In this espn.com article about the Bill Belichick videotaping incident, the following statement is made:
Why is the situation worse than people think? Because the NFL is on the precipice of blowing its status as the country's favorite sport. The whole NFL enterprise is in jeopardy from that single word: cheating. It's the most distasteful word in sports. And now the Patriots have brought the word into the NFL.
The topic of credibility in sports (both professional and collegiate) is receiving a lot of attention these days. Between Barry Bonds' and other baseball players steroid and HGH usage, college boosters paying amateur athletes, basketball referees betting on games, and now the New England Patriots using video to possibly gain an illegal competitive advantage, it seems like now more than ever, the sports world is filled with individuals using dishonest means to succeed.
ESPN has run several articles on their website, and done specials about the topic on TV. Just read any public internet chats on the topic, and you'll see that the general public seems to despise cheaters in sports. It seems, that the concept of players, coaches, etc. breaking rules in sports is viewed by the public as one of the lowest things a person can do.
Now, whether or not there is any more cheating in sports today than there ever has been is debatable. It may not have always been steroids or video cameras, but one would have to be naive to think that cheating hasn't been going on since sports were invented. Or that even some of the "great" players and teams throughout history never cheated or bent the rules to gain a competitive advantage. The leg-whipping 49ers of the 80's is one example that immediately springs to mind.
The question I'm pondering is this: why, in our relativistic society, is cheating seen as such a terrible thing?
Think about it for a moment. America is growing less interested in absolute truth. People do not want a universal law telling them what is wrong and right. We even reinterpret our man-made laws in order to make them fit into our current cultural understanding of things. What is it about a game, who's rules are in one sense completely arbitrary, that makes people so upset when someone cheats?
Obviously, people invest themselves in sports in such a way (whether by fanaticism, gambling, or fantasy sports) , that they feel personally wronged if a player cheats. But the outcry against Barry Bonds, for instance, strikes much deeper than that. Bonds breaking a record doesn't really harm anyone but the record keepers. Why is everyone so morally outraged about supposed cheeting, if we don't really see things as ultimately right or wrong.
One thing I will admit, is that while philosophically a large portion of America is relativistic, practically the large percentage are probably not. Isn't it interesting though, that everyone still uses a moral standard. But the interesting thing about the world of sports, is that when one enters into it, they find several things that Christ intended for his church.
1. They find a concrete set of rules and a code of conduct which govern the sport, and an authority who upholds justice: a touchdown will always be worth 6 points, the home team always gets the last at bat, and it's never legal to tackle a player as he pulls up for a 3-pointer. The Bible gives us an ethic to live by that the unbelieving world does not have.
2. They find a community of fans who are united around a common goal. Some of them even dress up and go to worship together on Sunday afternoon. The church should be a family of believers united in their worship of their common savior.
3. They have a hope of "victory." This is deceptively fleeting and hollow, just ask how many Red Sox fans feel more complete now that their team has won the series in their lifetime. There is always next year (this from a lifelong Cubs fan). While they do not have the promise of victory that the Church has, I can't help but think that in some small way, sports fans believe they will overcome and transcend as their team attains victory.
Sports create a fantasy world of sorts which meets the innate needs of human beings for structure, purpose, balance, fairness, justice, and community. Cheating, ruins the illusion of fairness, justice, rule of law, and honesty which the arbitrary rules of Sports create.
Hey, I may just start updating this blog thing more often!
You can bend my ear
You can talk all day
Just make sure I'm around
When you've finally got something to say
- Toad the Wet Sprocket
5 comments:
Good post. I must say I was surprised and relieved when I read how upset people were about all the cheating. It is inconsistent with a relativistic worldview, and I was glad to know that there are some things that are still over the line in America's eyes.
Bradman,
Great take. You pulled well from current events and made a fascinating issue out of these overtreated topics.
See you next week.
This is an excellent post. Nice job, El Brad - o.
Well, Brad, I was thinking, two months after this was posted that is. You asked why people who don't believe in absolute truth get so frustrated about cheating in a game created with arbitrary rules. The answer that I have found is simple: it infuriates people because sports is the one thing that does have established rules for them, however arbitrary. Couple that with the fact that people invest so much of themselves in sports and in admiring sports heroes that they themselves feel violated and betrayed. Sports then becomes a microcosm of an actually well-functioning planet. Maybe some lessons could be learned!
Oh, well, I didn't finish reading your blog before leaving my comment, so I too feel like I contributed a worthy insight.
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