Luther Invitational shows what is possible in sport

The Luther Invitational Tournament is especially illuminating when the lights go down.

During the player introductions, LIT accentuates what should be the foundation of all forms of competition.

Sportsmanship is spotlighted as much as the players. Opposing hoopsters shake hands with each other, and with the rival team’s coaches. (Fist-bumps are also permissible.)

Once the games begin, trash talking — practised by so many alleged role models in professional sport — is non-existent.

The “me, me, me” culture simply does not exist at Luther College High School’s prestigious basketball tournament, which is in its 66th year.

If a player falls to the court after a collision, he or she isn’t necessarily helped up by a teammate. A member of the opposing team will often lend a hand.

The officials are treated with respect.

Booing is discouraged.

So is any kind of noise during free-throw attempts — even when someone who is attempting to defeat the host Luther Lions is on the line.

Even if a championship is on the line, decorum and decency rule the day. As a result, coverage of LIT isn’t always clickbait.

There isn’t likely to be controversy or rancour. I have covered LITs since 1988 and am still waiting for an outrageous quote.

Under different circumstances, I would salivate over turmoil or tumult.

At LIT, I salivate over pizza. Choice gig, this.

It is, every year, a respite from the often-harsh realities of sport.

I could select a different column topic, for example, and focus on steroid-gobbling Russian athletes at the Olympics, turncoat coaches in the NFL

(see: McDaniels, Josh), cheap shots in the NHL, prima donnas in the NBA, et cetera.

Just last week, it seemed like the biggest story in the world pertained to Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver Duron Carter facing two marijuana possession charges.

You can also look outside the sporting realm and conclude that the world is going to pot.

The beauty of LIT is that you can put aside all the troubles in our world for three treasured days in February.

During LIT weekend, the most challenging decision might very well be “pepperoni or Hawaiian”?

Or, maybe, a hotdog.

This tournament is certainly something to relish.

It blew me away on Day 1, back in 1988, when I walked into the old gym and watched the Riffel Royals oppose the Edmonton Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds.

Afterwards, I sat in the bleachers near the stage, facing what there was of a press box, and interviewed Royals players Devin Toth and Brent Ripplinger. In my dotage, I am not quite sure who I interviewed on Monday.

Appropriately, LIT 2018 has an ’80s theme. The students’ artwork, which adorns the walls of the Semple Gymnasium, includes drawings of Michael Jordan, Olivia Newton-John and Harrison Ford.

On Thursday night, Van

Halen’s Jump (from 1984) was pumped over the public-address system during a stoppage in play.

The Magrath Zeniths’ Paycen Blackmore certainly took the tune to heart, ascending to the basket for five dunks against Luther.

As much as the fans cheered on the host team, they also took time to appreciate Blackmore’s aerobatics.

That spirit is reminiscent of a time when sportsmanship was more prevalent in games people play, at all levels.

It is, and always will be, the closest thing to the purity of sport.

Yes, there will be wins and losses — such as pepperoni over Hawaiian, by a nose — but everyone who attends LIT appreciates that it is about far more than the score.