Commentary: Bad times don’t call for quitting

I started my day by cooking some oatmeal on Monday morning, which was simple enough and then went to get some brown sugar out of the cupboard and I sprinkled it on my oatmeal. Well, I should have put my glasses on because I was sprinkling brown rice on my oatmeal -- yuck. And it didn't end there. Not realizing I stuck the brown rice on the hot burner, I picked it up. The bottom of the bag had melted and brown rice spilled all over my kitchen floor.

That was how my day started. The day quickly went from bad to worse in just a matter of seconds. Perhaps I should have quit then and gone back to bed, but I didn't, which will tie into what I say in the end.

Carson Palmer, quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals, had a similar Sunday with his offense turning the ball over seven times. Palmer had 4 interceptions and the Cardinal runners fumbled 3 times. He is another one that should have gone back to bed and quit. Again, take note, Palmer had a bad day but he never once quit on the field. Even though by the end of the first quarter, the Panthers owned the Cardinals 17-0.

At that point, I was no longer seeing red, but blue. Can you imagine that! The Cardinals were shot out of the sky 49-15.

Cam Newton was a Heisman Trophy winner and national champion at Auburn, the number one draft pick, and now he's going to the Super Bowl. What a great athlete. I don't think the Broncos will be able to stop Newton and the Panthers. The Super Bowl will be on Feb. 7.

Now that football is truly down to its final day, something should be said about the local basketball teams.

It's no state secret that Pahrump does not have the two best high school basketball teams in the area.

But people, lay off the coaching. Unless you are going to go out and volunteer to coach, and I do say volunteer, then quit complaining. These coaches get paid very little to spend the hours they do with our kids and high school sports are not about just winning. It's about being part of a team and learning to work toward a common goal. It's about being patient and learning that if you work hard as a group, one can accomplish a lot of things.

Sadly, many athletes don't stick with the program for four years. How can these coaches build a program when kids think only of winning?

There have been a lot of quitters just because they don't want to play for a losing team. If Carson Palmer had quit because he got hurt and only played six games last year, he would have passed on the opportunity to play in the championship game this year.

The quitting has to stop and it's not just basketball. It happens with every sport at the high school. I see it in football, baseball, basketball and track. It is rampant in all sports and why? Back in the day, my parents would say, if you start something you will have to finish it. I don't see parents saying that anymore. I think people forget about how important these qualities are in a person and they don't realize this kind of thing will follow you to your professional life.

-Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com