My first instinct is to be critical. I believe players should be more concerned with winning than personal stats, and that players should sacrifice personal glory for the good of winning. One of the primary reasons that my interest in professional sports has waned in recent years is that the individual seems to have become more important than the team, and endorsements more important than winning. By these standards, Carter s decision is just one more example of putting the self before the team. But on the other hand, I rejoice to see someone who seems to have sports in the right perspective.
Sports are the only rival for money as the American god.
The importance of sports in American cultural has gotten way out of hand. There was recently resistance in one South Carolina town to building a second high school. Families don t take vacations and skip worship because they can t work them in between their children s practices and games. And of course, professional sports is the unholy matrimony of money and sports. So I rejoice that Carter not only finished his degree in African-American studies, but that he wanted to take part in the pomp and circumstance of commencement exercises.