Friday, April 27, 2007

Time to Ditch Moments of Silence?

A great athlete dies. Fans, coaches, and teammates want to honor the deceased, and rightfully so. So what do we traditionally do when we go to a large arena, soon after the person's death? We have a moment of silence.

Time to ditch the moment of silence.

Read what the British will be doing in honor of a recently deceased football (soccer) star:

English clubs to applaud in memory of Alan Ball

LONDON (AP) -- All 92 clubs in England will applaud for a minute this weekend in memory of Alan Ball, a member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad who died Tuesday.

Ball made a total of 743 English league appearances for Blackpool, Everton, Arsenal and Southampton. He later managed seven English clubs in a 19-year career.

The Premier League said all players would also wear black armbands.

"Alan made an enormous contribution to league football as a player and a manager and his part in English football's proudest day will live long in the memory," said Andy Williamson, the chief operating officer of the Football League, which comprises 72 clubs. "Having a minute's applause at every match this weekend will give supporters the opportunity to pay their own tribute."


This procedure, to me, is dead on, pardon the pun. A player plays in front of thousands of screaming fans, game in and game out. Why should fans stand silently to honor this player when s/he would have revelled in a round of cheers?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They did it over here for Bally cause the minutes silence usually observed are normally interupted by idiots shouting out so they can say "that was me" on the TV that night, and fall well short of a minute.

Though I totally agree its what should be done, cheer their memory.

Mike said...

Thanks Toxic for your reply... hadn't thought of that! In any event, I guess having a minute of cheering in honor of a dead person serves multiple purposes compared to silence. We'll see if it takes hold over here in the States. Unlikely, because we're stubborn like that ;-0
Thanks for checking in and go on Citeh!