I was watching ESPN’s Sports Center (I’m in the US, so they spell it all funny), and one of the highlights was a girls little league team winning a 1-0 game to advance in their World Series. As the winning run was scored, the team understandably went a little nuts. There was much celebration, with everyone except for one individual rushing out on the field to maul the runner.
That one individual was, of course, the one adult on the team: the coach. Instead of immediately joining in the celebration and congratulating the hitter, runner, and his team, he did what pretty much anyone who knows there are cameras around would do: he mugged for those cameras. Fists clenched, arms raised in the air, he immediately turned in the general direction of the camera, pumped his fists, and yelled what was pretty obviously “YEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!”.
Nice. Classy. Gamesmanship defined.
I can only hope that he wasn’t mugging for the camera, and that the object of his orangutan impression was a wife or other family member sitting along the baseline near the cameras. I don’t think that was the case, as the cameras were along the baseline in the outfield, which isn’t typically where fans sit. While they only showed him for five seconds or so, it sure didn’t look like he was heading out to join his team in short order.
Yay team. And yay coach, for showing us all what’s really important these days.