School: The Better Way to Go!

By Ross Brewitt

Over the course of writing countless thousands of words in articles, columns, and a growing list of published books, after hours of interviews with athletes from all sports, I have come to one irrefutable conclusion:

The only game you can play from puberty to senility, is golf.

To me golf is His way of reminding us we’re inadequate. Sport, fair or foul and regardless of the playing surface, is just a game and precious few of us get to play at the top.

No, the most important thing is getting ready for the day when real life begins, when the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat comes down to having a job, and trying to pay the bills.

See, as a free ride in the Big Limo, our sports system is set up to patronize the most gifted, above-average talent. Yet the bottom line of our social system is geared to reward those who can cut it in today’s world.

In my most recent literary jaunt, I completed the biography of Eddie Shack, a character of epic proportions, an illiterate, or as he refers to himself, "a litter it," and a guy who shouts happily to the garbage collectors who patrol his street as "hey, you litter bugs!"

I wrote about Shack leaving home, a grade three dropout from Sudbury, to play junior hockey at the age of 14. He emerges 23 years later after 17 seasons in the NHL and four Stanley Cups, out-of-work and still unable to read or write.

The only things he had going for him were obvious: His notoriety, his personality, a reputation for having fun on the ice, and most important, a work ethic that would bury an ox.

Today he’s a wealthy man, but in all the time we spent together one theme kept reappearing: His admiration for those who can read, and how many times a day this big, loud, millionaire returned to the subject of education.

He explained to me one night how the only things available to him were straight sales jobs, cars, Christmas trees, hustling, buying and selling. The advertisements, the TV work, the Pop Shoppe; all the avenues allowing him to remain in the spotlight came later. He added that even coaching was closed to him as the game progressed. If you were going to coach you had to be able to read and write.

While Ed Shack is a great success saga, a life story in fact, since hockey took up only 24 years out of 60, to date, he’s an unusual case and probably a bad example. Not many have had his unique combination of raw ability, and stifling limitations.

Think of it, how many Bobby Orr’s are out there? Does anyone believe Orr made it because he was coached well, or was in better physical condition? How many times does a Wayne Gretzky come along, a Cal Ripken, a Michael Jordan?

One of the most profound things Eddie ever said in my presence was when confronted by a boastful father who raved about his defenceman son, poised on the brink of going into the junior draft or pursuing interest from several U.S. schools: "Play hockey for the pros, but get the university stuff," Eddie said scribbling his autograph, the two words he can write. "Don’t do it backwards, playing hockey just to get more hockey."

The man only blinked, looked disappointed, then sneering, walked away jamming the scrap of signed paper into his pocket like an old grocery list. He wanted an endorsement, not advice from "a litter it."

But you parents and young athletes out there, listen, and learn. When, and if they ask, just say "show me the school."

Always remember, there’s going to be more to life than playing these kids games.

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