NEW YORK -- More than a decade ago, when Ken Dryden was President of the Toronto Maple Leafs, I rode with him as he drove to Buffalo during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Dryden -- a Cornell graduate, a Hall of Fame goalie, a lawyer, an author and a future member of Canada's Parliament -- was no dumb jock. He spoke of the vivid, unscripted drama of sports and how they amount to national theater.
"I'm not sure there are many experiences through which people learn more than they do through sport, watching that drama night after night," Dryden said. "Kids are learning lessons. Parents are learning lessons. 'Be like so-and-so.' 'Don't be like somebody else.' For good and bad, sport has immense influence."
Dryden's observations echoed in my memory this week while contemplating three immense sports stories that transcended mere athletic competition and took Dryden's philosophy to a higher level.
The first was the death of Joe Frazier, a courageous boxing champion who never quite got his due in life. One of his greatest performances, a defeat, illustrated how finishing second does not necessarily label a person a loser and sometimes ennobles him.
The second was the scandal at Penn State -- the alleged rapes of young boys by an assistant coach -- that forced a disgraceful ending to the glittering career of head coach, Joe Paterno. Until now, his name was as venerated in his profession as that of Knute Rockne.
The third issue, not as humanly wrenching but nevertheless very telling, is the increasingly tense lockout that threatens the National Basketball Association season. The commissioner, David Stern, gave the players' union a Wednesday deadline to capitulate. Yes, it's "Millionaires vs. Billionaires" and it is easy to say "a pox on both their houses." But the dynamics of their struggle are much like those that have prompted protests in the streets against economic injustice.
Frazier's magnificent moment was the "Thrilla in Manila" in 1975 against Muhammad Ali. After splitting his first two fights with Ali, Frazier lost the third.
Frazier's trainer wouldn't let his damaged fighter leave the corner for the fifteenth and final round. Even watching that fight was painful -- and riveting. Both men were past their prime but evenly matched, with savvy and pride. Neither was ever the same afterward.
On the website of The New Yorker, David Remnick wrote that Ali looked at Frazier in the seventh round and said: "Old Joe Frazier, why I thought you were washed up."
To this, Frazier replied: "Somebody told you all wrong, pretty boy."
Ali, despite his charisma, had a mean streak. His racialist taunting of Frazier (he called him a "gorilla") calls to mind the bullying of schoolchildren that is finally now recognized as so dangerous it can lead to suicide.
Have you ever worked in an environment where a competitor gets undue accolades by schmoozing, bamboozling and charming people while denigrating you? The media loved Ali and Frazier was his foil. It was not fair, but such things are not uncommon.
In their first meeting, Frazier's victory, Frazier dropped Ali with a left hook that began in Philadelphia and landed in Madison Square Garden. Down goes Ali! Down goes Ali! It is a sports moment to savor; I never tire of seeing it, the singular image of glory for the late, great Smokin' Joe.
Another Joe, Paterno, goes by the nickname "JoePa," a fatherly sort of thing. Full disclosure here: I've covered him, I've interviewed him, I like him. Paterno is as charming and intelligent as any coach in any sport. We're both Catholic. He thinks I'm Italian. He calls me "Giuseppe."
Even in his bad moods, Paterno was fun to be around. He liked the spotlight on himself and away from his assistants, men like Jerry Sandusky, charged with abusing eight boys over 15 years.
Paterno learned of one allegation in 2002 and reported it to his superior, the athletic director Tim Curley. But Paterno's excuse for going no further -- that he did not know the specific, sordid details -- comes off as disingenuous.
Paterno is the sort of man who gets the information he wants and avoids learning what he does not want to know. He is 84 years old and has, after 46 seasons, a record total of 409 victories. For years, touting its high graduation rate, Penn State always has bragged about "doing things the right way."
That phrase mocks what took place over more than a decade and gives bitter satisfaction to Big Ten rivals who have chafed under the sanctimonious attitude of the Nittany Lions. If Paterno reported the activity to his bosses in 2002 and they swept it under the rug, why didn't he go to police or higher authorities?
Perhaps he is technically off the hook, legally. But what is his Catholic conscience telling him now? From a more cynical perspective, his departure had to happen. Imagine parents of a high school senior star being recruited by many colleges. Would they send their son to a campus where pre-teen boys were allegedly raped in the locker room of the football team?
The alleged cover-up in State College, Pa., is analogous to the scandal that continues to stain the Catholic Church, a breach of trust between controlling adults and vulnerable children that disgusts and horrifies. What is alleged at Penn State is worse than any recruiting scandal, under-the-table payment or grade-cheating manipulation.
Finally, as for the NBA lockout, consider what you see around you. Madison Square Garden in New York, home of the Knicks, is renovating and gentrifying so that more luxury suites can be sold for even higher prices to people who make a lot of money.
You know the type: The Wall Street crowd, the "One Percent" who snatch a disproportionate share of American wealth. Stern, the commissioner, is the mentor of Gary Bettman, the National Hockey League commissioner who canceled the entire 2004-05 season to slash wages of the players who risk their bodies doing the owners' work.
Don't doubt Stern's willingness to cancel this season. He knows his billionaires can out-last the millionaires and lesser-paid players. He has a whip hand and will gleefully use it.
