I was never so critical of the National Football League’s Pro Bowl until 1994, only months after the San Francisco 49ers had won their fifth superbowl. I was about 16-years-old then, and one of the biggest whiners in the history
I was never so critical of the National Football League’s Pro Bowl until 1994, only months after the San Francisco 49ers had won their fifth superbowl.
I was about 16-years-old then, and one of the biggest whiners in the history of lazy, couch potato, live-for-football kids.
“I thought this was an All-Star game!,” I winged to my poor mother. She had to deal with my unreasonable assessments many times before, and this particular complaint was no different.
“I see Steve Young, I see Jerry Rice, and there’s Deion Sanders. But where the heck are the other 49er helmets?,” I continued. “Shouldn’t the whole 49er team make the pro-bowl? After all, they are the best team in football.”
My mom, rather annoyed of the game-time interruption, never turned her eyes from the television screen but gave me an answer.
“The 49ers ARE the best team in football, without a doubt,” she responded. She has been a fan of the gold-miners for more than 20 years now. “But that doesn’t mean there aren’t great football players on other teams. And although they didn’t win the Super Bowl, they still deserve recognition.”
As stubborn as I was about the almighty SF, I understood her point.
The 49ers got a big trophy, a huge parade, and millions of streaming confetti poured all over them after they won that Super Bowl.
Steve Young even announced he was going on a trip to Disneyland.
But for the temporarily forgotten-the Brett Favres, the Emmitt Smiths and the Barry Sanders’-the season came to a close, and their achievements on the football field were left in a statistics book somewhere to collect dust (I know, I know, they were paid millions for what they did, but you get my drift).
All Star teams are not implemented to reward a team, they are there to highlight individual accomplishments. Especially those individuals who weren’t recognized due, in part, to the performances of their teams.
From the look of the KIF All Star selections printed in yesterday’s Garden Island Sports Section, I feel the concept of the All Star selection process was neglected.
Only two players from the Kaua’i Red Raider football team were identified as All Stars, and only one Kapa’a Warrior made the KIF list. In volleyball, (our sports department never got the opportunity to nominate V-ball All Stars), only Red Raider girls made the list. It turns out members of the KIF never thought any girls on the other two teams were good enough to make that list.
Oh, boy, do I beg to differ.
Not to say there should be any particular replacements-everyone currently on the lists deserve to be there.
But just as I was wrong to think every 49er should have been in that Pro Bowl game, the KIF poll was wrong to think every member of each winning team should make up this year’s 2001 All Stars list.
They don’t do it in Major League Baseball, they don’t do it in the National Hockey League, and they surely don’t do it in other high school leagues all over America.
It just isn’t right.
And I’m not talking about charity. These kids really do deserve the recognition. There needs to be a better way to work the system of voting. And the voters should be told that the point of All Star teams is to recognize individuals who have played above and beyond their peers, based on statistics, attitude, and athleticism.
Don’t tell me there aren’t any on those non-championship teams. That’s hogwash. There are plenty of kids who have remarkable talent on those teams. It’s just a shame those kids never get recognized.
As of now, it would be unfair for me to start naming who else I think should be on those lists-it would undermine the athletes who currently are KIF All Stars, kids who truly deserve this honor.
But the KIF must devise a better system in the future. Maybe byconducting a community-wide poll, or by developing a printed list of criteria for voters explaining what the idea of having an All Stars list is for. Maybe then ALL of Kaua’i’s elite athletes can gain some recognition.
