FOR every individual that says that they owe their success to sports, there are—or should be —at least 10 (maybe a lot more) that say that they owe their success to the mastering of academic and vocational subject material.
On Guam, where most high school students do not end up going to college or vo-tech, the stats should be more even, meaning for every student that attributes their success in life to sports, there are fewer students that will say they owe their success to diligence in academics. Since we lag in churning out college-bound individuals.
Last page profiles in both newspapers are just that. An exception to the norm. It gives sportscasters, sportswriters a vocation, “something to do.” If you ask rich folks, they will tell you they want their children to become professionals. If you ask not-so-rich folks, they, too, say they want their kids to become professionals. However, if you ask poor folks, they will tell you that they want the best for their kids and if sports is a vehicle by which their children’s goals can be achieved, so be it. Unfortunately, most don’t make it in pro-sports or even semi-pro and since we have more and more poor people on Guam, the disappointment will only get larger. Thank goodness for the military which I’ve been criticizing incessantly for providing a job and college opportunity since there is no will to fix GPSS.
Lastly, why are we obsessed to play in DODEA Far East teams, a tradition on Guam? For friendship? We can make friends at KMART, on-line, etc. That we can beat them? Of course we can. We have even defeated other nations in varying sports at different times. But why do we really want to play against them? I have a theory: We want to “stick it” to them to show that we are not laggards, even if we might be on “SAT-10s.”
Let’s grow up Guam. When someone says they want to play us that is when we know we are deserving. We have arrived. When we say we want to play then, that means we have something to PROVE.

MATT PHILIPS
Mangilao, Guam