Now that football season is over, I think it is time to bring up an important topic among college football fans: sportsmanship. When I watched the Oklahoma Sooners (a team I despise on many levels) throw the ball into the end zone when they were up by 34 points (with 3 minutes left) against Oklahoma State, I was disappointed. The BCS has clearly created an atmosphere where running up the score is rewarded and winning big means you go to the National Championship game.
So if that’s the case, why does sportsmanship matter? Is it better to have a win-at- all-costs attitude or is it better to have class? And, if sportsmanship during the game doesn’t matter does it matter before and after the game?
Wikipedia explains that there are five facets of sportsmanship:
- Full commitment to participation
- Respect and concern for rules and officials;
- Respect and concern for social conventions
- Respect and concern for the opponent
- Avoiding poor attitudes toward participation
While I can strongly agree with the first four facets of sportsmanship, the fifth one bothers me. Wikipedia goes on to define “avoiding poor attitudes toward participation,” as not adopting a win-at-all-costs approach, not showing temper after a mistake and not competing solely for individual prizes. I can agree that the win-at-all-costs approach can be dangerous, but I do not agree with athletes lowering themselves to a level less than their best to make their opponent feel better.
Interestingly enough, I think that the NCAA may agree with me. They have more or less dropped their sportsmanship advertising campaign and stuck almost exclusively with a campaign that reminds fans that most of their players are “going pro in something other then sports.”
So my question to you is, does sportmanship matter? And if so, how much?
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