When I first heard the name Valorie Kondos Field, I thought it referred to a sports venue rather than a person. Since then, I've come to have a great appreciation for the name of UCLA's women’s gymnastics coach and the extraordinary woman who owns it.

For one thing, she has impeccable credentials. Her name was among the first mentioned when I asked Coach John Wooden for a list of coaches who best exemplified the teacher-coach concept he introduced to the CHARACTER COUNTS! Pursuing Victory With Honor sports initiative.

He told me he was an avid fan of women's gymnastics who attends every meet he can. He loves the way Coach Val teaches her "girls" not merely to be great gymnasts – her teams have won three NCAA national championships – but to be good people.

So I got to know Val a bit and found out why Coach Wooden thinks so much of her. As a model teacher-coach, she takes seriously the notion that her team is comprised of student-athletes. Her team's cumulative grade point average is 3.4.

And, in a sport that highlights personal performances, Coach Val insists that her athletes work and think as a team. But what touched my heart most was watching her athletes enthusiastically cheering for each other during a meet.

Coach Wooden's endorsement is hard to beat, but the clincher for me was when my wife Anne, who runs her own gymnastics school and treats her gymnasts like they were her own kids, told me that no parent could hope for more than having a child coached, mentored, and loved by Valorie Kondos Field.

Coached, mentored, and loved – that's quite a combination.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 8:44 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

Several years ago, when my daughter Carissa was about to enter her first gymnastics competition, I wrote her a letter expressing my hopes and goals for her athletic experience. Here’s a revised version:

I know you’ve worked hard to prepare yourself to compete and how much you want to win. That’s a good goal. You will always get the best out of yourself when you strive for victory.

But winning is not the only goal or even the most important one. What’s most important is to have fun and learn. I want you to love the sport so much that you find pleasure in the effort itself and in the friendship of your teammates and other competitors.

I want you to know you can do well – no matter who takes home the medals – if you do your best. And you will be a winner if you keep getting better. I want you to pursue excellence with all your heart, not to please me or your mom or anyone else, but to experience the joy of accomplishment.

If you wobble, keep going. If you fall, get up and continue. No matter what happens, keep your head high. Don’t give up or give in. If things don’t go your way, don’t cry, whine, or make excuses.

Always conduct yourself in a way that brings honor to your team, your coaches, your family and, above all, yourself. I want you to be a model of good sportsmanship, treating the sport, its rules, your teammates, other competitors, and judges with respect.

But most of all, I want you to know how proud of you I am.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:07 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (3)

Long ago, I entered law school wanting to do good. I left more concerned with doing well.

In an atmosphere dominated by raging competitive instincts, persuasive rationalizations, and real economic pressures, cynicism drowned out idealism. My notion of the legal system as a grand forum for the pursuit of truth and justice was reduced to the idea that, in the end, it was just an adversarial game with a less noble purpose: win!

But it’s not just lawyers who are vulnerable to mission drift.

The idealistic drive of people who enter politics to pursue their personal version of the public good can be crushed or converted by real politics. It’s not easy to solve complicated problems in a world dominated by clashing convictions, limited resources, out-sized egos, and consuming personal ambitions. And so, the acquisition and retention of power, initially the means to an end, becomes the end itself – the measure of success is winning.

If you’re involved in youth sports, you too may be the victim of mission drift.

Is youth sports really a recreational and educational activity designed to allow children to have fun and develop valuable life skills, or is it just an early field of combat teaching the lesson that it, in the end, it’s just about winning?

These questions are probed in a challenging online assessment designed by the Josephson Institute to identify the core beliefs and values of the parents who support their children’s involvement in sports and the coaches and other adults who administer the programs.

Take a look at the survey at www.charactercounts.org/sports.

I suspect some of you will find a gap between your ideals and the reality you create or condone.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 8:32 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (5)

The tidal wave of praise and tributes commemorating Coach John Wooden's passing makes it hard to add something new. My effort is the following pledge derived from his Pyramid of Success and some of his favorite maxims. I invite you to take the pledge and pass it on to others.

(Learn how Coach Wooden helped launch our Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship campaign and see a video of him talking to Institute president Michael Josephson here.)

I pledge to improve and safeguard my character and to myself be true,
   being faithful to my convictions in all I say and do.
I will strive to do what's right and let my conscience be my guide,
   knowing my worth is measured by what I am inside.
I'll take on each day enthusiastically and give every task my all.
   I will not whine, complain, or make excuses, even if I fall.
I will live my life with purpose, thinking ahead and having a plan.
   I will never allow what I can't do interfere with what I can.
I will find opportunity in adversity and do things right the first time through
   and never be afraid to change or try something new.
I will be patient, poised, and confident, working toward each goal,
   being sure to govern my emotions and demonstrating self-control.
I will count my blessings daily and be grateful for what I possess,
   getting joy from moderation and avoiding all excess.
I will work hard and take initiative in order to excel,
   and I'll make big things happen by doing the little things well.
I will pursue victory with honor, not letting praise or criticism change how I act,
   and I'll strive to be worthy of pride and emulation, in reputation and in fact.
I will be sincere, honest, and loyal, worthy of other's trust.
   I will be respectful and responsible, doing what I must.
I will always act with fairness and show others how much I care,
   and I'll be a good citizen and always do my share.
I will live my life with dignity, passion, and fun
   and make each day my masterpiece when all is said and done.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

*Derived by Michael Josephson of the Josephson Institute of Ethics from the writings and philosophy of Coach John Wooden.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:38 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (3)

When I was a kid playing sports, there were no clubs, travel teams, or private coaches. Except for summer baseball leagues, the primary place to play was high school. When I was in the 10th grade, I wanted to play basketball in the worst way.

Unfortunately, given my size and talent, that’s how I played. But in those days, sports was part of the educational program. To accommodate every kid who wanted to play, there were four skill levels: varsity, junior varsity, B, and C teams.

I was a third-stringer on the C team, with the ambition to play in 12 quarters during the season, the minimum requirement for a letterman’s jacket.

Fortunately, the coach liked my spunk and put me in at the end of games when I could do no harm. In the last quarter of the last game, he made sure I got my letter by giving me an eight-second stint. Although I think I played less than two minutes of game time during that season, I was part of the team and played in every practice.

Three years later, I was the only senior still on the C team, but I was a starter! Of all my high school achievements, none was more important than my three basketball letters.

But it wasn't just recreation. It was education. My sports experience strengthened my character and helped me develop important life skills, including goal-setting, preparation, and perseverance. It also taught me a lot about honor and sportsmanship.

So when you read chilling stories about cheating coaches, out-of-control fans, or spoiled athletes, don’t blame sports. Blame the people who aren’t doing it right.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:26 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (4)

Like ’em or hate ’em, sports are a major cultural phenomenon that reflects and shapes our national values.

The way sports are played and the way participants and spectators react reveals the best and worst of human nature.

At their best, sports provide an ennobling metaphor for life, teaching us to strive and struggle with passion and integrity, to pursue victory with honor.

We’re constantly exposed to instances where an intense win-at-any-cost mentality has resulted in awful behavior and plentiful examples of premier athletes with shabby character.

The fact is, however, that misconduct by coaches, parents, and players – while far too common – is still the exception, not the norm. Involvement in sports is overall and overwhelmingly a positive character-building experience for most participants.

A recent survey of 3,700 coaches and 1,400 athletes by the Josephson Institute of Ethics demonstrates that the vast majority of coaches and athletes have healthy and ethical attitudes about sports.

Good coaches are, first and foremost, teachers concerned with much more than athletic prowess. They seek to enhance the mental, social, and moral development of athletes and instill positive life skills to help them become personally successful and socially responsible.

The good news is that most coaches are good coaches. Eighty-three percent of athletes said their coach sets a good example for ethics and character, 73 percent said their coach is more concerned with building character than winning, and 98 percent of coaches said they would rather be remembered for helping their athletes become better people than for winning games or championships.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

You may be interested in the statement of principles underlying the Institute’s Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship initiative. Learn more here.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:27 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (2)

Legendary basketball coach John Wooden often describes a time when college football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg was asked whether his undefeated team was the best he’d ever coached. Stagg responded, “I won’t know for another 20 years.”

• A celebration of your exceptional success as a coach, the championships you won, the records you set, and the athletes you coached who excelled as professionals
• A celebration of your success as a teacher with testimonials of athletes who say you positively impacted their lives and made them better people

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:24 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

In the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, six-time medalist Eugenio Monti from Italy was favored to win the gold medal in the bobsledding pair event. After his team’s last run, it looked like they were going to make it.

The British team, led by Tony Nash Jr., still had a chance, but before their final run, Nash discovered a critical axle bolt had broken on their sled. They were done.

Without hesitation, Monti removed the bolt from his sled and rushed it up to Nash’s team. They were able to continue, and their run was so strong they won the gold medal.

The Italian press viciously criticized Monti for giving up the gold, but he was steadfast. “Nash didn’t win because I gave him the bolt,” he said. “He won because he had the fastest run.”

Olympic swimming medalist John Naber says a true sportsman, one who believes in the Olympic ideal, not only wants to win, he wants to win against his best opponent on his best day. A true sportsman is not elated, but disappointed, when top competitors are injured or disqualified.

Monti won the gold medal at the next Winter Olympics, but it was his willingness to lose that earned him a prominent place in Olympic history. His act represents sportsmanship at its best: the pursuit of victory with zeal and passion, recognizing that there’s no true victory without honor.

Today, with so many teams and athletes willing to cheat or behave badly to win, we need reminders of the noble potential of sports. Parents and coaches should teach youngsters that the real glory of sport is in the striving, not the winning.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:48 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (5)

I’ve talked before about the Olympic ideals upon which the modern movement was founded. Over the years, new words and symbols were made part of Olympism to reinforce those ideals.

One of them is the Olympic Motto: citius, altius, fortius (faster, higher, stronger). Note that it’s not “fastest, highest, strongest” because the Olympic ideal encourages athletes to view success in terms of effort, the constant striving for improvement and the achievement of one’s personal best. Giving one’s best and pursuing victory with honor is a worthwhile goal regardless of the outcome.

The symbolism of the Olympic logo is also important. Each of the five Olympic rings is a different color representing 1) the colors that appeared on all the national flags of the world at the time of its design in 1913, and 2) the five inhabited continents (the Americas are treated as one, and no particular ring is meant to represent any specific continent). The rings are interlaced to represent that the Olympics are universal, bringing athletes from the world together.

The Olympic torch that carries the Olympic flame to the cauldron also has significant meaning. Ancient Greeks believed that fire, given to mankind by Prometheus, has sacred qualities. For many, it represents the spark of humanity, the flame within all of us that makes us human.

The Olympic flame is lit in front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia using a parabolic mirror to focus rays of the sun. Emphasizing the inextinguishable nature of man and the linking of all of us, a worldwide relay of runners carrying torches brings the flame to the site of the Games where an honored athlete ignites the cauldron.

Olympic ideals can and should infuse sports and our lives with nobler purpose and deeper meaning.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 11:00 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

You don’t have to be cynical to note that none of the modern Olympic Games have consistently lived up to the noble goals of their founder. There’s too much nationalism, commercialism, overemphasis on medal counts, and explosions of pure ego.

But before we despair about the imperfections of this grand effort to promote world peace and fair play, consider the legend of how the games began in 776 B.C.

The story is that a prince named Pelops sought the hand of the daughter of the king who was vain about his chariot-racing skill. The king challenged each of his daughters’ suitors to a race, promising that anyone who beat him could marry his daughter and become heir to his kingdom.

But the stakes were high. If a suitor lost, he would be beheaded, and his head would decorate the palace. That’s a pressure our modern athletes don’t face.

According to the myth, Pelops secretly replaced the bronze linchpins on the king’s chariot with ones made of wax. During the race, the wax melted and the king was thrown to his death. Pelops married the princess and instituted the Olympic Games to celebrate his victory. Not exactly the example of sportsmanship envisioned in the Olympic Creed.

National pride and prestige were always part of the Games, however. The best athletes were heavily recruited and richly rewarded. Cheating and bribery were so common that statues of athletes caught rigging or fixing contests were erected (paid for by the cheaters) on the roadway leading to the stadium to memorialize their shame.

I wonder if we should consider doing that in Washington?

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:50 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (3)

Legends differ on the exact reason, but it’s pretty certain that the first Olympic Games were conducted in Greece in 776 B.C. Thereafter, they were held every four years (called an Olympiad) for nearly 12 centuries.

During the Games, a temporary global truce was declared so athletes from warring countries could compete. Only male athletes participated, and they competed in the nude. Victors were crowned with wreaths from a sacred olive tree thought to have been planted by Hercules (Heracles) behind the temple of Zeus. They were also given substantial cash rewards.

The games were abolished in 393 A.D. by Emperor Theodosius I who thought they were remnants of pagan worship.

Fifteen hundred years later, in 1894, a Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin organized the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to revive the tradition. The first modern Olympic Games opened in 1896 in Athens.

De Coubertin had more noble ambitions than his ancient predecessors. He embodied in the founding documents the notion of Olympism as a philosophy of life. His concept was built on core principles including the Greek ideal of the well-rounded person with physical, moral, intellectual, and artistic qualities and the belief that international athletic competition can uplift and inspire the character of the world and generate cross-cultural friendships and understanding as a basis for world peace.

In 1908, he introduced the Olympic Creed that defines the Olympic spirit. To this day, this statement is the guiding star for those who see and want to pursue the ennobling potential of sports: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:34 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (5)

In Echoes of the Maggid, Rabbi Paysach Krohn tells a story of a young boy with severe learning disabilities named Shaya who was walking past a park with his father when he saw a group of boys playing baseball.

He asked his dad if he thought they’d let him play. Although Shaya couldn’t even hold a bat properly, his father asked one of the boys, who surprisingly said yes.

The boy knew Shaya and reasoned that the game was almost over with his team six runs behind. He said, “He can play the outfield, and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the last inning.”

Unexpectedly, the team rallied. With two outs, the bases loaded, and the potential winning run at the plate, it was Shaya’s turn to bat. The boys kept their word and let him come to the plate.

