Is Xbox killing sports???

[Coach D]

In this last decade and a half or so, as a football coach, occasional baseball coach, occasional softball coach, and parent to kids who play everything, I've noticed 2 huge differences from today's generation and mine. 
1.  Kids don't watch sports anymore...
2.  Kid's spend more time playing Xbox then playing outside or practicing their current sport or even fantasizing about being the next hall of famer...

So what???

Parents around here that I've talked to seem to agree with what I feel like is the problem and it's this - kids don't seem to take as much pride in the sport they play anymore.  They don't seem to mind losing... they don't seem to mind looking bad... they don't seem to like working like crazy on the off season.

I used to go outside in the spring with a baseball glove and tennis ball and throw at my garage for hours pretending to be Steve Carlton or Larry Bowa.  In the fall you would have found me lining out a mock field and pretending to be Walter Payton or Terry Bradshaw.  Running around making cuts, pretending to be tackled. That was all before Jr. High.  Then when I got more serious and started playing at higher levels, I was the athlete who stayed after baseball practice throwing down to second for an hour (I caught).  After baseball season it was all football for the other 3/4s of the year.  At least 3 hours in the gym a day in summer and winter.  Running hills, skipping rope... I was a maniac. 

I had heros! I wanted to be just like them.  I worked hard and played hard to be like them.  I wanted to be the best.  For me, my biggest honor was when the opposing coach would make a special point to shake my hand and spend an extra moment with me because I just ran for 280 yrds against his team.  Or when the local paper asked me to talk to them about the game or being looked at by Triple A scouts.  I'm not seeing that kind of love or pride or maybe the right word is obsession anymore...

I feel like the combination of a lack of zeal for the sport (from not really watching them and not falling in love with them) and the ability to zone out and go into a fantasy land where you can let the little digital guy do everything, has begun a trend that makes me wonder the future of sports in general. 

Is it just me?  Is it just this little town I live in?  It can't be everywhere because I still see dedication in some areas of the country.  Is it better that sports is maybe less serious?  And if you agree that there has been a loll in sport pride, do you think it comes from video games and the like or something else? 

Just want to start a discussion, as I respect you guys opinion very much and find myself a but frustrated at the lack of care I am seeing from athletes in my general vicinity...   

[Belebuch]

Yes on all counts. Its also ruined the perception of what football should be. Now days if the final score isnt 49-42 ppl say it was a boring game. No appreciation for defense anymore. These rule changes make me wanna puke.

Going off of memory, the game between the Colts and the Gmen that was titled "The greatest game ever played" ended in a score like 19-13 or something like that. Now a days ppl will say that was a snoozer. Too many playin Xbox on the super easy level.
My ex wifes brother loved Madden, he built his own teams from players he customed and would wax the Com by outragous scores -nearly 100pts- on easy level. One day i asked to play and he said sure as long as i can use my team. Game on. Lets just say he quit by mid 2nd qtr as i went ahead 28-0. So the mighty Xbox is also making little  quiters who take their ball and go home if they cant win by 40. He had time to comeback, but chose to quit and never played me again.

I only let my kids play games on the weekends, school is first during the week and during daytime hours on the weekends they have to play outside for atleast a few hours.

[coachD]

You are so true I live in Buffalo NY and the kids here are the same. Of course times are different with the random crimes and drugs nowadays but I moved to the Burbs and still the same thing out here. I remember being in the driveway dribbling and laying up over my garage on my make believe hoop or crate id nail to a phone pole, my mom would be saying "who are you playing against" and i'd say im taking the invisible dude to school mom,LOL. Id do that for hrs in BBall and Football couldnt tell me I wasnt going to be in the NFL or NBA. Now I hear its to cold, its raining , its to hot, WTF. I loved playing football in the snow taught me agility,balance and how to play under stress cause it was so cold everything you had on would freeze and it cushioned the fall. Rainy weather was MUD BOWL time, slipping and sliding around, fumbley rumbly I just loved it. Then theres the its to hot, I cant wrap my brain around that one. In the summer time Id grab my bike and was outside by 9am throwing some kind of ball and doing what boys did. I only came in when told to or when the street lights come on. If I needed water we used a water hose in some ones yard. I had a nintendo,sega but that was last resort for us not 1st. Mom didnt have to make us go out we were glad to get away, even the girls in my hood would play some ball lol and some were good to (Kizzy King aka The Tank) LOL. Man I tell you those were the good ole days I miss so much but your absolutly right Coach.

[CoachShad]

Agree 100% almost all of them look for the Reset Button these days.  I broke my right hand in 8th grade, about a month before school let out.  I scribbled with my left hand, shot baskets with my left hand, threw a ball (pathetically) with my left hand but I kept going.  By the time I went back to the doctor for a check up two weeks later he asked why I painted my cast black?  I replied that aint paint Doc, thats dirt!!  LOL  I broke my left foot 4 times (stress fractures) and still played.  It wasnt until I was 21 that I broke it for the last time and they finally put some super structure around it to prevent future happenings.  Hell I thought it was sprained, hurt like hell, but if I could walk I could play. 

We didnt sit in front of a video screen.  We ate breakfast left, had lunch (Maybe) and come home for dinner, then out til the street lights came on.  Wan't anything to have played 3 baseball games, some tackle football, and a few half court games in one day.  Next day be climbing trees, swimming in the Creek, or riding trails on our bikes. 

