Since the conclusion of the basketball season, I have found myself with a few extra hours each night. To fill these hours, I have entertained myself by watching daily NCAA division one women’s basketball games. It was tonight, as I watched the Big East Championship game, when the announcers really started to bother me. Maya Moore, starting forward for the UConn Huskies, an Academic All-American, Big East Player of the Year, and Scholar Athlete of the Year, had an unfortunate game two nights ago, when, instead of scoring her expected 24.7 points a game, she scored only a basket or two the entire game. The next night, however, Maya exceeded her average, scoring 17 points in the first half alone. During tonight’s Championship game, the announcers evidently felt a need, each time Maya shot the ball, to mention her low-scoring game two nights ago. They paid little attention to her current accomplishments, leading the entire game in field goals, blocks and steals, but instead conversed about her “shockingly low scoring game” when she “shot the worst she has shot all season.” The announcers then decided to debate “who is better, Diana Taurasi (former UConn player) or Maya Moore?” I am still unsure as to why they need to compare two excellent basketball players with the inevitable conclusion of downplaying one’s skills and efforts. Playing different years, each woman assisted her team while breaking individual records. Why must the announcers decide which player was better? As the announcers perseverated on Maya’s one low scoring game and searched for faults in both Maya and Diana, it reminded me of the way we tend to point out the flaws of certain characters during class discussions, and then continue to bash these characters and emphasize their flaws for the remainder of the period, until Ms. Serensky highlights our unrealistic expectations. I am left to wonder why members of society seem to feel a need and a desire to disparage and criticize one another. Why must one person be “better” than another? Did we not learn in kindergarten that we have differences and that we must appreciate our individual uniqueness? I feel that if people stopped searching for faults in others, and instead focused on each individual’s talents and strengths, the world might be a happier and more peaceful place.
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| Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi |