Recent controversies in the world of sports direct our attention to the ethics of sports and games. Notre Dame’s decision to end its football season without a bowl game has been criticized as poor sportsmanship. When FIFA, the International Federation of Association Football, gave President Donald Trump a newly minted “peace prize,” the organization was accused of unethical and sycophantic behavior. Sports leagues are plagued with gambling scandals and other controversies that undermine the spirit of the game.
In a world of corruption, resentment and self-interest, it is not surprising that players and coaches rig games for gamblers, that the Fighting Irish would abandon post-season play or that sports leagues butter up the president. Sports, like everything else, can be spoiled by power and ambition, resentment and greed.
Cheating is as old as human history, as is bad sportsmanship and athletic corruption. The Roman emperor Nero provides an infamous example: He was routinely awarded first prize in games and contests simply because he was the emperor. In one notorious chariot race, Nero was thrown from his carriage as he struggled with a ten-horse team. Despite not completing the race, Nero was given first prize by judges who were then richly rewarded by the emperor.
Nero’s “victory” is absurd. A prize awarded without genuine accomplishment is a pale reflection of true excellence. Authentic achievement in any game is defined by the rules. To win in chess, you have to checkmate your opponent. Flipping over the chessboard and grabbing the trophy while everyone is distracted does not count as winning, nor can you win if you take your ball and go home.
One sad old adage says, “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” This dismal idea views victory and competition in merely instrumental terms. People who are focused on “external” goodies such as trophies or endorsement deals fail to value the “internal” goods that can only be obtained by playing fairly and well.
The nobility of sports depends upon rule-governed excellence. To be a champion is to excel within the confines of the rules of the game. Those rules are arbitrary contrivances. There is no law of nature that establishes the three-point shot in basketball, the forward pass in football or the offsides rule in soccer. These conventions are created by humans for the purpose of the game. Once the rules exist, excellence is defined within that system of rules.
Sports and games may seem like a childish waste of time. But much of what makes life meaningful involves playing along with elaborate systems of rules. Education, marriage and commerce depend upon rule-governed behavior, as does language and politics. These practices can be cashed out in external benefits. Education can get you a job and marriage can get you a tax break, but these cultural practices are also valuable in and of themselves as sources of meaning and purpose.
Something similar holds for sports and games: Soccer and football earn some players millions, but these games are also delightful and fun. It is the rules and the general spirit of the game that produces the joy of the sport. Rather than focusing on a trophy or a gambling payoff, authentic play should be based on love of the game.
The best and most important human activities are done for their own sake. The creative arts can generate cash, but poets write and singers sing because they love the creative act. Virtuous athletes follow the rules and embrace the spirit of the game because they love the game itself.
Human happiness involves finding a game to love and playing it well — for its own sake. Nero and others like him are tragic failures because they desire the prize without loving the process.
Everyone can be tempted, at times, to behave badly. We may want to sulk on the sidelines in resentment, or to cheat and bribe our way to victory. But bad sportsmanship is its own punishment. Pouting prevents you from playing well, and a cheater’s medal is a tarnished reminder of misbehavior. You cannot experience the joy of sport unless you play for the love of the game.
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