After a clumsy first swing, a teammate held the bat with Shaya. The pitcher moved closer and lobbed the ball in softly. With his teammate’s help, Shaya hit a slow ground ball back to the pitcher.

Although he could have easily thrown him out and ended the game, the pitcher deliberately threw it over the first baseman’s head. Everyone started yelling, “Shaya, run to first! Run to first.”

Wide-eyed with excitement, Shaya ran. The right fielder saw his joy and intentionally made another bad throw. Players on both teams shouted for Shaya to keep running, and the shortstop helped by steering him in the right direction.

As everyone shouted “Run home, Shaya!” Shaya finally reached home plate to a hero’s welcome, and all 18 boys cheered him for his game-winning grand slam home run.

Shaya was deliriously happy, and his father wept knowing he’d just experienced a perfect moment in a perfect game.

This is Michael Josephson, reminding you that character counts.

This commentary was adapted from one circulated on the Internet under the name “Run, Shaya, Run.” The original version was published under the name “Perfection at the Plate” in the above book by Paysach Krohn, who claimed the story was true and that he heard it from Shaya’s father, a friend of his. An interesting critique of the incident, which says treating such children in a patronizing manner is disrespectful and unhelpful in the long term, can be found here.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:14 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (8)

In this interview Michael comments on some of the big news stories of 2009. Originally broadcast Dec. 27, 2009 on NBC4 Los Angeles.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 11:29 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Until 1987, the press adhered to a code of silence that protected powerful people from having to answer for infidelities.

This changed after a newspaper outed presidential candidate Senator Gary Hart with photos and a well-investigated story proving the Senator had cheated on his wife. The story created a new journalistic ethic that subjects major public figures to ruthless and relentless scrutiny about everything, including their sex lives.

The justification is that the way people treat their vows and their spouses reveals important aspects of their character. Since that time, searching for and sensationalizing infidelity has been fair game, and the careers of scores of politicians and evangelists have been damaged or destroyed by marital transgressions.

Although an unruly mob of gossip reporters and bloggers eagerly and without restraint report anything that feeds the hunger of fans who want to know everything about the people they admire, serious news organizations generally don’t treat the sexual lives of athletes and entertainers as news unless a crime is involved. In fact, it’s assumed that promiscuity is the norm.

This is the context in which I initially urged restraint in exposing details of Tiger Woods’s private life and recommended generosity in judging a man who seemed to lead a decent life and set a good example.

In fact, with the help of careful image-making, Tiger had achieved Zeus-like status on the sparsely populated Mt. Olympus of sports role models. He was Mr. Clean; not only a great golfer but a great guy, an image that helped him become the first billion-dollar athlete.

Unfortunately, it’s now clear that he doesn’t deserve the slack I and others wanted to give him. Perhaps his serial infidelities and massive hypocrisy may make Tiger the new Gary Hart.

More about this tomorrow.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:47 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (5)

To lots of athletes, coaches, and fans, sportsmanship is an outdated concept. Like the Miss Congeniality Award in beauty contests, many think it’s for runner-ups and losers.

The barbarians believe rules are made to be broken, that it’s wise and proper to do whatever you can get away with.

Did you see the shocking video of University of New Mexico soccer player Elizabeth Lambert violently yanking an opponent’s pony tail and tripping, shoving, punching, and kicking a host of other players?

Women’s soccer has become a rough, physical game, but still there are rules that govern the sport, define fair play, and prohibit dangerous acts that can produce serious injuries.

Many people were horrified by her conduct and approved of her subsequent suspension. But what about the adults who taught her to act like a thug or looked the other way?

The referee should have enforced those rules immediately, and her coach should have pulled her out of the game after the first incident. Even the passive reaction of the opposing coach and her players who accepted – and thereby encouraged – Lambert’s brutish behavior contributed to the problem.

But before we give up on sportsmanship, do you remember the story of Sarah Tucholsky, who hit the first home run in her life in a collegiate softball game? While rounding first base, she tore a ligament and fell to the ground in agony.

After the umpire reminded her coach that Sarah would be called out if anyone on her team tried to help her, the other team’s best hitter, Mallory Holtman, asked if she and a teammate could assist Sarah. The astonished official approved the unheard-of gesture, which the rules did not prohibit.

As Mallory and her shortstop carried Sarah around the bases so the home run would officially count, the players and spectators realized they were seeing something extraordinary – a spontaneous, unselfish act of sportsmanship that was so uplifting it brought tears to the eyes of even grizzled veterans.

Mallory’s example taught us what sports can be if we let character count.

How good is your sportsmanship? Please take one of our surveys here.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 11:56 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (7)

While helping to draft the CHARACTER COUNTS! Arizona Sports Summit Accord in 1999 – a declaration of ethical principles for youth and collegiate sports – John Wooden, one of the greatest coaches of all time, inserted language that declared “a coach is, first and foremost, a teacher.”

This anchor concept has greatly influenced our Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship campaign and spawned the term “teacher-coach.”

Although Coach Wooden was an extraordinary basketball skill-builder and strategist as well as an intense and passionate competitor who always wanted to win, his teaching domain went beyond athletics. He never measured the success of his coaching in terms of wins or championships. He understood that his unique relationship with his student-athletes gave him both the power and responsibility to shape their attitudes about honor, integrity, and fair play.

His highest goal was to bring out and enhance the best in the young men who played for him. Thus, he continually sought to instill in them a rich array of values and virtues associated with good character.

Today’s sports environment is so preoccupied with winning that teacher-coaches like Wooden seem to be a breed on its way to extinction. Let’s face it. Collegiate coaches are paid huge sums of money, and it’s not because they’re superb educators or character builders.

Millions of youngsters play sports. Think how much better they and society would be if they’re lucky enough to play for a teacher-coach. We shouldn’t settle for anything less.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:45 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (2)

Whether you're a sports fan or not, you have to acknowledge the powerful cultural influence sports has on our culture. The values of millions of participants and spectators are shaped by the values conveyed in sports, including our views on what is permissible and proper in the competitive pursuit of personal goals.

Professional sports and even highly competitive intercollegiate sports seem irreversibly addicted to the idea that sports is basically a business and that the only thing that makes sports profitable is winning. And if that means we have to tolerate egocentric self-indulgent showboating or whining, violence or even cheating, so be it. Clearly these attitudes have invaded youth sports as well. Everywhere we see that a lot of adults -- both coaches and parents -- need to grow up and realize the game is not about either their egos or ambitions.

The appropriate mission of youth sports is to provide kids a safe environment in which they have fun, build character, learn to practice sportsmanship, and develop skills and traits that help them become responsible citizens and live happy, healthy lives. Striving to win is an important aspect of competition and teaching kids how to compete effectively and honorably is important, but youth sports is not primarily about winning; it's about trying to win and learning through effort and improvement.

Of course winning is fun and kids like to win, but it's the adults who distort the experience because of their need to win. No matter how much we try, only a few youngsters will move beyond high school sports, and an even tinier percentage will make a living from athletics. But when youth sports is done right, every participant can build positive life skills and gain lifelong memories from the pursuit of victory with honor.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Learn more about Josephson Institute's sportsmanship programs here.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:55 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (5)

A former successful college coach and athletic director once wrote me a note about the state of college sports.

The pressure to win in high-profile schools is so great, he said, that it’s almost impossible to resist rationalizing. When competitors cheat or engage in other unethical conduct, the tendency is to redefine the ground rules for competition rather than be at a disadvantage.

He compared the way win-hungry boosters blur the vision and undermine the integrity of coaches and administrators with the way money-hungry shareholders stress stock prices, which promotes accounting manipulation and other ethical shortcuts.

In sports, outsiders who aren't concerned with a college’s educational mission or notions of sportsmanship and character-building promote a “no excuses” demand on coaches that can transform an athletic program into a business driven by the pursuit of money and glory.

In business, shareholders (from day traders to money managers of mutual and pension funds) who aren’t concerned with the ethics or long-term viability of a company create pressures and incentives that can promote short-term decision-making and undermine the economic and moral health of their firm.

We need people to act as guardians who will understand and protect the soul of their enterprise. Coaches should be allowed to think about more than winning, and business executives should be given the opportunity to consider more than stock prices and short-term profits.

If we don’t recalibrate our incentive systems and insulate coaches and managers from unhealthy influences, things will only get worse.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:25 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

Suppose you hear that the only person who has a chance to beat you at this weekend’s golf match is ill and may have to withdraw. Are you overjoyed at your good luck or disappointed that you won’t be able to compete against the very best?

If you really love and understand sports, you ought to be disappointed. John Naber, the winner of four Olympic gold medals in swimming, says a true sportsman wants to compete against his best competitor on his best day. Yes, that makes winning more difficult and less likely, but it also makes the event more exciting and a victory more meaningful. Being declared the winner is not real victory; being the best is.

If you play any sport, what’s more fun: to play against someone you easily dominate or against someone who forces you to be your best and makes every point an exciting challenge? You see, the point of sports is to have fun while trying to win and loving the game enough that you can have fun whether you win or not.

Athletic competition should not be a form of war. The people you compete against are also the people you play with. They’re not your enemies. The word “competition” comes from the Latin root competere that means “to strive together, not against each other.” Be thankful for quality competitors who push you to your limit. You’ll find sports more healthy and enjoyable when you respect and even like your opponents rather than hate them.

When you compete with someone as good or better than you, you may not always win, but you never lose.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:17 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

As an athlete, I had to aspire to be mediocre. Still, I loved sports. When my baseball career ended when I was cut from my Pony League team at age 13, it was a devastating blow. Fortunately, my high school had a different philosophy: Every kid who wanted to participate could have a sports experience. They accomplished this by organizing four levels from varsity to C team.

I switched to basketball, and though I rode the bench my first year for all but about two minutes, I had a great experience. I stayed on the C team as a senior and became a starter.

Sports belong in schools as an important opportunity for physical and social growth. But high school sports are being hijacked. A minority of competitive coaches and a growing contingent of sports parents consumed by illusions of professional careers for their kids have changed the face of interscholastic competition. As the pursuit of celebrity, glory, and imagined financial rewards has pushed the educational values of competing far out of sight, schools across the country are violating the spirit of sportsmanship by assembling all-star teams of elite athletes.

It’s not the athletes who are exploited, however. These kids and their parents are getting exactly what they want. The real victims are (1) the teams they wallop because of the mismatch and (2) the kids who want to play but are displaced by students who transfer from other schools or other countries. Today, few highly successful programs are built on local kids.

It’s a shame and a sham, and I don’t understand why the parents of kids who are denied their chance to play tolerate it.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 5:27 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (6)

When I first heard the name Valerie Kondos Field, I thought it was a sports venue. Since then, I’ve come to have a great appreciation for the name of UCLA’s women’s gymnastics coach and the extraordinary woman who owns it.

For one thing, she has impeccable credentials. Her name was among the first mentioned when I asked Coach John Wooden years ago for a list of coaches who best exemplified the teacher-coach concept he introduced to the CHARACTER COUNTS! Pursuing Victory With Honor sports initiative.

He told me he was an avid fan of women’s gymnastics and attended every meet he could. He loves the way Coach Val teaches her girls to be not merely great gymnasts – her teams have won five NCAA national championships – but to be good people.

So I got to know Val a bit and found out why Coach Wooden thinks so much of her. As a model teacher-coach, she takes seriously the notion that her team is comprised of student-athletes. Her team’s cumulative grade-point average is always among the top in the conference.

And in a sport that highlights personal performances, Coach Val insists that her athletes work and think as a team. But what touched my heart most was watching her athletes enthusiastically cheering for each other during a meet.

Coach Wooden’s endorsement is hard to beat, but the clincher for me was when my wife Anne, who runs her own gymnastics school and treats her gymnasts like they were her own kids, told me that no parent could hope for more than having a child coached, mentored, and loved by Valerie Kondos Field.

Coached, mentored, and loved – that's quite a combination.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:48 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

I’ve spent lots of time with some of the world’s most successful coaches, and many think about character a lot, especially traits that are important to winning: self-discipline, perseverance, resiliency, and courage. They pay less attention to virtues that make a good person, citizen, spouse, or parent: honesty, integrity, responsibility, compassion, respect, and fairness.

The problem is, even at the amateur level, many coaches are hired and paid to win, not to build character. Unless it interferes with performance, worrying about the kind of people athletes are off the field is a waste of time.

Coaches who seek to hone the mental and physical skills of winning while ignoring moral virtues of honor and decency too often produce magnificent competitors who are menaces to society.

Perhaps coaches of elite athletes not connected with educational or youth-serving institutions can operate in this moral vacuum, but all others have a responsibility to teach, enforce, advocate, and model aspects of good character such as trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

Whether it’s sports, business, or politics, whenever we divorce issues of competence from character, we create a class of amoral professionals who think they’re exempt from common standards of honor and decency. This discredits and demeans the moral standing of everyone involved.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:58 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (2)

You probably heard that LeBron James, nicknamed “King James,” acted like a spoiled prince after his team was soundly thrashed in game that eliminated his team from the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. It was a crushing disappointment to this 24-year-old superstar whose personal performance was stellar, even heroic.

No one could blame him for wanting to scurry out of the spotlight without congratulating and shaking the hands of the players who beat him.

No one could blame him for wanting to shun the mandatory postgame press conference where he'd be forced to put his pain on display and answer repetitive questions about how the golden team with the best winning record in all of basketball could have been so soundly defeated.

No one could blame him for wanting to avoid his responsibilities. But we can blame him for doing so. Duties often trump desires.

When he failed to acknowledge his opponents, he dishonored the tradition of the game and breached his responsibility as a role model to be gracious in defeat. It’s not simply a matter of sportsmanship; it’s a matter of respect.

When he ditched the league’s mandated press conference, he violated his responsibilities to his teammates (he left them alone to explain the defeat) and to the game that made him a multimillionaire and an international icon.

Later he made things worse.

