Take from this what you wish, but I say it with a slightly guilty conscience. I coach athletics...football, basketball, track & field, and baseball. Watch the way fans in a crowd react to a play or a call from an official that they disagree with. Watch the way coaches on the sideline act when they feel a referee has missed or made a bad call. Watch how soccer/football/basketball/baseball/etc. players act out when calls don’t go their way or even when they are flopping to get a call. What about riots when someone’s team loses?

People call sports fans, coaches, and players/athletes “passionate” when we should all really look at it for what it is a large majority of the time = disturbing. Try to act that way in any other setting. Act that way ALL of the time in another setting...professional, social, in a military setting, as a babysitter, etc., etc., etc. What would be considered acceptable behavior or acceptable reactions when things don’t go your way at work, in school, at your grandparents’ house, in church, and so on?

I see frightening things on an almost daily basis as a coach and I make a very concerted effort to disallow my athletes from having ANY disrespectful or violently emotional reactions by modeling controlled behavior myself. Sometimes I feel like the culture of sports is too much and out of control, but I still want to make a difference. I try. I try my hardest, but the fight is getting more and more difficult in recent years. There is more finger point, more social media vitriol, more disrespectful comments from parents, kids, even people I don’t know. The strangest thing is, even when we are successful, people are still overreacting irrationally. Again, I find it...disturbing.

Saying video game addiction is a mental illness is sad. Although I agree that we should all turn off the games, go outside, and get some fresh air from time to time, I’m no authority on the subject. I will say one last thing, however.

Does the type of behavior in athletics seem a little too close to home? Was that type of general behavior something that was as prevalent before online gaming became the norm (perhaps forced upon us??)? It’s all a reflection of the world we live in, but man...typical behavior seems like it’s getting more and more out of control.