Honesty, cheating, and gamesmanship in sports

Although poorly constructed -- and undoubtedly falling on deaf ears considering the audience -- an article by Gregg Doyel over at CBS SportsLine makes a good case for equating the frustratingly (to American eyes) histrionic diving rampant among some soccer players, and the "advantages" taken by American players in baseball, football, and basketball (scuffed balls, uncalled holds, flopping, etc.).

When I say poor construction, it mostly has to do with the seemingly schizoid relationship between the two halves of the article. Actually, I think there are two good articles hiding inside a bad article -- honesty vs cheating, and gamesmanship vs pushing the boundaries. Doyel should have picked amongst the four sides to the argument -- usually one is sufficient. ;)

Golf, tennis should prosper from other sports' cheating

Sneaky vs lying

I'm of the opinion that being sneaky is okay, but blatantly "lying" sucks. Or better yet, play the game, not the referees.

Catcher "selling" a strike by pausing with his glove in place, or pitchers dusting batters back from the plate? Part of the game.

Trying to draw a penalty by falling on the field or court or pitch and writhing like you got bitten on the leg by a king cobra? Cowardly and unsportsmanlike. Any points scored as a result are undeserved. Again, play the game, not the referees.

Taking drugs or other unnatural enhancements? First circle of Hell, asshole, buried in the ice next to Lucifer and Judas.

Only human

Pushing the boundaries is only human, however. Comes natural to us, as anyone who has raised a child can attest. We want to see what we can get away with, and what we can do to gain advantages.

But those same kids testing their parents can show the most amazing moments of selfless kindness, of sportsmanship. All of us -- unless we're completely sociopathic -- contain both sides of the coin: lying and truth, sneaky and honest, cheating and being a good sport.

It is a soccer tradition that if one of the other team's players is injured badly enough to be taken off, and your team has possession, you will purposefully give the ball back by kicking it out of bounds or to your opponents. This is sportsmanship.

So the Beautiful Game contains both of our sides, both our bad and good. Like baseball. Or hockey. Or golf. Sports are nothing but reflections of us, of humanity.

Reflections of how we play the game.