Ignoring the old adage, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging,” unkingly James dug much deeper with this explanation: “It’s hard for me to congratulate someone after you lose to them. I’m a winner. I’m not being a poor sport. When somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them. That don’t make sense to me. I’m a competitor. That’s what I do. It doesn’t make sense to shake somebody’s hand.”

In terms of foolishness, the statement is similar to Charles Barkley’s controversial remark in a Nike ad: “I am not a role model. I am not paid to be a role model.”

LeBron seemed to be saying that a guy who’s used to winning, a man with a fierce competitive spirit, can’t be expected to lose with grace or to honor the traditions of his sport by shaking hands with the opponents who beat him. If he’s right, the only athletes bound by the constraints of sportsmanship are those who don’t care about winning as much as LeBron.

This is not only stupid, it isn’t what LeBron really believes. At least it’s not how he’s acted until now. LeBron James has to this point been an outstanding role model. His interactions with the press and other players have revealed a fundamentally good guy, gracious and classy in both defeat and victory.

His clean record, however, doesn’t entitle him to a free pass. He’s too visible, too important to the game. The beating he’s been taking in the press, therefore, is a predictable and proper result demonstrating the moral axiom: “You can avoid your responsibilities, but you can’t avoid the consequences of avoiding your responsibilities.”

That’s okay. He’s got years ahead of him to reclaim his reputation. One bad moment doesn’t make someone a bad person. I hope and expect he’ll make better choices in the future and regain his throne.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

This text version is longer than the audio version.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:17 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (31)

Several years ago, when my daughter Carissa was about to enter her first gymnastics competition, I wrote her a letter expressing my hopes and goals for her athletic experience. Here’s a revised version:

My dearest Carissa,

I know you’ve worked hard to prepare yourself to compete, and I know how much you want to win. That’s a good goal. You’ll always get the best out of yourself when you strive for victory.

But winning is not the only goal or even the most important one. What’s most important is to have fun and learn. I want you to love the sport so much that you find pleasure in the effort itself and in the friendship of your teammates and competitors.

I want you to know that no matter who takes home the medals, you will do well if you do your best. And you will be a winner if you keep getting better. I want you to pursue excellence with all your heart, not to please me, your mom, or anyone else but to experience the joy of accomplishment.

If you wobble, keep going. If you fall, get up and continue. No matter what happens, keep your head high. Don’t give up or give in. If things don’t go your way, don’t cry, whine, or make excuses.

Always conduct yourself in a way that brings honor to your team, your coaches, your family and, above all, yourself. I want you to be a model of good sportsmanship, treating the sport, its rules, your teammates, competitors, and judges with respect.

But most of all, I want you to know how proud of you I am.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:59 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

Long ago, I entered law school wanting to do good. I left more concerned with doing well.

In an atmosphere dominated by raging competitive instincts, persuasive rationalizations, and real economic pressures, cynicism drowned out idealism. My notion of the legal system as a grand forum for the pursuit of truth and justice was reduced to the idea that, in the end, it was just an adversarial game with a less noble purpose: win!

But it’s not just lawyers who are vulnerable to mission drift.

The idealistic drive of people who enter politics to pursue their personal version of the public good can be crushed or converted by real politics. It’s not easy to solve complicated problems in a world dominated by clashing convictions, limited resources, outsized egos, and consuming personal ambitions. And so the acquisition and retention of power, initially the means to an end, becomes the end itself — the measure of success is winning.

If you’re involved in youth sports, you too may be the victim of mission drift.

Is youth sports really a recreational and educational activity designed to allow children to have fun and develop valuable life skills, or is it just an early field of combat teaching the lesson that, in the end, it’s just about winning?

These questions are probed in a challenging online assessment designed by Josephson Institute to identify the core beliefs and values of the parents who support their children’s involvement in sports and the coaches and other adults who administer the programs.

Visit Josephson Institute's Center for Sports Ethics to see how you measure up.

I suspect some of you will find a gap between your ideals and the reality you create or condone.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 12:25 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

Did you hear the sports story that came out of Greece a few years ago? No, it wasn't from the country that spawned the Olympics, though it has an Olympic quality. The story came out of Greece, New York, and it was about Jason McElwain, a 17-year-old autistic kid, and Jim Johnson, a high school basketball coach.

Jason, who didn't speak until he was five and always struggled with learning challenges, was short for a basketball player, only five foot six. In fact, he never made the team. He was the team manager, who kept stats and handed out water bottles.

But Coach Johnson liked Jason's enthusiasm for the game and his unselfish dedication to the team. So he decided to let him suit up for the last home game of the season. If the score permitted, he might even let him play a few minutes.

Word got around and a group of students came to the game with signs bearing his nickname, "J-Mac," and cutouts of his face placed on popsicle sticks.

When Jason was put into the game with four minutes left, they cheered wildly, hoping that he might even score a basket. In Hollywood, he would have done just that, and his teammates would have carried him off on their shoulders. But in the real world of Greece, New York, Jason took a shot and missed by about six feet. His supporters groaned and the coach worried that he may have set this young man up for embarrassment.

But J-Mac took another shot, and another, and another. In fact, he took 10 shots, sank a school record six three-pointers, and scored 20 points in his four minutes of glory.

And, yes, he was carried off on the shoulders of his teammates. And it was the career high point in the life of a coach who just gave a good kid a chance.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Webmaster at 10:07 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (7)

A high school football coach once wrote to tell me his team was going to the state finals, but he was troubled. An English teacher had just caught three of his players cheating on an exam they had to pass to remain eligible. He told the coach he’d passed them “for the good of the school.”

The coach realized if his players hadn’t passed the test, they would have been ineligible. According to league rules, all games in which they had played would have to be forfeited, and his team would be disqualified from the finals.

The coach asked me, “What good would it do to report the ineligibility?” The players who committed the act would be devastated, and the ones who didn’t would be unfairly denied their shot at the championship. Parents, players, and others would be furious, the English teacher would get in big-time trouble, and he, the coach, might lose his job.

“Wouldn’t the greater good be accomplished if I just kept quiet?” he asked.

Of course not. Although it would take great moral courage to do the right thing – play by the rules and let the chips fall where they may – I told him that’s precisely what he should do.

There were many stakeholders (people who would be affected by the decision) involved in this situation, and the coach was duty-bound to use his teaching platform to send an unequivocal message about honor and integrity. Failing to do so would deprive another team of its right to go to the finals. Looking the other way would undermine his credibility.

It’s a high price to pay, but as the years go by, the decision to pursue the path of honor would be an enduring gift to his players and community.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 11:11 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (10)

When Larry volunteered to coach a boys’ football team, he wanted to help each youngster develop not only his football skills but his character and work habits. He also wanted to mold them into a winning machine.

Early on, however, he realized those goals were incompatible. In the end, his desire to win won, and he convinced himself that the youngsters would learn more by winning than losing.

His teams went undefeated for five consecutive years until one day it dawned on him that “I’ve made some very good football players, but they aren’t going to people I’d want as neighbors, let alone fellows I’d want to date my kids.”

And at once, all his victories turned to dry powder. When he saw some of his best players make bad life decisions, he knew he’d failed them. What he’d taught them about blocking, tackling, throwing, and running had made them better athletes, but he could have spent more time teaching them values that would have made them better people.

Today Larry coaches coaches. He tells them their primary responsibility is to provide kids with a safe and fun context for building character and positive life skills. He tells them competition and passion in the pursuit of victory are important to sports and, when kept in perspective, enhance enjoyment and personal development.

Then, using himself as an example, he warns them not to let the desire to win blur their vision as to what coaching is really about.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:39 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (3)

I once received a note from Gwen, a youth coach who learned that Bill, a close friend who coaches another team, had lied about the age of some of his gymnasts to increase their chances of winning. She knew her kids would recognize that his athletes were in the wrong age division and be upset, but she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to lose Bill as a friend and was afraid that blowing the whistle could ruin her reputation in her close-knit gymnastics community.

Let’s start by recognizing that ethical problems come in two forms. Some are problems of discernment, where it’s difficult to determine what’s right. Others are problems of discipline, where it’s clear what should be done but doing so is difficult.

Gwen’s problem fell into the discipline category. Bill’s action was clearly wrong and she had a responsibility to prevent it. She couldn’t let her kids down by looking the other way just because it was hard to stand up for what’s right. As Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”

It was up to Gwen to confront Bill and give him a chance to fix the problem. If he didn’t, she had to report him.

Yes, it would probably destroy their friendship, but the gap in their values made that inevitable. Some colleagues would likely take Bill’s side, too, but there will always be a split between those who cheat and those who don’t.

Still, if Gwen is a coach, she is a teacher. Her problem is actually a great opportunity in disguise. Doing the right thing when it’s personally costly is the best possible way to teach moral courage.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:56 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (3)

According to Henry David Thoreau, a philosopher seeks to understand and solve the most serious problems of life, not only theoretically but practically. A true philosopher, Thoreau added, is so committed to wisdom that he seeks to live wisely and so lives a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.

By this definition, John Wooden, my favorite coach and teacher, is every inch a great American philosopher. Here are just a few of his powerful insights:

On Perfection: "Perfection is an impossibility, but striving for perfection is not. Do the best you can. That is what counts."

On Management: "You'll get better cooperation and results if you're sincerely interested in people's families and interests, not in simply how they do their job."

On Learning: "Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow."

On Success: "You must be interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way."

On Trust: "You will be hurt occasionally if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough."

On Joy: "Mix idealism with realism and add hard work. This will often bring much more than you could ever hope for."

On Winning: "If you prepare properly, you may be outscored but you will never lose. You always win when you make the full effort to do the best of which you're capable."

You can read more in Be Quick -- But Don't Hurry! with Andrew Hill and in Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court with Steve Jamison.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:27 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (3)

In Echoes of the Maggid, Rabbi Paysach Krohn tells a story of a young boy with severe learning disabilities named Shaya who was walking past a park with his father when he saw a group of boys playing baseball. He asked his dad if he thought they’d let him play. Although Shaya couldn’t even hold a bat properly, the father asked one of the boys, who surprisingly said yes.

The boy knew Shaya and reasoned that the game was almost over. His team was six runs behind, so he said, “He can play the outfield, and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the last inning.”

Unexpectedly, his team rallied. When Shaya came to bat, there were two outs, the bases were loaded, and the game was on the line. The boys kept their word and let him come to the plate.

After a clumsy swing, a teammate went up and held the bat with him. The pitcher moved closer to lob the ball in softly. With his teammate’s help, Shaya hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. He could have easily thrown him out and ended the game, but he deliberately threw it over the first baseman’s head. Everyone started yelling, “Shaya, run to first. Run to first!”

Wide-eyed with excitement, he ran. The right fielder saw his joy and intentionally made another bad throw. Players on both teams shouted for him to keep running. The shortstop helped him run in the right direction.

To the cheers of “Run home, Shaya!” he got a hero’s welcome at home plate as all 18 boys from both teams cheered him for his game-winning, grand-slam home run.

Shaya was deliriously happy, and his father wept knowing he’d just experienced a perfect moment in a perfect game.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

* This commentary was adapted from one that has circulated widely on the Internet under the title “Run, Shaya, Run.” The original version was published by Krohn as “Perfection at the Plate” in his 1999 book. He attests that the story is true, which he claims he heard from Shaya’s father, a friend of his. The full story and an interesting critique (which finds fault with the message because, in the writer’s view, treating such children in a patronizing manner is disrespectful and unhelpful in the long term) can be found at http://www.snopes.com/glurge/chush.asp.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:15 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (5)

Over two years ago, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) contacted me to discuss ways to enhance the positive educational impact of the 2008 Olympic Games. I was excited but skeptical in light of highly publicized instances of drug cheating and boorish conduct that had tarnished the image of American athletes and the Olympics.

I was honored to play a small part in this huge, complicated, and unprecedented effort to bring together the elite athletes most likely to represent us in Beijing. The bulk of the project, the Olympic Ambassador Program, was conducted by a dozen former Olympic medalists whose words and example epitomized Olympic ideals.

More than 600 athletes participated in the program, but logistical and other reasons prevented some high-profile teams from taking part – including the swimming, gymnastics, and basketball squads. I fretted, nagged, and complained, worrying that we weren’t doing enough, but I was assured that the administrators and coaches of those teams were fully on board and actively promoting the Make U.S. Proud theme.

My fears proved to be groundless. The results are in and, beyond doubt, all our athletes and coaches made us proud.

Yes, they won 110 medals, but the most important and lasting achievement of Team USA was the way they combined passion and competitiveness with dignity, poise, enthusiasm, and sportsmanship to enhance America’s image and win millions of friends.

The on- and off-the-field team performances in basketball, volleyball, soccer, water polo, and softball were admirable, but at the center of this tribute to the true spirit of Olympism were particular superstars: decathlete Bryan Clay, swimmers Michael Phelps and Dara Torres, gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, and all the basketballers including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Lisa Leslie.

The administrators, coaches, and athletes who carried the American flag with such honor deserve our congratulations and thanks. They sure made me proud.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

* The written and podcast version of this commentary is slightly longer than the broadcast version.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:08 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (3)

Legends differ on the exact reason, but it’s pretty certain that the first Olympic Games were conducted in Greece in 776 B.C. Thereafter, they were held every four years (called an Olympiad) for nearly 12 centuries.

During the Games a temporary global truce was declared so athletes from warring countries could compete. Only male athletes participated, and they competed in the nude. Victors were crowned with wreaths from a sacred olive tree thought to have been planted by Hercules (Heracles) behind the temple of Zeus. They were also given substantial cash rewards.

The games were abolished in 393 A.D. by Emperor Theodosius I who thought they were remnants of pagan worship.

Fifteen hundred years later, in 1894, a Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin organized the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to revive the tradition. The first modern Olympic Games opened in 1896 in Athens.

De Coubertin had more noble ambitions than his ancient predecessors. He embodied in the founding documents the notion of Olympism as a philosophy of life. His concept was built on core ideas including the Greek ideal of the well-rounded person with physical, moral, intellectual, and artistic qualities and the belief that international athletic competition can uplift and inspire the character of the world and generate cross-cultural friendships and understanding as a basis for world peace.

