not succeed at any level of football.  A batter who bails on an inside heater needs to find a different pastime.  A boxer who is afraid to take a roundhouse?  Ixnay on the ortspay for that guy.

Since there is no tolerance for fear in the world of sport, why is it that fear has become so well-accepted in other walks of life?

In recent weeks, here are the things (a partial list, mind you) which we were told we needed to fear:

-Ruination of our economy through the debt ceiling fiasco.

-Ruination of our treasury because of the S&P credit rating downgrade.

-Rioting, similar to what took place in London.

-Environmental impacts of fracking for fuel.

-The oils used in preparing our junk food.

-Casey Anthony, for reasons not really clear to me.

-Ground turkey AND ground beef.

-Mexican drug lords.

-That Iranian guy who needs a shave and a good scrubbing.

-A meltdown in our nuclear facilities on par with what happened in Japan.

-Peanuts that might magically bounce from airplane seat cushions into the mouths of our nut-allergic kids.

-Being in a really bad car accident where you are pinned down and can’t move and everyone else has died and they all had cell phones and you didn’t and you can’t reach any of their phones and you die a slow and painful death, unable to call for help.  (Thanks to Joe, my 11-year-old nephew, for that one:  an actual pitch on why he needs a cell phone.)

It doesn’t matter what your source of news:  CNN, Fox, MSNBC, CBS, Washington Post, or (alas) even Joe Forster.  They all monger fear.

I listened to NPR the other morning, something I hadn’t done in years.  During 30 minutes of its droning, I heard the word “fear” or “afraid” used half a dozen times on a wide range of subjects.

Some perspective:  In 1941, facing the loss of nearly our entire Pacific fleet (to the Japanese) and facing one of the most foul scourges this earth has ever known (in the form of Nazi Germany), our leader told us, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Today, facing the possible loss of 10% of our 401(k)’s value and facing the scourge of trans-fat in our French fries, our leaders tell us, “Be afraid.  Be very afraid.”

So, I ask again, why is it that we, as a society, are able to freely (nay, proudly) admit to fears when we don’t allow wimpy behavior by our athletes?

It is not because we consider them to be heroic.  No, that term is saved for soldiers and marines; firemen and policemen; folks who are truly worthy of the acclaim.

Still, it is notable that, with few exceptions, our athletes are among the handful of citizens for which fear is seen as a weakness, rather than as some sort of badge of honor.

There was a time when terms such as “craven” and “coward” were affixed to those who displayed fear, no matter the circumstances.

I have deep concerns (not fears, mind you) that we have allowed our society to become so wimpy that we have to look to athletes as models of valor.

Like the man said, there’s no room for crying in baseball.  There’s also no place for fear.  

Let’s make it that way with the rest of life.