James Harrison won’t let his sons accept participation trophies

These are probably 5 to 6 year old kids, but hey, let's be pretend tough guys and keep that trophy from those young kids. I have not given out trophies to my teams in quite some time, but if it motivates a kid to put down his controller and bag of Doritos, then I am all for it.
 
L.T. Fan said:
Oh you are dealing with kids for crying out loud. They don't know or care about the difference in a trophy or a letter or a box of cracker jacks. They are just glad to get something.
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You're the one that brought up the dumb comparison, and that's what I was commenting on.
 
dallen said:
In my experience the parents get way more worked up over this stuff than the kids. The kids just want to play a game. When it comes to awards they just want to get it over with and go get ice cream
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I played in a lot of baseball tournaments as a kid. I was on some highly competitive tournament teams and I couldn't disagree with you more. Even at a young age in sports like that at least, kids really want to win the games and win the tournaments.
 
NoDak said:
You're the one that brought up the dumb comparison, and that's what I was commenting on.
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Why is the comparison dumb? The idea was that the kids are recognized for participation and awarded something. In the instant case a trophy. The opposing position said you should get nothing for only participating in the team sport. My response was that if you should not receive anything the the letters and jackets shouldn't be given as well because a lot of players received them for participating without winning a championship. They were obtained for merely participating. To me it is a legitimate comparison.
 
L.T. Fan said:
If any of you guys lettered in high school or college and didn't win your conference give up the jacket and letter. It's strictly recognition for participating.
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If you lettered in football at a big HS you at least won a competition with the other kids who were trying out.
 
Clay_Allison said:
If you lettered in football at a big HS you at least won a competition with the other kids who were trying out.
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And you got recognized for your efforts. Kids are no different they are just being recognized for participating. Athletic hobbies aren't so elite that a strict and prohibitive set of rules are needed to make them a pinnacle event. At the kid level it more of an organized playground.
 
L.T. Fan said:
And you got recognized for your efforts. Kids are no different they are just being recognized for participating. Athletic hobbies aren't so elite that a strict and prohibitive set of rules are needed to make them a pinnacle event. At the kid level it more of an organized playground.
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I'm not against participation trophies, just pointing out that there's more accomplishment in some letters than just participation. You have to earn your spot on a team.
 
Clay_Allison said:
I'm not against participation trophies, just pointing out that there's more accomplishment in some letters than just participation. You have to earn your spot on a team.
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Right. But that's at a little later age. I am talking about kids from 6 to 12. It's pretty hard to even find enough to field a team in some areas.
 
Participation trophies are stupid. Give them a team picture or some shit they can hang on their wall. Trophies are for achievements, not participation.
 
Iamtdg said:
Participation trophies are stupid. Give them a team picture or some shit they can hang on their wall. Trophies are for achievements, not participation.
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a team picture would be a better souvenir anyway.
 
Sprinkles are for winners.
 
It strikes me as just a little elitist for an all world athlete to hate on participation trophies. When you're that level of elite, championships are your participation trophies. In the mean time the biggest problem we have right now is kids tuning out and not trying because they've been taught that they have to be immediately the best at something or its not worth doing.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18544_how-the-karate-kid-ruined-modern-world.html
 
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