In 1908, he introduced the Olympic Creed that defines Olympic spirit. To this day, this statement is the guiding star for those who see and want to pursue the ennobling potential of sports: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 2:02 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

There’s a lot going on at the Beijing Olympics worthy of comment and plenty of evidence to support both positive and negative assessments.

If we focus on the grand and glorious aspects of the Opening Ceremonies, the beauty of the Beijing National Stadium (the “Bird’s Nest”), the pride and enthusiasm of the Chinese people, and the astonishing athletic performances setting world and Olympic records every single day, these Games deserve a fervent “thumbs up.”

On the other hand, we could justify an equally emphatic “thumbs down” if we focus on events and attitudes that demonstrate the country’s low regard for individual freedoms, democratic principles, and basic honesty. The Games were tainted by decisions to replace a lovely little girl with a great voice with a lip-synching child thought to be better looking and to computer-enhance the fireworks display for TV. These acts fueled cynicism about the credibility of the Chinese government that is seemingly more concerned with looking good than being honest.

And though the purpose of the Olympics is to transcend politics, I don’t think we can completely ignore the inconsistency of Olympic ideals and China’s vigorous suppression of dissent or protest on any issue and their involvement in the massive genocidal actions in Darfur.

So what should we think and talk about – is the glass is half empty or half full?

It’s okay to separately admire and appreciate all the things worthy of commendation and, at another time, express disagreement and disdain for those things worthy of condemnation.

As with many things in life, we shouldn’t let beauty in some areas blind us to ugliness in others, but we also shouldn’t let ugliness in some areas blind us to the beauty in others.

At least for now, I’m going to continue enjoying these Games.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:06 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

When I was a kid playing sports, there were no clubs, travel teams, or private coaches. Except for summer baseball leagues, the primary place to play was high school. When I was in the 10th grade, I wanted to play basketball in the worst way.

Unfortunately, given my size and talent, that’s how I played. But in those days, sports was part of the educational program and, to accommodate every kid who wanted to play, there were four skill levels – varsity, junior varsity, B, and C teams.

I was a third-stringer on the C team. My ambition was to play in 12 quarters during the season, the minimum requirement for a letterman’s jacket.

Fortunately, the coach liked my spunk, so he’d put me in at the end of games when I could do no harm. In the last quarter of the last game, he made sure I got my letter by giving me an eight-second stint. Although I think I played less than two minutes of total game time during that season, I was part of the team and played in every practice.

Three years later, I was the only senior on the C team but I was a starter! Of all my high school achievements, none was more important than my three basketball letters.

It wasn’t just recreation for me. It was education. My sports experience strengthened my character and helped me develop important life skills including goal-setting, preparation, and perseverance. It also taught me about honor and sportsmanship.

So when you read chilling stories about cheating coaches, out-of-control fans, or spoiled athletes, don’t blame sports. Blame those who don’t do it right.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:29 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (3)

I’ve talked before about the Olympic ideals upon which the modern movement was founded. Over the years, new words and symbols were made part of Olympism to reinforce those ideals.

One of them is the Olympic Motto: citius, altius, fortius (faster, higher, stronger). Note that it’s not fastest, highest, strongest because the Olympic ideal encourages athletes to view success in terms of effort, the constant striving for improvement and the achievement of one’s personal best. Giving one’s best and pursuing victory with honor is a worthwhile goal regardless of the outcome.

The symbolism of the Olympic logo and flag is also important. Each of the five Olympic rings is a different color representing 1) the colors that appeared on all the national flags of the world at that time of its design in 1913, and 2) the five inhabited continents (the Americas are treated as one, and no particular ring is meant to represent any specific continent). The rings are interlaced to represent that the Olympics are universal, bringing athletes from the world together.

The Olympic torch that carries the Olympic flame to the cauldron also have significant meanings. Ancient Greeks believed that fire, given to mankind by Prometheus, has sacred qualities. For many, it represents the spark of humanity, the flame within all of us that makes us human.

The Olympic flame is lit in front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia using a parabolic mirror to focus rays of the sun. Emphasizing the inextinguishable nature of man and the linking of all of us, a worldwide relay of runners carrying torches brings the flame to the site of the Games where an honored athlete ignites the cauldron.

Olympic ideals can and should infuse sports and our lives with nobler purpose and deeper meaning.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:25 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

You don’t have to be cynical to note that none of the modern Olympic Games have consistently lived up to the noble goals of their founder. There’s too much nationalism, commercialism, overemphasis on medal counts, and explosions of pure ego.

But before we despair about the imperfections of this grand effort to promote world peace and fair play, consider the legend of how the games began in 776 B.C.

The story is that a prince named Pelops sought the hand of the daughter of a king who was vain about his chariot-racing skill. The king challenged each one of his daughters’ suitors to a race, promising that anyone who beat him could marry his daughter and become heir to his kingdom.

But the stakes were high. If a suitor lost, he would be beheaded and his head would decorate the palace. That’s a pressure our modern athletes don’t face.

According to the myth, Pelops secretly replaced the bronze linchpins of the king’s chariot with ones made of wax. During the race, the wax melted and the king was thrown to his death. Pelops married the princess and instituted the Olympic Games to celebrate his victory. Not exactly the example of sportsmanship envisioned in the Olympic Creed.

National pride and prestige were always part of the Games, however. The best athletes were heavily recruited and richly rewarded. Cheating and bribery were so common that statues of athletes caught rigging or fixing contests were erected (at the cost of the cheater) on the roadway leading to the stadium to memorialize their shame.

I wonder if we should consider doing that in Washington?

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:17 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (2)

Eight is considered a lucky number in China. It may be a good omen that the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will start at 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month in the eighth year of this century.

It’s certain that the Games will produce historic events, both athletically and politically.

About 11,000 athletes from 205 countries will compete in 31 sports for 303 medals. The United States has one of the largest delegations – 530 athletes and 328 coaches and others.

This may be the largest and most closely scrutinized event in history. Every grand performance and gaffe will receive unprecedented exposure.

Nearly 20,000 accredited journalists (two for every athlete) will be digging for every imaginable story about the competitions, the athletes, China, the food, and any political angle they can find or create. Stories putting the U.S. in a poor light will be especially prized.

We are certain to see heroic feats of athleticism and new world records. What is less certain is how many exemplary or embarrassing examples of sportsmanship and journalistic professionalism we will see.

U.S. athletes will be under a tremendous amount of pressure, not simply to compete well but to represent their country honorably. Keep in mind that most Olympians are quite young and, except for a few high-profile athletes in high-profile sports, they have little experience with intense and potentially hostile media attention.

I was privileged to be part of an unprecedented effort by the U.S. Olympic Committee to instill in our athletes Olympic ideals and the sense that they are our nation’s most visible ambassadors with an obligation and opportunity to “make U.S. proud.” I think they will.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:18 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

In 2004, I had the honor to participate in the Olympic torch relay that began in Athens, Greece. I think I was selected to represent the spectacularly unfit.

I was told I would carry the torch about a quarter of a mile, so I prepared myself. I lost 10 pounds (sadly, a drop in the bucket), bought new running shoes, ran around the block a few times, and practiced holding up an Aim N Flame lighter in proper torch position.

At the assembly point, a fellow torchbearer told me I had been assigned the longest leg of the relay, nearly one mile. My jaw dropped, but he said not to worry. Easy for him to say. He regularly ran 20 miles a day; I hadn't run 20 miles in 20 years.

Lots of family and friends had come to watch my Olympic performance, and I took off so fast I almost ran into the media truck preceding the runners.

I began to gasp for air just a few hundred feet out. I knew I was in trouble when my 6- and 7-year-old daughters ran on the sidewalk in front of me cheering, “Come on, Daddy!”

Then my 8-year-old called me a wimp, and my adult son sprinted ahead of me, backwards, to take pictures. Only my wife and 10-year-old daughter had the decency to run at my pace and tell me I was doing great.

When I finally staggered to the hand-off point and passed the eternal flame to Ryan Seacrest (I didn’t know who he was then), I was simply glad I hadn’t passed out.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:23 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (5)

It was extraordinary. With two seconds left, Brent Barry of the San Antonio Spurs took a shot that could have won a crucial game in the NBA playoffs. As he turned to shoot, he was bumped by a hard-charging Laker. Barry’s shot missed. No foul was called. Game over. Lakers win. It was a heartbreaking loss for San Antonio players and fans.

I’m a Laker fan, but it looked like a foul to me, which would have entitled the Spurs to free throws that could have sent the game to overtime. I hate it when a great game ends in a controversial call.

I expected the Spurs to claim they were robbed (a claim made more believable because the referee had a history of protested calls against the Spurs). But Barry refused to blame the official. It was a “a good defensive play and no call.”

Did I hear right? Amazingly classy, I thought, but wait until they ask “pull no punches” Spurs Coach Greg Popovich. He could have gotten the fans off his back and blamed the officials, but he didn’t. “If I were refereeing,” he said, “I would not have called a foul.”

No excuses; just more class.

In fact, good sportsmanship is breaking out all over the NBA. Winning and losing teams refusing to gloat or taunt, rejecting excuses about injuries or bad calls, greeting opponents warmly before games, congratulating them graciously after losses. Is this really pro sports?

To lots of passionate sports fans, this isn’t necessarily a good thing. Being commended for good sportsmanship is like a beauty contestant winning the Ms. Congeniality Award – it’s not what you came to get.

But when it’s done right by great athletes, sportsmanship isn’t just wholesome; it’s awesome. And with all the ready criticism I and others have heaped on pro sports in recent years, the NBA deserves praise.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

*Laker coaches and players have been just as classy during the playoffs, always speaking politely and respectfully about their opponents. It’s what good role-modeling is about, and it certainly hasn't dulled the competitive edge for anyone.

Laker player Kobe Bryant has matured wonderfully. His interviews are excellent examples of winning with grace and losing with dignity, and his refusal to use his back or finger injuries as a reason for subpar performances has been outstanding.

I was even more impressed with the way Spurs star Manu Ginobili handled himself after two poor performances in the opening games of the series. Interviewers wanted to explain his ineffectiveness as a result of fatigue or an ankle injury. Ginobili refused. Clearly upset with himself, he was totally accountable. “I played horribly. I owe my team better.” He made no excuses.

This was an impressive display of real sports machismo. Despite my Lakers loyalty, I found myself rooting for him to do well in the third game (which he did, only to have another bad game in Game 4). I’d vote for him for “class” president.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:42 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (5)

While helping draft Josephson Institute's 1999 Arizona Sports Summit Accord – a declaration of ethical principles for youth and collegiate sports – John Wooden, one of the greatest coaches of all time, inserted the language that "a coach is, first and foremost, a teacher."

This anchor concept has greatly influenced our Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship campaign and spawned the term "teacher-coach."

Although Coach Wooden was an extraordinary basketball skill-builder and strategist as well as an intense and passionate competitor who always wanted to win, his teaching domain went beyond athletics. He never measured the success of his coaching in terms of wins or even championships. He understood that his unique relationship with athletes gave him both the power and the responsibility to shape their attitudes about honor, integrity, and fair play.

His highest goal was to bring out and enhance the very best in the young men who played for him. He continually sought to instill in his players a rich array of values and virtues associated with good character.

Today’s sports environment is so preoccupied with winning that true teacher-coaches like John Wooden seem to be a breed on the way to extinction. Many collegiate coaches are paid huge sums of money, and it’s not because they’re superb educators or character builders.

Millions of youngsters play sports. Think how much better they and society will be if they’re lucky enough to play for a teacher-coach. We shouldn’t settle for anything less.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:20 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (5)

I just spent two days with elite athletes who are trying to represent our country in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. I can tell you, if you want to raise the blood pressure and lose the respect of people serious about sports, demean their passion by telling them, "It's just a game" or "Winning isn't everything."

To those who devote substantial portions of their life to sports as athletes, coaches, or administrators, these naïve clichés belittle the importance of their goals. In the world they live in, winners are respected and rewarded; losers are eliminated and unemployed.

Of course, winning isn't everything, but that doesn't mean it isn't anything. Winning is a lot. It's the golden ring that motivates great sacrifices and justifies hard work. The challenge is to honor the passionate pursuit of victory, yet keep it in perspective. Sports enthusiasts tend to overestimate the importance of victory and underestimate the fun and learning that can take place.

Many youth-sports coaches rate winning so highly that they think a child would rather sit on the bench of a winning team than play for a losing team. Surveys show they're dead wrong. Kids like to win, but it's the adults who need to win.

If we teach our children to love the process more than the result, to find pleasure in competition and play, not merely victory, we'll give them a lifetime gift of renewable pleasure.

This is the essence of Olympism expressed in the Olympic Creed: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:34 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (14)

Last week, Sara Tucholsky, a 5-foot-2-inch softball player in her senior year for Western Oregon University, was playing in a big game with Central Washington University. Both teams were vying for the Division II NCAA playoffs. Sara, who was batting less than .200 all season, hit the ball over the fence with two runners on.

She had never hit a ball out of the park before, even in practice. She was so excited, she missed first base. Realizing this, she turned to go back but collapsed in agony as her knee gave out. Her first-base coach yelled that she had to crawl back to first base because if anyone on Sara's team touched her, she'd be out and her home run would be nullified. Her coach encouraged her to try to crawl around the other bases to preserve her home run, but it was out of the question.

That's when the star player on the other team, Mallory Holtman, asked the umpire if she and a teammate could carry Sara around the bases. It was an unprecedented request from an opponent fighting for a playoff berth, but the rules allowed it. Without hesitation, Mallory and shortstop Liz Wallace lifted Sara and carried her, lowering her to touch each base with her good leg.

To Mallory it was simple: "In the end, it's not about winning and losing so much; it was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain and deserved a home run."

Mallory was right. It's just common decency.

Sadly, such kindness isn't common at all in sports, and that's why all the coaches, players, and spectators who were stunned by this spontaneous act of sportsmanship wept. And that's how Mallory became a national hero.

