This ain't right

I still enjoy watching many sports, but I don't really get worked up about the sports world any longer. [Note: I'm excluding baseball, but baseball is much more than just a sport, no?] This sports brief from the Clarion Ledger the other day, though, well it got me riled up. You have to scroll down and it's short anyway, so I'll paste the whole thing:

Mullins Award may be changed: Fifteen years after a paralyzed football player's death focused national attention on Ole Miss, school officials are considering changing how Chucky Mullins is honored.

Since 1990, the Chucky Mullins Courage Award winner has been selected each spring, given to a senior defensive player. The winning player always has worn Mullins' No. 38 the next season. In 2006 it will be stellar linebacker Patrick Willis.

Many players have worn the same number their entire careers. They become attached to that number and want to continue to be identified with it.

Now, the athletic administration is working with the executive board of the M Club - which honors Ole Miss lettermen in all sports - to consider permanently retiring No. 38.

The football staff also will have input.

"We want to preserve the legacy and integrity of the award and make a decision that will be best with those factors in mind," Walker Jones, the associate athletics director for internal affairs, told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal newspaper.

If the number is retired, the award winner likely would wear a patch on his jersey or a helmet decal bearing No. 38. A decision is expected this summer.

For those of you who don't know, Chucky Mullins was an Ole Miss defensive back who was paralyzed after a hit on Vanderbilt's Brad Gaines during the 1989 Vandy game (My first ever Ole Miss football game by the way. I think it was even homecoming.). It was a sad story and the Ole Miss community responded in a good way. The football team established the Chucky Award as a way to make sure he was remembered and honored. I always thought it'd be a major honor to be selected to wear #38. Now, though, I suspect the younger players have no real sense of the history of the number. Instead, "Many players have worn the same number their entire careers. They become attached to that number and want to continue to be identified with it." So what? This is bigger than a player getting to keep a number he's worn in the past. It's an honor, damnit! At least that's my view.

The whole thing reminds me of the stupid PR stunt orchestrated by Major League Baseball a few years ago when it was decided that Jackie Robinson's #42 would be permanently retired by all MLB teams. I understood the desire to honor Robinson, but I thought it was a bigger honor to see #42 being worn in tribute by today's players. Now, though, every team has a 42 on the wall somewhere and the whole thing gets lost in the busy signage of the modern ballpark. I figure the same thing will happen with Chucky Mullins. So what if the honored player wears a 38 patch or decal? There are too many patches and decals already today.

Yes, I know I'm making too big a deal of this, probably in part because I was a student at Ole Miss when Chucky was injured. Further, I don't know this was motivated by current player discontent. Still, the whole thing strikes me as selfish whining by kids (or maybe coaches?) with no sense of history. I hope the administration does the right thing.