If the union had any public relations savvy, the stars of the sport would organize pickup games and play them at school gyms and outdoor courts. Invite the public; bring in the television cameras; tell their side of the story.
On the way to and from the games, they might visit the "Occupy" protests across the nation to show support and solidarity.
The basketball players may be taller, more talented and temporarily wealthier than the protestors. But, bottom line, they've got more in common with the 99 percent than with the one percent. They're just another union to be taken down, like Reagan vs. the air controllers and all those public workers fighting Republican governors in the Great Lakes region.
In sum, all three cases -- Frazier, Paterno, the lockout -- are just examples of how sports, inside and outside the arenas, can illuminate the way the real world works.
Like the rich, successful actors who play the broken-down Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, our sports performers act as our avatars and our archetypes, on and off the court, field and ice. Truth sometimes flows through them and sometimes it is a hard truth worth learning.
This post originally appeared on Current.com.
Follow Joe Lapointe on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joelapointe
William Bradley: Recalling Joe Frazier: An Appreciation, and a Note of Horror
Penn State Nittany Lions' coach Joe Paterno's legacy sullied in ...
Penn State Coach Joe Paterno Is Fired - NYTimes.com
Joe Paterno fired as football coach at Penn State - The Washington ...
Paterno fired over Penn St. child abuse scandal - CBS News
Joe Frazier, former heavyweight champion, dead at 67 - ESPN
Former heavyweight champ Joe Frazier dies of cancer ... - USA Today
Joe Frazier Dead: Muhammad Ali Has Only Respect For Former Rival
NBA and players to talk again Thursday - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
NBA lockout: Players reject proposal, rhetoric escalates as deadline ...
NBA lockout -- Some NBA owners express displeasure with David ...
As far as Ali's mean streak is concerned, Ali was absolutely detested because he was an uppity black person. His braggadocio made people watch him and once that happened, they had no choice but to respect him. He also gave up his career at the height of success and physical potential for something he believed in and inspired people of all races to protest the war. His charitable foundations were clearly non-race or religion based.
As far as Frasier is concerned, he was the epitome of perseverance and confidence. He is an inspiration to everyone.
On another note, every Penn State brat involved in the riots last night should have been booked and jailed. They think they have been victimized by losing their football coach in the middle of the season. They are outraged? Every one of them that raised their voice in anger or destroyed property was a slap in the face to the families of the real victims in this case, those 15 little boys who couldn't defend themselves from the likes of Penn State's football gods. Shame....shame.....shame on you. Shame on JoePa for having the gall to describe his immediate termination as unfortunate. Says who????????
Sorry, but IMHO that dog don't hunt. Sure, men usually don't want to hear about things unpleasant. Who does? But those are times when the unpleasant has already happened and is beyond their control. Real men don't walk away from things, no matter how unpleasant, that they can rescue, help or see that justice is served. Especially in cases where the victims are unable to defend themselves. JoePa could have not only seen to it that justice was served he could have prevented what most likely were even more assaults on innocent young boys. Was that just too icky for the leader of men? As Dr. Phil says, whenever a wrong is ignored or allowed to continue every party involved is receiving some sort of payoff. Payoffs that come in many different forms and for more different reasons than you can even begin to list. But everyone involved who knows right from wrong in a situation but let's wrong prevail is getting some form of payoff, some without even knowing what it is. JoePa knows though, no psychoanalyzing of the male mind needed for this one. This is like Watergate, JoePa is Nixon . Ickier? YES! More complicated? Nope, just self-serving damage control of a horridly ickier crime than just wiretapping. Like capital murder vs. jaywalking.
How can anyone in their right mind allow a guy to continue to go into the showers and sooook d to 10 years olds
Yo Smitty, Go tell the parents of these defenseless young children that JoePa went above and beyond his call of duty. I would advise you tell them via a long long distance source of communication though. You honestly believe Shultz is realistically over Paterno's head? Technically that would be the case in the normal world but JoePa and Penn State football is a separate world. JoePa can move mountains and you praise him for lifting a finger that accomplished nothing. Snap out of it!
Another hard truth that many professional sports fans can’t seem to accept, as you suggest, concerns the obscene amounts of money that have been funneled into it that does not find its way to the players. Corporate greed, as we have clearly seen, is corrupting almost every aspect of our lives in this country. I know I gag and near puke every time I hear the words “Staples Center”. Perhaps we need an Occupy Commissioner Stern movement? ;0)
The only point you make that I feel I must take issue with concerns Ali’s seeming mean streak. I’ve loved both men since they fought those amazing 3 bouts. They were certainly the most evenly matched boxers of their time. But, Ali’s “mean streak” should not be consigned to mere bullying. Perhaps the greatest tool in his boxing arsenal was his matchless ability to “psyche-out” his opponents. This has been and will continue to be one large aspect of any sport and to denigrate it as bullying just does not ring true to me.
My mom always told me I had an unusual hatred for seeing people get picked on when I was a child, which is why I was never an Ali fan. There is a big line between talking trash to promote a fight, and using lies and slurs to damage a man's character and dignity. RIP Joe Frazier.
Penn State debacle is a hideous reminder of what can happen when sports are elevated above all else.
RIP NBA - if they don't get themselves on the court soon, both sides will watch their "immense influence" go the way of the NHL's.
They all covered it up. Even the sanctimonious board members.