By the way, her team lost 4-2, but in my eyes, everyone won.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:43 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (10)

Suppose you're an Olympic athlete and you hear that the only person who has a chance to beat you is ill and may have to withdraw. Are you overjoyed at your good luck or disappointed that you won't be able to compete against the very best?

You ought to be disappointed. Olympian John Naber, winner of four gold medals in swimming, says a true sportsman wants to compete against his best competitor on his best day. Although that makes winning more difficult and less likely, it also makes the event more exciting and a victory more meaningful. Being declared a winner is not real victory; being the best is.

In any sport, what's more fun: to play against someone you easily dominate or against someone who forces you to be your best and makes every point an exciting challenge? The aim of sports is to have fun trying to win and to love the game enough that you can enjoy yourself whether you win or not.

Athletic competition is not a form of war. The people you compete against are also the people you play with. They aren't enemies. The word "competition" comes from the Latin root competere, which means "to strive together, not against each other."

Be thankful for quality competitors who push you to your limit. You'll find sports more healthy and enjoyable when you respect and like your opponents rather than hate them. When you compete against someone as good or better than you, you may not always win, but you never lose.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:29 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (2)

A former successful college coach and athletic director once wrote me a note about the state of college sports.

The pressure to win in high-profile schools is so great, he said, it's almost impossible to resist rationalizing. When competitors cheat or engage in other unethical conduct, the tendency is to redefine the ground rules for competition rather than be at a disadvantage.

He compared the way win-hungry boosters blur the vision and undermine the integrity of coaches and administrators with the way money-hungry shareholders stress stock prices, which promotes accounting manipulation and other ethical shortcuts.

In sports, outsiders who aren't concerned with a college's educational mission or notions of sportsmanship and character-building promote a “no excuses” demand on coaches that can transform an athletic program into a business driven by the pursuit of money and glory.

In business, shareholders (from day traders to money managers of mutual and pension funds) who aren't concerned with the ethics or long-term viability of a company create pressures and incentives that can promote short-term decision-making and undermine the economic and moral health of their firm.

We need people to act as guardians who will understand and protect the soul of their enterprise. Coaches should be allowed to think about more than winning, and business executives should be given the opportunity to consider more than stock prices and short-term profits.

If we don't recalibrate our incentive systems and insulate coaches and managers from unhealthy influences, things will only get worse.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:03 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (3)

In the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, six-time medalist Eugenio Monti from Italy was favored to win the gold medal in the bobsledding pair event. After his team’s last run, it looked like they were going to make it.

The British team, led by Tony Nash Jr., still had a chance, but before their final run, Nash discovered a critical axle bolt had broken on their sled. They were done. Without hesitation, Monti removed the bolt from his sled and rushed it up to Nash’s team. They were able to continue, and their run was so strong they won the gold medal.

The Italian press viciously criticized Monti for giving up the gold, but he was steadfast. "Nash didn’t win because I gave him the bolt," he said. "He won because he had the fastest run."

Olympic swimming medalist John Naber says a true sportsman, one who believes in the Olympic ideal, not only wants to win, he wants to win against his best opponent on his best day. A true sportsman is not elated, but disappointed, when top competitors are injured or disqualified.

Monti won the gold medal at the next Winter Olympics, but it was his willingness to lose that earned him a prominent place in Olympic history. His act represents sportsmanship at its best: the pursuit of victory with zeal and passion, recognizing that there’s no true victory without honor.

Today, with so many teams and athletes willing to cheat or behave badly to win, we need reminders of the noble potential of sports. Parents and coaches should teach youngsters that the real glory of sport is in the striving, not the winning.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:37 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

Even though the recent Congressional hearings featuring baseball pitcher Roger Clemens and his former trainer may have been a case of political grandstanding, we shouldn’t underestimate their value.

Without political pressure, there would have been no Mitchell Report, and Major League Baseball may still be denying it has a serious drug problem. On the other hand, professional sports can’t endure too many more embarrassing public hearings or government mandates. Instead of criticizing Congressional motives, they should undertake a serious effort to clean up their own mess.

Sports play too important a role in shaping social attitudes about fair play and integrity to trivialize decisions by high-profile athletes to cheat and then lie about it. We have a right to expect that our highest achieving athletes will pursue victory with honor, and those who taint the game and their careers should be exposed and held accountable.

Setting a poor example by cheating with unhealthy performance-enhancing drugs is bad enough, but lying under oath is a felony that can’t be dismissed with a cynical “who cares?” attitude.

I may be wrong, but I’m convinced Clemens, Barry Bonds, and others took drugs and then lied about it to protect their legacy. I suspect they justified their conduct because they knew many others were doing it and assumed if they got caught, their denials would be enough.

On one level we can sympathize and understand why they chose the well-worn path of moral compromise, but we can’t condone or ignore their choice.

Lying is a big deal. Ask media darling Martha Stewart, Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones, or Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling – all of whom were jailed for making false statements.

No one gets a free pass.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 4:57 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (7)

You don’t have to be a theater enthusiast to appreciate grand tales about the human heart and soul from great plays like Oedipus Rex or King Lear. And you don’t have to be a sports fan to appreciate lessons of human spirit taught by great plays during athletic contests.

Yesterday’s Super Bowl game between the undefeated New England Patriots, heralded as the most powerful team ever, and the underdog New York Giants will doubtless achieve epic status.

Both sides fought well, but it was the last-minute heroics of the Giants’ battlefield leader, Eli Manning, which won the day and a place in history. The drama of Eli’s story is enriched by his emphatic emergence from the shadow of his older brother, Peyton, the hero of a similar battle last year.

The phrase “last minute” is not a literary device. There was literally less than a minute to go when Eli stunned more than a hundred million witnesses by escaping the grasp of a mob of clawing opponents to complete a pass to a leaping teammate who made an extraordinary catch.

This forever memorable play set up the ultimate death blow to the Patriots’ pursuit of sports immortality, producing a victory all the more momentous because Eli and his men defeated Tom Brady, a warrior with a Herculean reputation.

The defeat was a bitter blow to New England’s general, Bill Belichick, a man both admired and reviled for his brilliance and single-minded focus on winning.

Belichick was caught cheating earlier in the year and is now being accused of dishonoring his team and sport by walking off the field moments before the game was over.

Whether his unexpected defeat was unrelated to this moral cloud or a triumph of justice is the sort of question that makes this a classic human tragedy.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:35 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (9)

I’ve spent lots of time with some of the world’s most successful coaches. I discovered that many of them think about character a lot, especially traits that are important to winning -- like self-discipline, perseverance, resiliency, and courage.

Unfortunately, they pay less attention to virtues like honesty, integrity, responsibility, compassion, respect, and fairness -- aspects of character that make a good person, citizen, spouse, or parent.

The problem is, even at the amateur level many coaches are hired and paid to win, not to build character. Unless it interferes with performance, worrying about the kind of person an athlete is on or off the field is a waste of time.

Coaches who seek to hone the mental and physical skills of winning while ignoring moral virtues of honor and decency too often produce magnificent competitors who are menaces to society.

Perhaps coaches of elite athletes not connected with educational or youth-serving institutions can operate in this moral vacuum, but all others have a responsibility to teach, enforce, advocate, and model all aspects of good character, including trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

Whether it’s sports, business, or politics, whenever we divorce issues of competence from issues of character, we create a class of amoral professionals who think they’re exempt from common standards of honor and decency.

This discredits and demeans the moral standing of everyone involved.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 10:27 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (13)

Yesterday I mentioned how thrilled I am to be given the opportunity to work with the athletes who will represent our country in the 2008 Olympic Games.

My role is to provide Olympic hopefuls with information and inspiration about the ideals and values embodied in the concept of Olympism.

The U.S. Olympic Committee’s commitment to this educational program is based in part on a survey of leaders of the American Olympic movement that revealed near unanimity that these ideals and values are an intrinsic part of the Olympic Games and should be more consistently and effectively taught and promoted.

Pierre de Coubertin , the founder of the modern Olympic movement, believed that the significance of the Olympic Games would go beyond sports. He felt that international athletic competition could build a better society by providing examples of excellence in a manner that could unite the communities of the world in friendship, understanding, and peace.

The Olympic Charter says, "Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will, and mind. Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, and the respect for universal fundamental ethical principles."

A core part of Olympism is also embodied in the Olympic Creed, which elevates effort and striving in the pursuit of victory above even victory itself.

Although sports is sometimes called the toy department of life, the social and cultural impact of sports demands that we take them much more seriously. Hopefully, the newest edition of American Olympians will not only excite and entertain us, but enlighten and uplift us.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:51 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

I have the heart and spirit of a great athlete. Sadly, I never had the skills. My peak sports achievement was lettering in high school basketball, but even that small achievement is less impressive than it seems. You see, I played on the "C" team reserved for those not good enough for the "B" team, junior varsity, or varsity.

Despite my unfulfilled athletic ambitions, I love sports, especially the Olympics. So when I was asked to carry the Olympic torch during a leg of the relay preceding the 2004 games in Athens, you’d think I’d won the Nobel Prize. I relished this honor and ignored comments suggesting I was selected as a representative of the "spectacularly unfit."

But my torch run was topped when I was asked to participate in a series of intensive training sessions for all the athletes who have a serious chance of being chosen to represent the U.S. in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. What was really cool was I got to share this assignment with a handful of exceptionally successful, smart, and articulate Olympians from prior Games.

When I first entered the room filled with diverse but mostly young men and women, I was surprised that only a few looked like elite athletes. The rest were unremarkable in appearance, masking the one thing they had in common: They are among the best on the planet at what they do. Whether we’re talking about soccer or speed walking, that level of achievement is daunting.

As I met them, it was clear they had been invited to that room not simply because of genetic talent, but because of dedication and discipline. As in every other endeavor, competence gets you in the game, but character is the decisive difference.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:46 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

Although 11-year-old Mark wasn’t much of an athlete, his dad urged him to play youth baseball. Mark liked to play, but he was constantly hurt by remarks from teammates and spectators whenever he struck out or dropped a ball. Just before the fourth game of the season, Mark told his dad he didn’t want to go. "I’m no good," he said, "and everyone knows it."

His father urged him to stick with it. "Just do your best," he said. "That’s all anyone can ask. Your best is good enough."

Mark struck out his first two times at bat, and each time looked over to his father, who struggled to look positive. In his last at-bat, Mark hit the ball solidly, the first time all season. It was a hard grounder to third, and the play at first was close.

When the umpire called Mark out, his father went wild. "Kill the ump!" he yelled. "Are you blind or just stupid? If you can’t do the job, stay off the field!"

On the way home, Mark broke a long silence, "Dad, you said all anyone can ask for is to do his best."

"That’s right, Son," his father assured him. "You did your best, and I’m proud of you. But that jerk of an umpire robbed you with a bad call."

"I wasn’t talking about me," Mark replied. "I was talking about Billy’s dad. He was the umpire. He was doing his best, but you got mad at him."

His father was taken aback, but he said, "Yeah, but he’s an adult. We should expect more out of adults."

Mark looked his dad in the eye. "That’s what I thought, too. By the way, I was out."

Despite his father’s good intentions, he didn’t set a good example. We should expect more from adults -- more fairness and respect, more sportsmanship and self-restraint. If your kids play sports, be a model, not a problem.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:32 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (2)

In 1999, a conference was held in Scottsdale, Arizona that generated the CHARACTER COUNTS! Pursuing Victory With Honor sports program. During the conference, Bob Costas asked Coach John Wooden about his decision to retire. The Coach launched into a description of “the last game I ever taught.”

He chose the phrase deliberately, knowing its impact, but this wasn't an artifice. Perhaps the greatest college basketball coach of all time really saw himself as a teacher.

A few years ago I interviewed Coach Wooden for a short video. He told a story about Amos Alonzo Stagg, a famous football coach who was asked, after an unusually successful season, whether his current team was his best ever. Wooden smiled as he related Stagg’s reply, “Oh, I won’t know that for another twenty years or so."

You see, Coach Wooden explained, Stagg knew that it would take that long to see how the youngsters under his supervision turned out in life. That, after all, is the real test of one's teaching.

Like Alonzo Stagg, John Wooden set out to teach his players not only how to win but how to live honorable and worthy lives. Even now, at 97, the Coach is likely to answer a question by reciting a poem. The last time I was with him he said:

No written word, nor spoken plea
Can teach our youth what they should be
Nor all the books on all the shelves
It's what the teachers are themselves

It is what Coach is himself that creates a legacy of wisdom, dignity, and honor and makes him an example to us all. The historian Henry Adams said, “A teacher affects all eternity. You never know where his influence stops.” So it will be for Coach John Wooden.

You may purchase a copy of the DVD of my interview with the Coach here.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Webmaster at 1:09 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

This week began by celebrating the ninety-seventh birthday of John Wooden, the legendary coach of UCLA basketball, on October 14.

This week also marks the launch of a bold and comprehensive year-long, character-building sportsmanship program by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The connection is that this great coach, teacher, and homespun philosopher helped draft the CHARACTER COUNTS! Arizona Sports Summit Accord -- a document that forms the basis of the new Pursuing Victory with Honor/True Champions program that will reach more than 1,200 L.A. high school coaches.

Coach Wooden’s declaration that “a coach is first and foremost a teacher” is the central message of this program which seeks to inspire and invoke coaches to play a more conscious and consistent role in developing the character of the young people they teach.

Coach Wooden is, in every sense, a role model. He was an extraordinary basketball skill-builder and strategist as well as an intense and passionate competitor who always wanted to win, yet his interests and influence always went beyond athletics. Though he achieved unparalleled success, including 10 NCAA championships, he never measured the success of his coaching in terms of wins. His highest goal was to bring out and enhance the very best in the young men who played for him.

In today's sports environment, sullied by too many examples of cheating, self-promotion, ego and greed, we need to encourage youth coaches to follow John Wooden’s example.

Millions of youngsters play sports. Think how much better they and society will be if they are lucky enough to play for a teacher-coach. We shouldn't settle for anything less.

