Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship
In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Germany's Luz Long, one of the world's best broad
jumpers, was looking forward to competing against the great U.S. track and field
star, Jesse Owens, the world-record holder.
Owens, however, foot-faulted on his first two qualifying jumps and, down to
one last chance to qualify, was in danger of missing the competition.
Seeing Owens pacing in agitation, Long suggested that Owens make a mark several
inches before the takeoff board to avoid fouling again. It worked, Owens qualified
by a centimeter, then kept right on going, beating out Long for the gold medal.
This story illustrates the most noble dimension of a concept called sportsmanship,
which some argue is a relic of a time gone by.
Inherent in the idea of sportsmanship is the love of competition. As John Naber,
the multiple gold-medal Olympic swimmer, says, "A true sportsman wants
to compete against his best opponent on his best day." Without that, winning
just doesn't mean as much.
Yet, could you imagine a modern American athlete doing what Long did? And if
he did, would he be viewed as a hero or a jerk? If he were your son, would you
be proud or appalled?
When the admirable qualities of honor, fair play and respect are reflected in
sports, we are uplifted and inspired. Conversely, when sports programs showcase
the barbaric qualities of bullies and braggarts and are pervaded by cheating,
our society is demeaned.
According to the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance, a collaboration of major
professional and amateur sports organizations, there is "a worrisome decline
in sportsmanship and ethical conduct in sports, a deterioration that permeates
sports competition from the youth leagues to the professional leagues."
When we consider the shocking conduct of parents and other adults involved in
youth sports, it's clear that this breakdown "extends beyond the courts
and fields--it involves athletes, their families, coaches, officials, fans,
institutional administrators, corporate sponsors, the media and the public at
large."
Surely, the growing incivility of society is a factor, but most people recognize
that sports can be a cause and effect in the decline of sportsmanship.
Much of the problem stems from confusion as to what is "part of the game."
The trend is to ignore rules and traditions of a sport in favor of anything
that provides an advantage. Without thinking of the implications, many good
people have bought into gamesmanship, the antithesis of sportsmanship.
Sportsmanship is about the honorable pursuit of victory. Gamesmanship is just
about victory, where winning by fooling the referee is just as good as winning
by outperforming a competitor.
As some would say, "It's only cheating if you get caught."
In fact, that's exactly what U.S. women's soccer goalie Briana Scurry said two
years ago when her team won the World Cup after she had blocked a penalty kick
by deliberately jumping off the line too early. As she'd hoped, the ref didn't
make the call.
Getting away with whatever you can is a crucial tenet of gamesmanship. So it's
OK to fake fouls to disqualify opponents, or injuries to get another timeout.
In college football, coaches once bought gloves the color of opponents' uniforms
to conceal holding, until the NCAA banned the practice. Many coaches encourage
athletes to get away with as much grabbing, pulling and holding as they can.
I've had lots of sessions with elite athletes and their high school counterparts
and it's almost impossible to find something they wouldn't do if they thought
it would work.
Last year, I was questioning a highly respected WNBA player about cheating before
a large audience. She told of a time a teammate had been fouled but, because
the ref wasn't very vigilant, she had gone to the free-throw line instead.
"Was that cheating?" she asked. She was thunderstruck when the audience
overwhelmingly said it was.
"Every coach I ever had taught me to do that," she said. After thinking
about it, she agreed it had been cheating and apologized. In sports, a lot of
good people are doing bad things because they don't know any better.
But how can we tell what is really part of the game, what is a fair versus an
unfair advantage?
It's easy. Just look at the rules that define the game and determine what skills
the game was created to emphasize. Some favor brute strength, others speed or
quickness, others stress accuracy or endurance.
In considering any unquestionable tactic, all you have to do is ask whether
it demonstrates a skill the game was designed to measure. Isn't it clear that
if the groundskeeper is one of your most valuable players, this isn't pure sport
anymore?
Another way to look at it: If it's part of the game, it ought to be taught to
its highest level of proficiency. Would it be proper to teach the tactic at
all levels of the sport? Should we teach athletes how to taunt more effectively,
or to conceal the use of performance-enhancing drugs?
So we should be outraged by the Arizona youth softball team that took advantage
of a loophole in the rules of a girls' league by stacking the team with boys,
and disgusted by parents of athletes in the Special Olympics who exaggerate
disabilities to put their athletes in categories where they can win more easily.
At its core, sportsmanship is about the ethics of sports. It establishes the
basic principles that govern honorable competition.
In an era in which it is common to hear, "If you're not cheating, you're
not trying hard enough," it's tempting to think that ethics and sportsmanship
are for wimps.
To the contrary, the concept of pursuing victory with honor is not to lessen
the drive toward victory but to heighten the commitment to honor, and to make
clear that to someone who truly loves sports, there is no victory without honor.
Once the concept of sportsmanship is understood, the difference between being
declared a winner and really winning is evident.
— Michael Josephson
Michael Josephson, president of the Josephson Institute of
Ethics, is founder and president of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition and the
"Pursuing Victory With Honor" campaign for
CHARACTER COUNTS!
Josephson was the keynote speaker at the MHSAA Sportsmanship Summit in September