Ga. playoffs reveal young athletes have more class, sportsmanship than adults

There were several years of my life when Friday nights in the fall meant walking up the steps of a high school’s home bleachers — or sometimes scaling a rickety ladder — to find a spot in a press box to watch teenage boys do battle on the football field. A few times I wound up working from a sideline, but usually I had a seat and a place to write stories for newspapers from Valdosta to Americus to Columbus.

Rarely did the job of sportswriting get more exciting than when high school football playoffs rolled around. And I’ve been fortunate to cover many playoff games and more than a few state championships thanks to some great teams in my coverage areas.

I’ve seen teams capture titles by running the wishbone and flinging it through the air with run-and-shoot offenses. Regardless of how they got there, the vast majority of those great teams had one thing in common — class.

I don’t get to those fields very often these days, maybe once or twice a year, and when I do, I have to stand in line and pay and then find myself a seat on those hard bleachers. It still feels strange not to be in the press box.

This past Friday, I returned to my high school alma mater in Montezuma, Ga., as my Macon County Bulldogs battled Emmanuel County Institute in the final four of the Class A playoffs. It was one of the best high school games I’ve seen in years — even though my Dawgs finally ran away with a 48-26 victory to reach this Saturday’s championship at the Georgia Dome.

Macon County’s quarterback, K’Hari Lane, threw his 52nd touchdown of the season, just two short of the state record, a feat even more remarkable considering that he has thrown just 1 interception this year. ECI, meanwhile, had a free safety who nearly knocked a couple of receivers into Oglethorpe, my hometown on the other side of the Flint River from Montezuma.

But there was one move that stood out on the night. As someone who watches a lot of college football and NFL football, I was shocked by it. It was the helping hand up. Over and over, these kids who were locked in this intense battle, kept knocking each other down and then helping each other up and offering pats on the back for hard hits.

Too rarely does this happen in the NFL, the football played by adults. These adults get personal fouls for taunting. These adults push and shove after almost every play. These adults smash equipment on the sidelines. These adults trash talk throughout the game.

You would think that sportsmanship and class are things that would grow with age, but as both a sportswriter and now as a fan, I realize that I’ve seen more class and sportsmanship from young athletes than from adult athletes over the years. In fact, the main reason I turned down an NFL career myself is because sportsmanship is so frowned upon. Between that and my 12.76-second 40-yard dash at the combine, I decided to hang up my cleats.

Several of these kids will have an opportunity to play at the next level, likely smaller colleges. Some of the kids playing their hearts out couldn’t have been 140 pounds soaking wet. So I doubt I’ll ever see any of them playing in the future on NFL Sunday.

I guess it’s just as well — they’re too well-behaved.

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 2:31 PM with the headline "Ga. playoffs reveal young athletes have more class, sportsmanship than adults."