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By: Charles W. Boatright Author of The ESPY Golf Swing Coach, Delta Technique Geared for Distance and Control

Labor Day Kicks off What Some Call the Second Season, Football

Summer is that season that spans between Memorial Day and Labor Day, with long days, warm weather, outdoor activities, and cookouts with family and friends. But, equally as anticipated, is Labor Day that marks the official kickoff to the College Football Season.

The College Football Season is probably more anticipated than most events during the year, with tailgating that has created an entire industry. I live in Mississippi, in the heart of the SEC Country. Tailgating, like in the Grove at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, takes tailgating to a whole different status of table cloths, chandeliers, and four-course fine dining.

Southern ladies wearing formals, stiletto heels, and adorned with Rembrandt-like complexions turn the Grove into a Cocktail Party atmosphere. William Faulkner, with his southern charm and style of writing, could only describe such an event with pageantry.

Sports, Directly or Indirectly, Plays a Significant Part of our Society

Some might be of the opinion that sports has a negative impact on our culture, but in reality, the opposite is the fact. Only a small percentage (less than one percent) of athletes who participate in college athletics actually make sports their profession. This applies to football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf, gymnastics, track & Field, boxing, and/or wrestling.

The other 99 percent, like Jerry Rice states in his NCAA announcement, goes into a different professional field or career, but the lessons these young men and women learn develop them far beyond the field of dreams. The sportsmanship, leadership, persistence, preparation, commitment, respect for others and rules of fair play, and doing the job right, and doing the right thing go along with them into their careers and life.

I even dedicated a section of my book, The ESPY Golf Swing Coach, on sportsmanship and its benefits on our society.

You can take attributes just from sportsmanship and highlight most of the virtues and characteristics in the Bible of the Golden Rule. Matter of fact, sportsmanship offers concrete principles and concepts that are actually easier for young men and women to apply directly to their lives.

Rules of the Game that Offer Equal Opportunity to All to Participate that Meet Standards

There have been cases of rules infractions in all sports. There are recent cases where players who didn’t qualify to play were cleared to play, either knowingly or unknowingly, by the colleges. There are also cases where people took courses and tests for athletes to pass their curriculum. And, who can forget SMU’s case of paid players. University of Arkansas was in the Southwest Conference that played SMU. We used to say that SMU had the best players money could buy.

But these type of infractions have major ramifications, not just with everyone competing on the field participating with the same rules, but receiving a degree. When a college degree is handed out to a graduate, that college or university is stating that the individual has completed the prescribed course of study for that curriculum. At least that’s what my Engineering Degree states.

Playing by the rules is what makes sports the attraction and draw that it has. When an infraction happens that’s not called, it places the other team or player at a severe disadvantage. Just ask New Orleans Saints that from last year’s play- offs, as the Pass Interference wasn’t called inside the 10-yard line. It changed the Saint’s chances for playing in the Super Bowl.

Labor Day and Sports Share More than Just a Day

It is equally as important to follow rules and laws in the workplace, just as on the football field. I worked with a Transmission Line Utility, where rules and regulations got you home each day and kept the public safe. Respect for those rules and Regulations were essential. If rules weren’t followed, there were severe consequences.

The recent raids on two chicken process plants in Mississippi have caught the attention of the media and politicians, based on social issues. Representative Beto O’Rourke was in Canton, MS, where one raid took place. He was highlighting the social injustice of the raids. But the reason these illegal immigrants are here is because of the opportunity our laws provide to our citizens for them to have an equal opportunity to work that doesn’t exist in these illegal immigrant’s countries.

Beto O’Rourke, focusing on this issue, overlooks the legal process that people have used to either work and/or become citizens. Back to the scenario of the college degree. How would you feel if someone in your field of studies didn’t attend classes or pass courses that you did and got the same degree? In some fields of study, this could be a hazard to the public, like in medicine, engineering, aviation, or other technical areas that we depend on for our health and safety.

Representative Nancy Pelosi raised a great point, that these two companies should be held responsible. I agree, but a spokesperson for one company here in Canton, MS, stated that E-Verify was used in hiring these workers. So that raises another question that to be E-Verified, you have to have ID. The ID used in this case was stolen and bought by these workers. Identity Theft is a huge problem! But it is interesting that this didn’t get the press that the raid did.

The lawyer for some of the workers stated that these are the very people we want in our country. But the very reason our country is the great country is the respect for its laws and regulations that govern it. We are not a country or men, but of laws. We can’t just enforce the laws we think are right and not others. The very reason our country does function is because of its laws. These laws do need, from time-to-time, to be amended, I agree! But they need to be amended through the legislation process, and not at the expense of others. What one overlooks, they encourage.

Just by these agencies carrying out the law, Beto O’Rourke demonizes and criticizes. In order to take the oath of office as Beto O’Rourke has, you have to support the Constitution and its laws. If our country gets to a point that it chooses what laws it will enforce, we become a country of men, and not laws.