Does Football teach us to have a lack of integrity?
Mike Golic would say "definitely not!" On his ESPN morning show, "Mike & Mike" (which I thoroughly enjoy) Greeny and Golic had the argument...Greeny saying there is a problem with a lack of integrity in pro football, and Golic holding up the NFL's side of the argument.
Here's my take:
Golf – high integrity…self-policing.
Volleyball (team sport) – while at some levels self-policing, at the best it is. Even in the high stakes games, you are not allowed to purposefully mislead the refs/judges and you are also not allowed to “distract” your opponent (finding a way to “cheat”).
Tennis – honor is evident (although there are exceptions).
The point? In most sports there is a level of honor and this is appreciated, and applauded. In Football, basketball, and soccer, the opposite is expected. You are expected to do everything you can to win, including confuse or deceive the referees. It reminds me of pro-wrestling where the ref is obviously (and humorously) distracted so that the villain can use a chair to put his opponent out.
So, the argument is, this should all be ok, since we have referees and umpires who are paid to make the call. But, the question isn’t if the refs are there, it’s should it matter if they are there? Why do some sports have an honor code and others don’t? And what’s the harm?
Well, when I learned that HS football (and basketball to a degree) coaches teach their kids how to do what are illegal moves, and to NOT get caught…I was shocked. The argument? Everyone does it. The refs have to call it for it to have happened. It’s part of the game. My simple argument? Should it be?
What does it do to our sport when we ingrain permission (in fact encourage) players to break the rules?
It teaches our youth some sorry stories. I usually champion the idea of sports teaching great things to our kids. But…if organized sports (you can’t get away with basketball “cheating” in a pickup game!) are teaching our kids to break the rules – as long as you don’t get caught or to lie / distract / deceive the refs – they may not have seen the play and you’ll sway them in your opinion, why would I want my kids involved in this environment?
And where does it stop? You have the leagues stepping in (when the risk is that the league will lose income) with enforceable rules to stop the obvious and logical result of teaching cheating. In basketball, intentional fouls, flagrant fouls, and then finally the Hack-a-Shaq rule. Why should the league have to create rules that hurt the teams chances to win – giving two shots AND the ball? In football, the rules are constantly changing to protect the wide receiver (when in the air) and the quarterback…two of the star positions. Why? Because the cheating taught throughout will get them hurt. That’s why clipping and chop blocks HAD to be enforced. Not because it was illegal (it was) but because people (stars) were getting hurt. In 2009, the teams playing against Favre decided to hit him early and often. Well, even late. A few penalties? That’s ok, if it gets him out of his rhythm and makes him play poorly. So basically, since the penalty for breaking (if caught) the rule wasn’t worse than the expected benefits, the coach puts that into his game plan!
So, if Shaq is killing you underneath – foul him on purpose AND do it hard enough and early enough that he can’t score on the play. So where does it stop?
We’ve seen “hard” fouls during the playoffs. Fouls though that are only a small step away from injurious hits. Why not? We’ve seen it in the past. The bench warmer (enforcer) comes in and lays out the other team’s best player so that he gets gun shy. Even if the refs throw the player out…it was worth it to the coach! So, they went to suspensions and then to fines. Wow. Why would the league's office need to do such things to keep players from purposefully trying to hurt another player?
Because they have accepted the little cheating (from claiming the ball went out off the other player to flopping) and actually made it part of the game.
Just because it’s always been that way (which by the way, it hasn’t ALWAYS been that way), doesn’t mean it should continue. And it definitely doesn’t mean we should be teaching it to our kids!
BTW, I’ve played organized sports as an adult (in the military), and at least in volleyball, I can tell you that I demonstrate integrity…I let the ref know when I’ve touched a ball on its way out of bounds. I let the ref know when I touch the net. I let the ref know when I don’t get the pancake, and the ball hit the floor. I do this no matter the score or situation. I’ve done it when it cost my team a game. Why? Because I want to win because I played better – not because the ref missed a call. No, not all volleyball players do this – but the best do. And I don’t mean “best” as in most talented.