For more information about the LAUSD sports program call 800-711-2670.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Webmaster at 1:07 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Having recently had the opportunity to speak with about 60 Olympic hopefuls, I’ve been disturbed by the barrage of cynical and scornful attempts to belittle the idea of that integrity matters in sports.

In the face of widespread outcry and some serious sanctions, dozens of sports commentators, former players, coaches, and fans have defended New England Patriot coach Bill Belichick, who was caught red-handed violating clear rules banning efforts to steal the signs of opposing teams by sideline videotaping.

The arguments are lame and sophomoric: "Everyone does it," "Cheating’s part of the game," "If you aren’t cheating, you’re not trying hard enough," "It didn’t really matter since the Pats would have won anyway," and "It’s only cheating if you get caught."

Sadly, many players, coaches, and fans who want to win any way they can find these claims persuasive. That’s why the United States Olympic Committee is so anxious that our nation’s premier athletes learn the ideals of Olympism -- a concept that elevates sportsmanship and fair play above victory.

The essence of Olympism is simple: There is no victory without honor. Cheating, boastfulness, whining, and gamesmanship techniques that treat other athletes with disrespect or demean the event are unworthy of anyone granted the privilege to represent his or her sport and country as an Olympian.

Cynics are right when they say sports cheating is rampant. It’s also true that lots of politicians lie, lots of parents neglect or abuse their children, and lots of citizens cheat on their taxes, spouses, and employers. So what?

Ethics is not about the way things are; it’s about the way they ought to be.

Like it or not, the values conveyed by sports influences our culture and shapes our attitudes as to what is permissible and proper in the pursuit of our goals. We can’t let the barbarians set the standards.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 5:02 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Mark Gibson, a former gymnastics coach who worked with many elite athletes, tells a wonderful story about a 15-year-old girl whose work ethic and attitude brought out the best in everyone.

Cindy wasn’t a great gymnast, but when she was in the gym everyone complained less, worked harder, and, not surprisingly, achieved more. Cindy was such a powerful motivator because she was blind.

When it was her turn to do the vault, her mom would run alongside telling her how close she was to the vault. When her mom said, "Vault!" Cindy would reach out and jump -- trusting her mother and herself.

Cindy loved the sport and kept improving because she and her mom refused to be defeated by her disability.

Mark called her the most important member of the team, not because of her athletic ability, but because of her heart and standard of fortitude and courage that inspired others to get more out of themselves. Everyone who watched her strive to be the best she could be realized how much more they could be.

This is leadership -- leadership by example. We see similar examples not only in sports but in families and in the workplace. Often the most important members of a team are not the smartest, strongest, fastest, or most skilled. Their power and influence are in their attitude and their ability to energize and encourage others with their optimism, enthusiasm, and determination.

People who know how to get the best out of themselves get the best out of others.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 11:01 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

When I first heard the name Valerie Kondos-Field, I thought it referred to a sports venue rather than a person. Since then, I’ve come to have a great appreciation for the name of UCLA’s women’s gymnastics coach and the extraordinary woman who owns it.

For one thing, she has impeccable credentials. Her name was among the first mentioned when I asked coach John Wooden for a list of coaches who best exemplified the teacher-coach concept he introduced to the CHARACTER COUNTS! Pursuing Victory With Honor sports initiative.

He told me he was an avid fan of women’s gymnastics and attends every meet he can. He loves the way coach Val teaches her "girls" not merely to be great gymnasts -- her teams have won three NCAA national championships -- but to be good people.

I got to know Val a bit and found out why Wooden thinks so much of her. As a model teacher-coach, she takes seriously the notion that her team is comprised of student-athletes. Her team’s cumulative grade-point average is 3.4.

And in a sport that highlights personal performances, coach Val insists that her athletes work and think as a team. But what touched my heart most was watching her athletes enthusiastically cheering for each other during a meet.

Wooden’s endorsement was hard to beat, but the clincher for me was when my wife Anne, who runs her own gymnastics school and treats her gymnasts like they were her own kids, told me that no parent could hope for more than having a child coached, mentored, and loved by Valerie Kondos-Field.

Coached, mentored, and loved – that’s quite a combination.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Webmaster at 4:50 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

It wasn’t a big story here, but you can bet it will be frequently retold and long remembered in the international sports community as another example of arrogance and rudeness associated with those "ugly Americans."

This most recent black eye was inflicted by a staff member of the United States Olympic Committee who scrawled WELCOME TO THE CONGO! on a board in the organization’s media center during the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. It’s hard to know just what was meant, but it was taken as an insult by our Brazilian hosts.

Rio’s major newspaper O Globo published a photo of the board on its front page with a headline saying the remark was "full of prejudice." The U.S. Olympic Committee immediately apologized and sent the staffer home, but as a prelude to the Olympic Games in China, this is not a good sign.

Millions of sports fans all over the world form opinions about this country and the character of our people through the behavior of those who represent us in international competitions. Sadly, lots of people are anxious to find negative stories to reinforce anti-American prejudices, and scrutiny is intense and judgments severe.

What does all of this mean? The risk of damaging and discrediting conduct is high and so is the responsibility to develop a rigorous and systematic selection and training process that does all that can reasonably be done to assure that those who represent us do so prudently and honorably.

Last year, members of the U.S. Olympic Assembly were polled. Seventy-nine percent said, "Every U.S. delegation member -- athletes, coaches, and staffers -- should be required to participate in a training program covering role-modeling responsibilities and opportunities."

The recent incident in Rio ought to make this a top priority.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Webmaster at 10:57 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

A high school football coach wrote to tell me his team was going to the state finals, but he was troubled. An English teacher had caught three of his players cheating on an exam they had to pass to remain eligible. He told the coach he passed them anyway "for the good of the school."

The coach realized his players had not really passed the test, which meant they were ineligible. According to league rules, all games in which they had played would have to be forfeited. His team would be disqualified from the finals.

The coach asked me, "What good would it do to report the ineligibility?" The players who committed the act would be devastated, and the ones who didn’t would be unfairly denied their shot at the championship. Parents, players, and others would be furious, the English teacher would get in big-time trouble, and he, the coach, might lose his job. "Wouldn’t the greater good be accomplished if I just kept quiet?" he asked.

Of course not. Although it would take great moral courage to do the right thing -- play by the rules and let the chips fall where they may -- I told him that’s precisely what he should do.

There were many stakeholders involved (people who would be affected by the decision), and the coach was duty-bound to use his teaching platform to send an unequivocal message about honor and integrity. Failing to do so would deprive another team of its right to go to the finals. Looking the other way would undermine his credibility.

It would be a high price to pay, but as the years go by, deciding to pursue the path of honor would be an enduring gift to his players and community.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 2:23 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

When it comes to sports, every coach and athlete should pursue victory. When it comes to business, every executive should pursue maximum performance.

Victory in sports is easy to measure – it’s about winning games and championships. Maximum performance in business is usually measured in terms of growth in profitability, revenues, and market share.

I understand and strongly identify with a passion for victory in sports and growth in business. Committed coaches and dedicated executives usually perform better than counterparts who are satisfied with smaller goals.

The problem is, many sports and business organizations push the success principle to irrational extremes. It’s one thing to expect leaders to strive mightily for victory and continuous growth; it’s quite another to define success solely in terms of these goals.

Even if a “no-excuses” policy that treats coaches and executives who fall short of performance objectives as failures gets better results, it does so at a huge cost.

Morale – a positive attitude about one’s work and organization – is crucial to stability and sustainable success.

When the pressure to perform creates ceaseless stress and fear, even good and great people get worn down and worn out.

Because most people excel best when they enjoy what they do and derive a sense of worth and achievement from their work, excellence and improvement are much better standards of success than championships or “hitting one’s numbers.”

Greyhounds may run faster chasing an uncatchable mechanical rabbit, but smart people withdraw from any race that’s rigged against them.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 2:13 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Several years ago, when my daughter Carissa was about to enter her first gymnastics competition, I wrote her a letter expressing my hopes and goals for her athletic experience. Here’s a revised version:

My dearest Carissa,

I know you’ve worked hard to prepare yourself to compete, and I know how much you want to win. That’s a good goal. You'll always get the best out of yourself when you strive for victory.

But winning is not the only goal or even the most important one. What’s most important is to have fun and learn. I want you to love the sport so much that you find pleasure in the effort itself and in the friendship of your teammates and other competitors.

I want you to know you can do well no matter who takes home the medals if you do your best. And you will be a winner if you keep getting better.

I want you to pursue excellence with all your heart, not to please me or your mom or anyone else but to experience the joy of accomplishment.

If you wobble, keep going. If you fall, get up and continue. No matter what happens, keep your head high. Don’t give up or give in. If things don’t go your way, don’t cry, whine, or make excuses.

Always conduct yourself in a way that brings honor to your team, your coaches, your family and, above all, yourself.

I want you to be a model of good sportsmanship, treating the sport, its rules, your teammates, other competitors, and judges with respect.

But most of all, I want you to know how proud of you I am.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 3:53 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

When you think of it, the Academy Awards is the granddaddy of all reality shows.

Live and in real time, we anxiously watch the faces of glamorous but nervous nominees to find out whether one of the biggest evenings of their lives will end in exhilaration or disappointment.

Beneath the expensive clothes and jewelry were hearts like yours and mine pounding with anticipation and apprehension. Despite high hopes, they each knew they had an 80% chance of hearing someone else's name called -- all in front of the unflinching eye of close-up cameras beaming their every expression to a billion people around the world.

It was joyful to see 72-year-old Alan Arkin win his first Oscar, though on the other side of the coin, it was sad to witness the crushed hopes of four other great actors. And it was a pleasure to share Forest Whitaker's highest professional moment as best actor and hear his poignant success story, though it was painful to see 74-year-old Peter O'Toole swallow the bitter pill of his eighth near triumph.

The movie industry, like any business, can be characterized and judged by its best or its worst. And there are lots of examples of the "worst" coming out of Hollywood. But if we're willing to be honest and objective, we have to admit that many films, including most of those highlighted by the Awards, are as powerful and uplifting as great novels and as educational as college textbooks.

I think, at least on this night, the nominees and winners deserve to be judged and honored, irrespective of their politics and lifestyles, as consummate professionals and masters of their craft. Their talents enrich our lives and they deserve our gratitude.

But more than that, we can thank them for setting a fine example of winning with grace and losing with dignity. I hope our future Olympians will do as good a job when they are faced with the same challenges.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 1:19 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Responding to our Josephson Institute report revealing that lots of kids involved in high school sports are forming negative values and attitudes about cheating, one reporter asked me, "Why do so many kids think this is acceptable?" My answer was because so many adults accept it.

That’s the brutal fact. What we allow, we encourage. We have been so tolerant about cheating in sports that kids get the message: It’s part of the game.

It’s ironic that the Institute’s report came out in the midst of NASCAR’s biggest cheating scandal. Four crew chiefs were banned from the Daytona 500, hefty fines were imposed, and a premier driver was penalized after an illegal fuel additive was found in his car.

Many praised the crackdown, but others were miffed that naïve do-gooders were ignoring the time-honored racing creed: "If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying."

Many NASCAR aficionados cherish the heritage of "creative engineering" just as many baseball traditionalists revere spitball pitchers who get away with illegally doctoring the ball.

One of auto racing’s most successful crew chiefs, Chad Knaus, tried to put lipstick on this pig. "Every word in the rule book has a space between it, and that’s where you look for an advantage," he said. "The perception of me being a cheater is not true. I just try to find a loophole." Inspectors disagreed and banned him from last year’s Daytona.

I wonder whether all the people who think cheating in sports is charming feel the same way about business executives who trade on inside information, inflate profits, backdate options, or create off-the-books partnerships to conceal debt.

The simple fact is, cheating is wrong -- no matter how many people do it.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 11:43 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

One of the most influential adults in the life of a high school athlete is his or her coach. A coach can teach much more than how to play a game. Coaches can teach values about preparation and discipline, about coping with great disappointments and, most important, about what is acceptable and proper in the pursuit of victory.

The good news is, most coaches are doing a good job teaching life skills and instilling ethical character traits that last a lifetime. According to a new Josephson Institute report, "What Are Your Children Learning? The Impact of High School Sports on the Values and Ethics of High School Athletes,"* the vast majority of high school athletes (90%) say their coaches "consistently set a good example of ethics and character."

In addition, 91% report they "want them to do the ethically right thing, no matter what the cost." Most athletes become stronger and better people because of their sports experience.

The bad news is, way too many kids are learning negative lessons. It many cases, it seems, sports promotes rather than discourages cheating. Varsity athletes, the study found, are much more likely to cheat in school than the general high school population (67% to 60%).**

What’s more, lots of coaches, especially in boys’ basketball, baseball, and football, are teaching unsportsmanlike and illegal techniques -- from outright cheating (tampering with equipment or altering the field of play) to sleazy gamesmanship tactics (watering down a field beforehand or motivating players with profanity and insults).

The report concludes, "There is reason to worry that the sports fields of America are becoming the training grounds for the next generation of corporate and political villains and thieves."

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Every sports parent and school administrator ought to monitor the values being taught and insist that coaches teach, enforce, advocate, and model good ethics and good sportsmanship. And if you can’t change the coach, change the coach.

To view the study, visit www.CharacterCounts.org.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 11:42 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

I spent most of the weekend analyzing data from a survey of more than 5,000 kids and trying to determine the impact of high school sports on the values and ethics of young athletes. The report will be out soon. While there's some good news, much of the data is distressing. The irrefutable fact is, lots of youngsters are learning bad things from sports.

This was the backdrop for Super Bowl XLI. It was therefore uplifting to see our most highly publicized sporting spectacle set a new standard for classy, first-rate athletic competition.

Yes, the fact that this was the first time football's finest teams were led by African American coaches added luster to the game, but it was the way the game was played and the character displayed by the owners, coaches, and players that made this a Super Bowl to remember.

Although players on both sides played with enormous intensity, there was none of the breast thumping, throat slashing, showboating, or taunting antics that have polluted football in recent years. Everyone played hard and clean, proving that good sportsmanship doesn't inhibit great play or great passion. The Colts were gracious winners and the Bears, including their fine coach, Lovie Smith, were dignified in accepting the disappointing result. This is the way sports are supposed to be played.

