Times have changed. I remember when I was a youngster dealing with the athletic contests and the social network on the elementary school playground, the one thing you didn’t want to be called was a “show-off.”
How quaint that term seems now.
A “show-off” was someone who deliberately brought attention to himself (it was usually a boy) for something he did well or at least thought he did well. Parents, teachers and coaches repeatedly warned us against that kind of behavior. It was unbecoming, it was obnoxious, it didn’t reflect well on you, your family or your school.
Fast-forward to today.
Football fans and basketball fans, in particular, love “show-offs”. At least, that’s what the media tell us. End zone dances, the flexing of muscles, the high-stepping runs, the contrived camera poses–those are great stuff. In this fresh, new, “look at me” age, a “show-off” is admired for his personality, his creativity, his humor, his ability to make a camera focus on him.
Well, here’s someone who, after all these years, still despises show-offs.
What the hell is wrong with humility? With modesty? With acknowledging that when you made it into the end zone or you managed to sack the quarterback, you probably did it with the indispensable help of your teammates?
Humility is an American virtue that somehow in the last few decades, at least in sports, has been cast aside.
That’s one reason (but not the only one) I like the Green Bay Packers. Not too many preeners on the team. It would seem distinctly un-Green Bay-like. Actually, for the entire Midwest, it seems that humility remains more of a virtue than it does in the rest of the country. Midwesterners, we’re told, are boring.
So be it. Better to be boring than a show-off. I think it was former Cowboys’ coach Tom Landry who once said, “When you get to the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.” Good advice from a boring man.