TSN OFF THE RECORD

May 4, 1998

Hosted by Michael Landsberg

Guests: Donald Smith, Toronto Argo football player,
Kathy Smith, Fitness expert
Nigel Bennett, Actor/ Writer

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I'm wondering what your attitude is about a coach who puts in three goons to end a game. Is he showing control? Michael Landsberg

(Dialogue excerpts after viewing a fist-fight between two hockey coaches):

"When you're playing professional sports, the point is to win at any cost." Kathy Smith

"You want to frustrate your opponent so much that they get off their game." Donald Smith

"It's ridiculous to have two coaches in those positions of authority behaving in that way, and I think it reflects on the whole game of hockey." Nigel Bennett

"Isn't that what sells the tickets? Everybody sits there through the whole game, something like that happens and people get excited. They start cheering and get into the game." Kathy Smith

"I think that what I watch there, well, you know maybe it doesn't reflect well on the individuals but it's sure fun to watch." Michael Landsberg

"You've got to do whatever it takes." Donald Smith

(After viewing a coach fight on the basketball court)

"I think that the coach should set an example. I mean he should set an example for his team." Nigel Bennett

"If players are seen as role models for youth and for the general public, then the coaches and the managers should be seen as role models for their players" Nigel Bennett

‘The coaches, they obviously have to set the example, and he's got to set the rules, but at the same time, he can't be held responsible (for the players actions)." Kathy Smith

"This is play off. You're going to do whatever it takes to get the job done." Donald Smith

"See, I'm not a professional sportsman, but I want to ask you a question because it's an interesting point you brought up. You say you do anything you need to do in order to win. Now, would you?" Nigel Bennett

"Within the rules of the game." Donald Smith

The question is: Where's Daddy? The issue of professional male players fathering children out of wedlock. What do you think when you hear someone like Larry Johnson of the New York Knicks, who makes all of that money and he has a child out of wedlock with the mother on welfare? Michael Landsberg

"It's really inexcusable. With all due respect, I think a lot of professional sportsmen who are very highly paid are spoiled by management, they're spoiled by the teams and the coaches and they're shielded from their responsibilities which you or I would have to face." Nigel Bennett

"If I went out and fathered six children, man, I'd have a lot of people coming after me!" Nigel Bennett

"These athletes don't get shielded. As a matter of fact, they get targeted." Michael Landsberg

"You have a lot of women that come at you, and then you have things happen, and they say, ‘Hey, I'm having your baby.' and you might not even know that person. You get caught up in that lifestyle. Myself, I'm married, and I wear my wedding band and make sure I let people know and stay away from those situations." Donald Smith

"It doesn't start in professional sports; it actually starts in high school. Girls that get involved with sports actually have sex later and have fewer sex partners. Boys and men that get involved with sports start earlier and have more sex partners. There's something that goes with sports and men and sex, and I think
it's just something that has to start at an earlier age, and people like yourself being role models for those high school kids." Kathy Smith

"You're saying you wear your wedding band all the time and you don't get involved in that sort of thing, and that's the sort of role model, that's education, for the kids who are going to be coming up in sports in the future. That this sort of thing might die out." Nigel Bennett

"With the sports comes all this attraction. You get the attention, accolades of everybody, but you also get the attention of women that just want to be with a professional player. That's all they want." Donald Smith

"I dated a football guy in college. After a game, there were fifteen women that were just dropping their drawers to be with him. You're always being tempted, but on the other hand, there's a responsibility that goes with the role." Kathy Smith

"You look at the kids in high school. They don't think. All they care about is having fun. That's the number one thing: having fun." Donald Smith

"As all of us around this table know, there are a lot more things you can do sexually with someone than having intercourse, and still have a good time." Nigel Bennett

"Sports in general, for women specifically, that it forces them into a body-type that's unrealistic." Michael Landsberg

"It's this idea of driving, young girls especially, into a place where to be at the top of your field, you have to have absolutely no body fat. But it's also our society....it's men like yourselves. You see some woman on TV, and if she doesn't have the perfect, she's got a little jiggle here or something like that, you start to say something about her butt or about her having a little too much." Kathy Smith

"I think women who put a lot of pressure on each other. Men may say things, but I think it's the women who are really creating it." Donald Smith

"I'm not argue the fact that women get competitive with each other, but part of the reason is to impress the men." Kathy Smith

"I think a lot of women look at fashion models, at film stars, at all sorts of female celebrities and think, ‘I want to be like that. What do I have to do?" Nigel Bennett

"We have an expectation of our athletes that they'll look a certain way. We have an expectation of our athletes that they'll perform in a certain way. Are we at all uneasy with the fact that we sit there to be entertained while these men go out and beat the heck out of each other and really jeopardize their health?" Michael Landsberg

"If I had a son, I would definitely think twice about putting him into a sport like football now because of the possibility of injury." Kathy Smith

"I used to play rugby in England. No padding. No helmets. And you knock the absolute whatzit out of each other." Nigel Bennett

"To me, rugby and hockey are the roughest sports. In hockey, you got knives (ice skating blades) and sticks and rocks!" Donald Smith

"Who's going to claim this?" (holds up Keeper of the King audio tape) Michael Landsberg

"That's an audio book based on a novel that I co-authored with a girl called P.N. Elrod. It's a vampire novel. It's a really good read. You can get the regular paperback or the audio book." Nigel Bennett