And you can't get better role models than the Indianapolis Colts' coach Tony Dungy or their quarterback Peyton Manning.

I especially admire Dungy, a man of enormous character and conviction, who recently had to overcome the death of his eldest son who committed suicide. Dungy's love for football is second to none, but he knows there are more important things. He lives and advocates a life centered in his family and faith.

Thank you Colts and Bears, thank you Peyton Manning, and thank you Tony Dungy for showing us all what sports can be. You came just in time.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 4:42 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Dealing with the death of a loved one is one of the heaviest burdens we are ever asked to bear.

A few years ago I was in Coach John Wooden's home when he received a call from a friend who had just lost his wife. Coach, who was then 94, recited from memory a poem that had comforted him when his beloved wife Nell passed away. It's called "Miss Me, But Let Me Go" (author unknown).

When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me,
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room
-- Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little, but not too long.
And not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once shared.
-- Miss me, but let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take,
And each must go alone.
It's all a part of the Master's plan,
-- A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick of heart,
Go to friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.
-- Miss me, but let me go!

Another positive perspective is expressed in a poem titled "All Is Well" by Henry Scott Holland:

Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I, and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.

Smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was; there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just round the corner.

All is well.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Webmaster at 11:14 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (1)

Whether you're a teacher, coach, parent, or boss with the power and duty to instruct, inspire, and discipline others, you've probably heard this challenge: Who are you to teach me? Implicit in the question is the idea that if you're not perfect, you have no qualifications or moral standing to teach, preach, or punish. That's simply not true.

Of course, inconsistencies between our words and personal conduct will undermine our credibility and give others an excuse to reject our message, but valid and valuable lessons can be taught by imperfect people. A coach doesn't have to be able to do a back flip to teach it, and important lessons about right and wrong can be taught by those who do not live consistently saintly lives.

What's more, people struggling to live up to their own standards can be even more effective precisely because they understand the nature and power of temptation and the ever-present possibility of bad judgment. I often comfort myself with this thought. Despite my preoccupation with issues of ethics and character, I know I'm no paragon of virtue. I frequently fall short of my moral ambitions.

For example, I want to be thin -- especially when I'm not hungry! I want to be healthier as part of my responsibility to my family and others who care about or rely on me. Still, every day is a challenge, not because I don't know what I should do, but because I love steak and bagels and donuts. Unfortunately, resisting temptation most of the time simply isn't good enough.

We shouldn't give up on our pursuit of perfection, but we also shouldn't wait till we're perfect to teach what we know and believe is right.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Webmaster at 11:10 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Whether you’re a sports fan or not, you have to acknowledge the powerful influence sports has on our culture. The values of millions of participants and spectators are shaped by the values conveyed in sports, including our views on what is permissible and proper in the competitive pursuit of personal goals.

Professional sports and even highly competitive intercollegiate sports seem irreversibly addicted to the idea that sports is a business and the only thing that makes it profitable is winning. If that means we have to tolerate egocentric, self-indulgent showboating or whining, violence or even cheating, so be it. Clearly, these attitudes have invaded youth sports as well. Everywhere we see that a lot of adults -- both coaches and parents -- need to grow up and realize the game is not about either their egos or ambitions.

The appropriate mission of youth sports is to provide kids a safe environment in which to have fun, build character, practice sportsmanship and develop skills and traits that will help them become responsible citizens and live happy, healthy lives. Striving to win is an important aspect of competition and teaching kids how to compete effectively and honorably is important, but youth sports should not be primarily about winning; it should be about trying to win and learning through effort and improvement.

Of course, winning is fun and kids like to win, but it’s the adults who often distort the experience because of their need to win. No matter how much we hope and try to make it happen, only a few youngsters will move beyond high school sports, and an even tinier percentage will make a living from athletics. But when done well, every participant can build positive life skills and gain lifelong memories from the pursuit of victory with honor.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 2:14 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

When Ron gave his seven-year-old son Nick a ball and bat, Nick wanted to play immediately. Ron said, "Son, baseball’s a serious game. You have to practice hard before you can play it." The boy went outside and began throwing the ball in the air and swinging at it over and over.

After an hour he said, "Dad, can we play now?"

Ron said, "Show me what you can do."

Nick threw the ball in the air, took a mighty swing and missed. "Strike one," he said enthusiastically. He tossed the ball again and missed again. "Strike two," he yelled.

Ron said, "Concentrate, Son. Remember, three strikes and you’re out." The boy threw the ball again and swung so hard he fell to the ground after hitting nothing but air. Ron winced, but Nick had a triumphant grin.

"You struck out. Why are you happy?"

"Cause I’m really good at pitching."

You gotta love Nick’s attitude. He may not turn out to be a great hitter, but he’s likely to lead a happy life. What’s more, he’ll probably bring warmth and cheer into the lives of others because attitude is contagious.

Pessimists think people like Nick delude themselves by looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Yet Nick’s world is just as he sees it. His decision to view himself as a successful pitcher instead of a bad hitter will not only make him happier, it will contribute to his success.

It’s not easy, but if we develop the wisdom to treat frustrations and failures as empowering experiences and generate the strength to let go of self-destructive resentments and grudges, our lives will be filled with a lot more sunshine.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 2:37 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

This is number three on my list of all-time favorite commentaries.

Although 11-year-old Mark wasn’t much of an athlete, his dad urged him to play youth baseball. Mark liked to play, but he was hurt by the remarks of teammates and spectators whenever he struck out or dropped a ball. Just before the fourth game of the season, Mark told his dad he didn’t want to go. "I’m no good," he said, "and everyone knows it."

His father urged him to stick with it. "Just do your best," he said. "That’s all anyone can ask. Your best is good enough."

Mark struck out his first two times at bat, and each time looked over to his father, who struggled to look positive. In his last at-bat, Mark hit the ball solidly, the first time all season. It was a hard grounder to third, and the play at first was close.

When the umpire called Mark out, his father went wild. "Kill the ump!" he yelled. "Are you blind or just stupid? If you can’t do the job, stay off the field!"

On the way home, Mark broke a long silence, "Dad, you said all anyone can ask for is to do his best."

"That’s right, Son," his father assured him. "You did your best, and I’m proud of you. But that jerk of an umpire robbed you with a bad call."

"I wasn’t talking about me," Mark replied, "I was talking about Billy’s dad. He was the umpire. He was doing his best, but you got mad at him."

His father was taken aback, but he said, "Yeah, but he’s an adult. We should expect more out of adults."

Mark looked his dad in the eye. "That’s what I thought, too. By the way, I was out."

Despite his father’s good intentions, he didn’t set a good example. We should expect more from adults -- more fairness and respect, more sportsmanship and more self-restraint. If your kids play sports, be a model, not a problem.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 4:06 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (2)

Right after learning of the seismic soccer scandal in Italy involving referee bribing and game-fixing, two more momentous cheating scandals in sports made me think of Lily Tomlin’s comment, "No matter how cynical I get, I just can’t keep up."

First, the uplifting reports of a great comeback victory in the Tour de France by U.S. cyclist Floyd Landis were overshadowed by doping charges.

Then, the fastest man in America, Justin Gatlin, tested positive for high levels of synthetic testosterone. Gatlin’s association with coach Trevor Graham, who already has seen six of his athletes suspended for using illegal drugs, doesn’t help. Nor does Graham’s implausible explanation that a malicious massage therapist sabotaged the sprinter by rubbing testosterone cream on his legs.

What are these people thinking? Athletes in both cycling and track and field are under intense scrutiny as their sports struggle to reestablish credibility in the face of growing public distrust and disdain that is discouraging media coverage and sponsorships.

As distressing as these revelations are, there’s even more disturbing evidence of a growing hole in our moral ozone.

Two fifth-grade teachers in Houston were forced to resign because they gave answers to students taking a statewide standardized test. Sadly, this is just the tip of an iceberg-sized scandal involving the entire Houston school system and could discredit the success claims that formed the basis for President Bush’s "No Child Left Behind" strategy.*

We can’t let all this cheating infect us with the disease of low expectations. Cynicism isn’t the answer, it’s part of the problem.

Integrity is not only possible, it’s essential.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Continue reading "Disease of Low Expectations 473.3" »

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 2:20 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Americans were shamed by the conduct of a few athletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics, but that was nothing compared to what’s gone on in the past month on the international stage.

A worldwide crisis is growing, with huge cultural and financial implications.

Other than the Olympics, two of the biggest sporting events in the world are the Tour de France and the World Cup. Both have been marred and mangled by illegal and unsporting behavior that has alienated, or at least embarrassed, all but hard-core partisans.

In another doping scandal that may eventually destroy cycling, this year’s Tour de France was decimated when nine cyclists, including three favorites – Italy’s Ivan Basso, Germany’s Jan Ullrich and Spain’s Francisco Mancebo – were banned from the race because they were linked to a doping doctor in Spain.

Soccer was deeply scarred when it was revealed that some of Italy’s top clubs paid off referees to fix matches. The World Cup tournament itself did not restore the game’s luster. Instead, the games featured unprecedented violence, dirty play, fakery and unsportsmanlike behavior.

There were nearly 30 ejections in the tournament, far more than ever before, including England’s star Wayne Rooney (for stomping a fallen opponent in the groin) and Germany’s Torsten Fring (for punching an opponent). And many thought the game between Portugal and the Netherlands, which broke single-game records for yellow cards (16) and red cards (4), was one of the most despicable World Cup games ever played.

The slide toward foolish, uncontrolled, unsporting behavior was epitomized in the final game when French captain Zinedine Zidane head-butted an opponent during a crucial point in overtime and was ejected. Sadly, the reputation of one of the game’s greatest players will be forever tainted by this lapse in professionalism.

The French team eventually lost to Italy. The squad had every right to be frustrated and disappointed, but as they walked from the award podium, their coach and several team members disrespected their opponents and their sport by removing their second-place medals in apparent disgust. What happened to the glory of honorable competition?

Done right, sports can uplift our spirits and showcase the best of human character, but not enough people are doing it right.

*As if to add an exclamation point, in another part of the globe Scottish soccer star Fernando Ricksen was sent home from South Africa for drunken behavior on a plane.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 3:28 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Later this month I will guide top leaders in more than 40 sports in a discussion of Olympic ideals and the challenges they present.

To prepare, I’ve immersed myself in the history and values of the modern Olympic movement launched in 1894 by a French educator named Pierre de Coubertin.

It’s been both uplifting and upsetting.

It’s uplifting because Olympian ideals are so huge, wise and profound – fair play, respect, effort, excellence, persistence, peace.

The upsetting part is the widening gap between the rhetoric and the reality.

The Olympic Creed states this grand vision: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

The creed is fortified by the Olympic Oath taken on behalf of all athletes, which includes a promise to participate "in the true spirit of sportsmanship" and "for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."

The world has changed a lot since these ideals were first expressed. Today, sports involve much more than the pursuit of athletic excellence. The value of victory from news, entertainment, economic and political perspectives creates enormous incentives and pressures to win, essentially reducing the creed to sentimental rhetoric.

The irony is that if Olympian ideals are abandoned in favor of an "all-that-matters-is-winning" mentality, the games will become less newsworthy, less entertaining and less profitable and winning won’t be so important anymore.

Only a tiny few get medals, but everyone who pursues victory with honor is a winner. And so it is in other life pursuits. Striving nobly is victory.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 9:53 AM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

There's no "I" in "team," goes the sports cliché, but there is in "win," says the cynical rejoinder.

And so, when the L.A. Lakers gave out T-shirts with a picture of the whole team rather than an action photo of a star, I thought of the unavoidable tension between selfless team ball and sensational individual performances exemplified by the Lakers, coached by Phil Jackson, one of the greatest team strategists ever, and captained by Kobe Bryant, one of the game's greatest superstars.

All season, Jackson tried to develop an effective team approach, but it wasn’t working. It was Kobe’s individual play -- including a jaw-dropping 81-point game and a 35-point-game season average -- that brought the Lakers to the playoffs.

Bryant has struggled impressively to overcome a rocky relationship with Jackson, his reputation as an egotistical glory hog and the stain of a rape charge. So, even in his virtuoso performances, he was following his coach’s orders.

When Jackson designed a new game plan using Kobe as a decoy to set up other players to combat the heavily favored Phoenix Suns, Kobe and his teammates responded with a display of intelligent, unselfish team play that’s a model of what’s possible when the mission is more important than who gets the credit.

The Lakers' overtime victory on Sunday was the most impressive display of raw courage and joint effort I have ever seen in sports. You don’t have to like the Lakers or even sports to be able to appreciate all the metaphors suggested by this game. Yes, the winning shots were made in star fashion by Kobe Bryant but, as he acknowledged, they were set up by spectacular clutch plays by his teammates.

There’s no limit to what can be accomplished when good people work together.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 4:55 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

A high school football coach wrote to tell me his team was going to the state finals, but he was troubled. An English teacher had caught three of his players cheating on an exam they had to pass to remain eligible. He told the coach he had passed them anyway “for the good of the school.”

The coach realized if his players had not really passed the test, they were ineligible and, according to league rules, all games in which they had played must be forfeited and his team would be disqualified from the finals.

The coach asked me, “What good would it do to report the ineligibility?” The players who committed the act would be devastated, and the ones who didn't would be unfairly denied their shot at the championship. Parents, players and others would be furious, the English teacher would get in big-time trouble and he, the coach, might lose his job. “Wouldn't the greater good be accomplished if I just kept quiet?” he asked.

Of course not. Although it would take great moral courage to do the right thing -- play by the rules and let the chips fall where they may – I told him that's precisely what he should do.

There were many stakeholders involved (people who would be affected by the decision), and the coach was duty-bound to use his teaching platform to send an unequivocal positive message about honor and integrity. Failing to do so would deprive another team of its right to go to the finals. Looking the other way would undermine his credibility.

