On the Couch : By Dr. Richard Lustberg

An Analysis of Current Topics and Issues in Sport

January 17, 2001

Hirings, Firings,
Job Changes

With the recent flurry of hiring, firings, resignations, and switching of jobs in sport, once again the fans and media have weighed in with a plethora of opinions about the likes of Bill Parcells, Al Groh, Dick Vermeill, Rick Pitino, Wade Philips, and David Cone etal. The outcry has been furious, and the debate rages on about these individuals and their actions, having received lead story and front page exposure in many newscasts, sports shows, newspapers and magazines.

It is so important that it has relegated relatively unimportant issues such as the appointments of potential cabinet members, the situation in the Middle East and the startling discovery of the possibility of two different planets or solar systems to secondary status.

It seems on the surface that it is so easy to understand that the primary purpose of sport is to entertain and that nothing really happens if your favorite team wins or loses.

After all this is just sport and not the deterioration of the ozone layer, or the onset of some plague that threatens to wipe out the population. It is so easy to forget what sport is supposed to be about as evidenced by the outcries over Bill Parcells alone, which from all reports have been heard in far off galaxies.

Keep in mind that whenever the reaction is way out of proportion to the precipitating event the human psyche is at work. Oh, the emotional and psychological pull and anguish of it all. Why do we do this and how do we go on? Evidently, very easily.

Bill Parcells has left the Jets in chaos. He is deemed selfish because he does what he wants and his employers have allowed him to do it. I thought this was a capitalistic society. Was I misled? Dick Vermeil is a traitor because he made a decision to work for a good friend and a rival team, after he had the audacity to once again change his mind and come out of retirement. Can you imagine?

One well known national radio personality said that it was wrong that Al Groh broke his contract to pursue his dream job, to be near his family and to bask in the glow of a famous campus. He went on to state that if he were offered his dream job as a sportscaster for the San Francisco Giants, he would not leave. He owed too much to the station and was a loyal employee. This standard of course did not apply to his relationship with his equally well known partner with whom he gets into petty, sophomoric, and sometimes bitter squabbles.

As for Rick Pitino, he is abandoning ship to go to a place where he is better suited. So they say. He has no right to feel burnt out, want a change of scenery, or maybe want to spend some time with his family. Maybe he has no reason at all. To think this might be the case would send shudders down the spine of many who present as having a strong backbone. And poor Wade Phillips, he was most probably going to be fired anyway, but stood by his assistants. Wrong choice.

All this is stated as if it were adopted universally. Is all this really to be allowed? Trouble is the answer cannot found any place in the societal-universal code of shoulds. Does one actually exist? Maybe that is the reason it can't be found, because there are few scenarios where there is only one way or one answer.

It has been my experience that many patients and individuals often have specific ideas on how the world should function. Typically, these individuals react to the behaviors, opinions, and actions of others based upon what they think is right or correct. When the world or other people do not act in congruence with these often whimsical, arbitrary thoughts which have very little to do with how the world really functions, they often become outraged and critical. Sound familiar? It should because it goes on right in front of your face all the time.

Statements such as:

"What he did is not right"

" I would not do that"

"It was the wrong thing to do"

"Don't you think it ought to have been handled a different way?"

"Let me tell you how I would have done it"

All have all become part of our everyday lexicon.

People who make the erroneous assumption that the rest of the world does and should function the way they do are in part attempting to cope in a world that is a very unfair, inconsistent, and unpredictable. They often crave stability, predictability, and emotional comfort. Usually the louder the scream and reaction, the more threatened the individual is.

People certainly have the right to their own thoughts and opinions however, they make a wrong turn when they think that there is no other possible thought or action other than their own. So when those in the world of sport, or who have interest in it, make dogmatic, self righteous, sanctimonious statements about the actions of the likes of the Pitinos, Grohs, Parcells, Vermeils, and Cones they too have taken a wrong turn.

Those who cover and follow the world of sport have overreacted to the recent changes in their inner sanctum. The trouble is these changes are the norm in a world of mere muggles. Heck, even muggles act in this manner. One might even go so far as to suggest that many in sport are more dogmatic and self-righteous. Perhaps that is just the way it is in a world of moral shoulds.