Hell now the worst injury most of em get is Carpal Tunnel!!   LOL   

[mahonz]

Oh please....I thought I was the old fart around here.

What are you all doing right now....sittin' in front of a video screen that's what. 

[Coach D]

Oh please....I thought I was the old fart around here.

What are you all doing right now....sittin' in front of a video screen that's what. 

If anything, xbox should be regulated to only "old farts" like us - like a drinking age

Think about it... If and that's a big IF a kid has a hero - say at seven years old - he can be that guy sittin on the couch, wearing the jersey, throwing to the all-pro, and making the crowd go wild...  and all he has to do is lift a finger.  He can eat Twinkies and never have to feel real pain, real rejection, real defeat, real shame!  But - with that, he'll never feel real pride, real accomplishment or real team brother-hood and the selflessness that comes with being a member of something bigger than yourself. 

Quick story...  I was coaching Babe Ruth 2 years ago, and a player of mine asked me about the team that was looking at me (He didn't believe me because the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Red Barons had changed to what is now the Yankees I think).  They are/were, not sure now, one of the Phillies Triple A farm teams....   Anyway - I told them that the secret of my success was playing Wiffle Ball.  We used to play all summer, sometimes from 9 at night to 2 in the morning.  We had the perfect yard with a big flood light.  It was so good for my hand eye coordination that it made hitting a curve in the real game pretty easy.  The kid HAD NEVER HEARD OF FLIPPING WIFFLE BALL!!!!!  i almost stopped practice and quit the season (I didn't, almost)... 

My kids and I play TONS of Wiffle ball in the summer 

[Michael]

Watching the first season of Hart to Hart.  Found that and the first season of Charlie's Angels tonight for a total of $24.98.  So I'm pretty much doing the exact same thing I was doing when I was 14.

[Coach D]

Watching the first season of Hart to Hart.  Found that and the first season of Charlie's Angels tonight for a total of $24.98.  So I'm pretty much doing the exact same thing I was doing when I was 14.

Ok - now you must say who your favorite angel is...  Mines always been Jacklyn Smith 

[Michael]

Absolutely Jaclyn Smith.  It's not even close.  She was on episode 2 of the Love Boat, by the way.  I own that, too.  Probably doesn't help the O-Line coaching image all that much.

[CoachShad]

Oh please....I thought I was the old fart around here.

What are you all doing right now....sittin' in front of a video screen that's what. 

 Indeed this is a video screen but there isnt a reset button and the street lights are on!!   

Says one dust farter to the other!!   

[CoachDoc]

Didn't kids just watch TV back in the day, or are you guys that old?  I guess I see both of them as the same.  My kids do play games/watch TV, but it is limited.  Also, with Madden, etc., you play them online, and you get some good real competition.  That wasn't around when I was a kid and played my Atari and then Nintendo.

[ZACH]

My rebutle:
It is yours/mine generation who is creating the games. So the end product is not at fault...kids only do what they are supplied it, stop buying the games and kids are forced. to do other things...

[Michael]

I don't think the guys who fought World War II and Korea were too fired up over my generation, either.

[CoachShad]

Speaking for myself we weren't allowed to sit in the house.  Outside is where you played and we played.  Rain was a total bummer but we played in the puddles. 

My own kid is guilty of saying he's bored, while sitting indoors on a bright sunny day.  Too hot, too cold, too windy, until the game gets unplugged.

 

[giantheart]

I don't agree at all...

Sure, there are video games now that now compete for a slice of kid time..So you don't get kids playing sports all day because there are a ton of other things to do.....baseball used to be the only thing kids played in the summer..now kids play other sports as well...like soccer,

I don't think that is the story at all

To me, the biggest difference is that sports are much more organized than they used to be. No more pick up games..everyone has to belong to a league..or multiple leagues. Kids don't call each other up to play baseball in the back yard or stick ball in the street anymore....now days, they text each other about when the next game is on their schedule.
the move to more organized sports play has propelled a whole new amateur sports industry....and have cost parents a fortune, especially for travel teams. On the flip side, it has made skill development more organized and more supervised, with amateur and professional coaches (and training aids) watching over every form of skill development.

I think this does two things..

1. it funnels out kids much faster than the good ole days..so not as many kids play a given sport (like baseball) as it was in the past.  If you look across all sports at the youth level, most participation is declining even as the pro leagues earn much more money. There are some exceptions like soccer and lacrosse, but these sports started from a very small base and are only growing because of penetration...All the marketing guys that follwo this stuff believe once they hit a threshold, these sports will level off as well.

2. the kids that are playing are much more commited and develop their skills much faster, more efficeintly, and at much greater expense than it used to be.  There is so much instruction out there avialble for anyone who has the money to buy it. ANd it is now year round, competing with other sports...Serious hockey players can no longer play baseball because of spring leagues, etc.

Is it better? is it worse? I guess that depends. kids that would have played multiple sports through HS in the old days find that they have to choose one over the other much sooner (for time and financial reasons) and kids that were maybe not as athletically gifted no longer have as many avenues to play becuase they withdraw from the rat race or take up other things that they can be good at. (unfortunatly..video games) or "alternative" sports like skateboarding, skiing,, or LMFAO.....competative eating ( I am not kidding!)