SPORTS
14 Obiter Dicta
Unsportsmanlike Conduct
The End of Idealism in Professional Sports
micheal silver › contributor
O
ne of the main arguments in favor of
participation in team sports has long
focused on the values that they foster. It is
argued that athletes are more honorable,
team oriented, and simply better members of society.
Simply, more sportsmanlike.
This may remain the case in principle, and in
the context of child focused, participatory sports.
However, in the context of the most visible examples of team sports, professional sports, this has long
ceased to be the case.
This article should not be taken as an indictment
of team sports as such, but more as an argument
that team sports are nothing more than a crass consumer entertainment product, and should no longer
be viewed with awe. Athletes are not heroes; they are
merely rich entertainers.
The concept of sportsmanship, that competitors
view each other with respect and act honorably, has
no place in modern professional sports. Routinely,
athletes will go to any extreme to insure that they
achieve whatever advantage they require.
This can include anything from innocuous techniques such as “talking trash” in attempts to throw
their opponents to more blatant dishonorable behavior such as the use of steroids. Some of these behaviors have reached the point of widespread acceptance
while others remain entirely taboo.
The traditionalists among sports fans, who view
high-level spectator sports as struggles of the human
spirit tend to decry anything attempted to gain unfair
advantage. The result should, in their view, be based
entirely on the performance on the field of play.
At the other end of the spectrum, those who view
sports entirely as a business tend to consider anything done to gain an advantage as acceptable and
reasonable. Athletes have overwhelming incentives
in place to do whatever is necessary to succeed, so are
taking the only justified course of action when they
manipulate the probability of a positive result however possible.
There is likely some intermediate position between
these two extremes that would be ideal from the perspective of spectators. Naturally, competitors should
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