It's a high price to pay, but as the years go by, the decision to pursue the path of honor will be an enduring gift to his players and community.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 5:10 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

I've spent lots of time with some of the world's most successful coaches. I discovered that many of them think about character a lot, especially traits that are important to winning -- like self-discipline, perseverance, resiliency and courage. They pay less attention to virtues like honesty, integrity, responsibility, compassion, respect and fairness -- aspects of character that make a good person, citizen, spouse or parent.

The problem is that, even at the amateur level, many coaches are hired and paid to win, not to build character. Unless it interferes with performance, to worry about the kind of person an athlete is off the field is a waste of time.

Coaches who seek to hone the mental and physical skills of winning while ignoring moral virtues of honor and decency too often produce magnificent competitors who are menaces to society.

Perhaps coaches of elite athletes not connected with educational or youth-serving institutions can operate in this moral vacuum, but all others have a responsibility to teach, enforce, advocate and model all aspects of good character, including trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Whether it's sports, business or politics, whenever we divorce issues of competence from issues of character, we create a class of amoral professionals who think they're exempt from common standards of honor and decency. This discredits and demeans the moral standing of everyone involved.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 3:47 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

I've spent lots of time with some of the world's most successful coaches. I discovered that many of them think about character a lot, especially traits that are important to winning -- like self-discipline, perseverance, resiliency and courage. They pay less attention to virtues like honesty, integrity, responsibility, compassion, respect and fairness -- aspects of character that make a good person, citizen, spouse or parent.

The problem is that, even at the amateur level, many coaches are hired and paid to win, not to build character. Unless it interferes with performance, to worry about the kind of person an athlete is off the field is a waste of time.

Coaches who seek to hone the mental and physical skills of winning while ignoring moral virtues of honor and decency too often produce magnificent competitors who are menaces to society.

Perhaps coaches of elite athletes not connected with educational or youth-serving institutions can operate in this moral vacuum, but all others have a responsibility to teach, enforce, advocate and model all aspects of good character, including trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Whether it's sports, business or politics, whenever we divorce issues of competence from issues of character, we create a class of amoral professionals who think they're exempt from common standards of honor and decency. This discredits and demeans the moral standing of everyone involved.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Josephson Institute Editor at 3:47 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

Mark Gibson, a former gymnastics coach who worked with many elite athletes, tells a wonderful story about a 15-year-old girl whose work ethic and attitude brought out the best in everyone. Cindy wasn't a great gymnast, but when she was in the gym everyone complained less, worked harder, and, not surprisingly, achieved more.

Cindy was such a powerful motivator because she was blind. When it was her turn to do the vault, her mom would run alongside her telling her how close she was to the vault. When her mom said, "Vault!" Cindy would reach out and jump — trusting her mother and herself.

Cindy loved the sport and kept improving because she and her mom refused to be defeated by her disability.

Mark called her the most important member of the team, not because of her athletic ability, but because of her heart and because she demonstrated a standard of fortitude and courage that inspired others to get more out of themselves. Everyone who watched her strive to be the best she could be realized how much more they could be.

This is leadership — leadership by example — and we see this sort of leadership not only in sports but in families and in the workplace. Often the most important members of the team are not the smartest, most skilled or most powerful. Their power is in their attitude and their ability to energize and encourage others with their optimism, enthusiasm and determination.

People who know how to get the best out of themselves get the best out of others.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Posted by Webmaster at 12:36 PM   | Permalink |  Comment (0)

According to legend, Dr. Faust traded his soul to the devil for knowledge and magical powers. In an updated version of the legend, Damn Yankees, an avid Washington Senators baseball fan makes a similar deal to become a home run hitting star who leads the Senators to a pennant over the Yankees.

That's one context for the latest exhaustively documented revelations that Barry Bonds broke the home run record of another cheater, Mark McGwire, by using an elaborately designed combination of steroids, growth hormones and other drugs to build muscle and power. For most watchers of the game, the new book Game of Shadows by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams (excerpted in Sports Illustrated) just confirmed and added interesting detail to the obvious: Bonds's late career change in appearance and his emergence as the greatest power hitter in the history of the game was the result of "juice," the slang term for illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Apparently, he began pumping up his performance and his body in 1999. That means 210 of his 708 home runs were illegal and that his true lifetime batting average would sink below .300.

Bond's record of 73 homers in a season, his unprecedented string of Most Valuable Player Awards for 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, and his batting average titles for 2002 (.370) and 2004 (.362) should be, but won't be, expunged though they will surely be demeaned by a footnote.

He will probably never be adjudicated a cheater in a court of law, but the evidence is good enough in the court of public opinion and he will surely end his career in disgrace. And so he joins scores of prominent athletes sentenced to the Hall of Shame for trading honor, reputation and, perhaps, their souls for the fool's gold version of immortality -- the adulation of sports fans and the glory of setting records.

At the root of these unwise and immoral trades with the devil is the cheaters' illusion that satisfying an obsessive lust will create lasting pleasure and that, in the end, they will find a way to cheat the devil too.

The lessons go well beyond sports: Never do something that will work out only if it is never found out, never trade honor for glory, and never trade the future for today.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

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When I first heard the name Valerie Kondos-Field, I thought it referred to a sports venue rather than a person. Since then, I've come to have a great appreciation for the name of UCLA's women’s gymnastics coach and the extraordinary woman who owns it.

For one thing, she has impeccable credentials. Her name was among the first mentioned when I asked Coach John Wooden for a list of coaches who best exemplified the teacher-coach concept he introduced to the CHARACTER COUNTS! Pursuing Victory With Honor sports initiative.

He told me he was an avid fan of women's gymnastics who attends every meet he can. He loves the way Coach Val teaches her "girls" not merely to be great gymnasts -- her teams have won three NCAA national championships -- but to be good people.

So I got to know Val a bit and found out why Coach Wooden thinks so much of her. As a model teacher-coach, she takes seriously the notion that her team is comprised of student-athletes. Her team's cumulative grade point average is 3.4.

And, in a sport that highlights personal performances, Coach Val insists that her athletes work and think as a team. But what touched my heart most was watching her athletes enthusiastically cheering for each other during a meet.

Coach Wooden's endorsement is hard to beat, but the clincher for me was when my wife Anne, who runs her own gymnastics school and treats her gymnasts like they were her own kids, told me that no parent could hope for more than having a child coached, mentored and loved by Valerie Kondos-Field.

Coached, mentored and loved -- that's quite a combination. UCLA's last home meet is Sunday, May 5. If you want to see a great coach in action, you ought to join Coach Wooden and go. And bring your kids, if you want to expose them to a great bunch of role models.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

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Did you hear the sports story that recently came out of Greece? No, it wasn't from the country that spawned the Olympics, though it has an Olympic quality. The story came out of Greece, New York, and it was about Jason McElwain, a 17-year-old autistic kid, and Jim Johnson, a high school basketball coach.

Jason, who didn't speak until he was five and always struggled with learning challenges, was short for a basketball player, only five foot six. In fact, he never made the team. He was the team manager, who kept stats and handed out water bottles.

But Coach Johnson liked Jason's enthusiasm for the game and his unselfish dedication to the team. So he decided to let him suit up for the last home game of the season. If the score permitted, he might even let him play a few minutes.

Word got around and a group of students came to the game with signs bearing his nickname, "J-Mac," and cutouts of his face placed on popsicle sticks.

When Jason was put into the game with four minutes left, they cheered wildly, hoping that he might even score a basket. In Hollywood, he would have done just that, and his teammates would have carried him off on their shoulders. But in the real world of Greece, New York, Jason took a shot and missed by about six feet. His supporters groaned and the coach worried that he may have set this young man up for embarrassment.

But J-Mac took another shot, and another, and another. In fact, he took 10 shots, sank a school record six three-pointers, and scored 20 points in his four minutes of glory.

And, yes, he was carried off on the shoulders of his teammates. And it was the career high point in the life of a coach who just gave a good kid a chance.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

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In the Olympic Games, the difference between the glory and joy of victory and the crushing disappointment of defeat can be inches or fractions of a second — or a spontaneous act of sportsmanship.

In the Olympic Games, one can achieve immortality by winning a medal and being enshrined in the record books forever or by making a gesture of generosity so grand that it joins a handful of memorable moments that honor the Olympic ideal and bring honor to one’s country.

It happened in 1936 in Berlin when the German long jumper Luz Long gave advice to American Jesse Owens to help him qualify for the finals and go on to win a gold medal that could have been Long's. It happened in 1964 at Innsbruck when Italian bobsledder Eugenio Monti helped a team from Great Britain win the gold by giving them an axle bolt to repair their sled.

And it happened in 2006 when Norway's cross country ski coach Bjornar Hakensmoen gave a Canadian skier his pole to replace the one she just broke, permitting her team to win the silver medal and push his own team to a medal-less fourth place.

Showered with gratitude and praise for his superb act of sportsmanship, the Norwegian coach was surprised. His team had discussed this sort of thing the night before and agreed that the right thing to do would be to help any competitor who needed a pole or ski. After all, isn't that what real sports are about?

The Norwegian's act of sportsmanship cost his team a medal, but it won his country worldwide respect and admiration. Seems to me it was worth it.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

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Yesterday, millions of men paid special tribute to a woman they love by buying her flowers, a balloon, a cute stuffed toy or candy. Many took their Valentines out to dinner and lots of men gave their special ladies jewelry or other gifts. Well, all those men – including me – are sad amateurs when it comes to expressing meaningful love and devotion.

John Wooden, the 95-year-old legendary UCLA basketball coach, lost his wife of 53 years more than 20 years ago. And on the 21st of this month, as he has done on the 21st day of every month since his beloved Nell died, he'll write a letter telling her he loves her, that he misses her and that he can't wait to see her again.

Rick Reilly, the Sports Illustrated columnist, described his extraordinary ritual in a column nearly six years ago. "He'll fold the letter once, slide it into a little envelope and walk into his bedroom. He'll go to the stack of love letters sitting there on her pillow, untie the yellow ribbon, place the new one on top and tie the ribbon again."

There will be over 200 letters to Nell on the pillow and this ever-loving husband will sleep next to them on his side of the bed, on top of the sheets with the same bedspread they shared to cover him.

This enduring, profound, undying devotion shines as a guiding beacon, a north star of love, that puts heart-shaped boxes and helium balloons to shame.

A deeply religious man, John Wooden is certain that he will join the love of his life when his time on this small globe is over. And whether you believe in heaven or not, you'd be foolish not to believe he will find a way to be with her again.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

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According to a fascinating website by the University of Pennsylvania, the Olympic Games started in 776 B.C. and were held every four years for nearly 12 centuries when they were abolished by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I in 393 A.D. The modern Games were reinstituted by 34 countries in 1896 by the French visionary Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who envisioned a worldwide event, spectacular in purity and conducted in "the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of teams."

You don't have to be exceptionally cynical to realize that today's Games do not always live up to the ideal. But I found it unusually interesting that one of the more prominent stories about the beginnings of the Games hardly reflected Baron de Coubertin's noble vision.

The legend is that Pelops, a prince from Asia Minor, sought the hand of the daughter of a powerful king who was especially vain about his skill in chariot racing. The king challenged his daughter's suitors to a race, promising that any man who beat him could marry the princess. But the stakes were high. If the suitor lost, he would be beheaded and his head would be used as decoration for the palace. Now that's a pressure our modern athletes don't face.

According to the myth, Pelops secretly replaced the bronze linchpins of the king's chariot with pins made of wax. During the race, the wax melted and the king was thrown to his death. Pelops married the princess and instituted the Olympic Games to celebrate his victory.

Put in perspective, things aren't so bad after all.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

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On the verge of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, it's worth telling the story of Eugenio Monti, an Italian bobsledder carrying the hopes of his nation in the 1964 Olympics.

During the competition the British team headed by Tony Nash had the fastest time in the first run. Unfortunately, before they could launch again, they discovered that a critical axle bolt had broken, disabling their sled. There wasn't enough time to get another bolt and it appeared he would be disqualified.

Monti heard this and as soon as he finished his run he took the axle bolt from his sled and sent it up to Nash. Nash used it and went on to win the gold medal while Monti had to settle for the bronze.

Monti was viciously criticized in the Italian press for giving up the gold, but he was steadfast. "Nash didn't win because I gave him the bolt," he said. "He won because he had the fastest run."

Every real competitor wants to win, but Olympic medalist John Naber says a true sportsman who believes in the Olympic ideal wants to win fairly and against his best opponent on his opponent's best day.

Though Monti won the gold medal at the next Winter Olympics, he isn't known mainly because he won four years later. It's not the wins but the willingness to lose that earned him a prominent place in Olympic history. His act represents sportsmanship at its best: the pursuit of victory with honor.

It's hard to imagine an American athlete today who would jeopardize a potential medal by a similar act, but how proud would you be if it were your child?

Today, with so many athletes and coaches willing to cheat or behave badly just to win, we need reminders of the noble potential of sports.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

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There are great similarities between high-level sports and the practice of law, especially regarding the gap in both fields between ideals and realities. The ideals of sports are embodied in the concept of sportsmanship and notions like fair play and respect for opponents in the pursuit of athletic excellence. The ideals of law are similar in the pursuit of truth and justice.

Yet the reality is that too many athletes and attorneys disregard these ideals in the blind and ambitious pursuit of victory. Striving mightily to win is not the problem. It's wanting to win so badly that principles of decency, ethics and honor are ignored. It's the brazen adoption of gamesmanship strategies and the "whatever it takes to win" attitude that's the problem. It's valuing cleverness so highly that those who get away with breaking or bending rules are admired. So athletes fake fouls and taunt or illegally hold opponents, while lawyers assert groundless claims, confuse honest witnesses and use delay.

Gamesmanship tactics are so prevalent that some find it hard to imagine anyone being effective without them. But that's self-serving nonsense. Many people in both fields believe that no victory is real or worthy if it's achieved without honor.

The game of sports is about playing by the rules, not fooling referees or intimidating opponents. And law is not a game at all. The high road is not the easier road, but it's the only road for a person of character.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

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