It seems as if every week we see videos of players, fans or coaches behaving badly at sporting events.

According to a recent survey of 17,000 officials conducted by the National Association of Sports Officials, 47.9 percent of male officials and 44.7 percent of female officials have felt unsafe because of these incidents.

Well, permit me to bring you a bit of good news about one of the sports teams in our area: The Northwestern Lehigh High School football team was honored earlier this month by the Eastern Pennsylvania Football Officials Association with its sportsmanship award.

This is the third time in eight years that the Tigers have won the honor. Along with winning this coveted recognition, Northwestern recently concluded an outstanding 10-2 season, including winning the co-championship of the Colonial League (with Southern Lehigh) with a 9-1 record.

The presentation was made at the officials group’s annual dinner, which, ironically, was on the same night that one of the ugliest unsportsmanlike incidents of the year was unfolding.

In the nationally televised Thursday night National Football League game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns, the Browns’ star defensive end Myles Garrett ripped off Steelers’ quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet and struck him on the head with it during the final seconds of the game.

Fortunately, Rudolph was not injured, but he could have been. The league suspended Garrett at least through the remainder of the regular season and postseason for using his helmet as a weapon and fined him an undisclosed amount.

In acknowledging Northwestern Lehigh’s award, head football coach Josh Snyder spoke about the team’s objectives of developing a winning program, but also emphasized sportsmanship and the desire to produce student-athletes.

He said this support starts at the top with the superintendent, the principals and Athletic Director Jason Zimmerman. Sportsmanship then becomes a focus of the coaching staff, which emphasizes its commitment to it by instilling its precepts to the players.

The association also honored five scholar-athletes with scholarships, including Northern Lehigh’s Zack Moyer and Tamaqua’s Nate Boyle. Boyle was not able to attend because the Blue Raiders were preparing for the next day’s District 11 3-A playoff game, which they went on to win 47-21 over Pope John II.

Moyer and Boyle shine not only on the gridiron but in the classroom and in their respective communities, attributes that were underscored in the presentations.

Although parents and school officials are concerned and conflicted about some of the dangers associated with football, they also understand its benefits beyond the field of play.

Zimmerman said attributes learned in sports teach players how to navigate through life’s toughest times.

I agree. Playing football at Summit Hill High School taught me discipline, teamwork, patience, understanding, problem-solving and, of course, sportsmanship.

As coach Snyder said, victory is important, but the many side benefits of football are incalculable. They gave me and thousands of other young men the underpinning tools that would serve us so well as adults, regardless of the career paths we chose.

While this column shines a spotlight on sportsmanship, I can’t help but express my concern about the opposite that is playing out in the stands as well as some of the ugly incidents on the field.

A day after the NFL episode, there was a shooting at the Camden-Pleasantville playoff game near Atlantic City, which critically injured a 10-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man. Six men, including one of the victims, have been charged in connection with the shooting.

The boy died Wednesday night, shortly before the game was resumed at the home field of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, where an announcer proclaimed that “acts of violence do not win.”

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com