Ethics, to me, is a very subjective and interesting topic. Questions like "What is right and what is wrong?" or "What should have happened there?" intrigue me so much, especially when it comes to sports. Players make questionable ethical decisions in sports games all of the time. The most obvious and common to me is when a soccer player flops and fakes an injury just for a minor foul call. Should he fake the injury and potentially get the call? Or should he keep playing through it and if he gets the call it is just an added bonus. In my personal opinion, the player should always play through the "questionable calls" and earn the goal and the victory. To me, if I do win by faking a foul or persuading the referee or doing something besides actually earning the victory, it doesn't feel like a real W in my mind. But that may be just me.
The story of Paul Brown and his high school football team is definitely an interesting one. This happening seems to be so rare that it is worth repeating. The team uniforms had a picture of a regulation sized football on the front of their jerseys and the picture looked real enough so that the defense could mistake it for the real ball. So when the ball was snapped, all of the players would hold their hands near their jersey's like they were holding the ball and the defense wouldn't know where the actual ball is. Who thinks of something like that?!?! Yes, it is genius. But in my mind, it is completely unethical and wrong. I know it was not against the rules then, but the players and coaches had to feel like they were cheating. And if I win a game with that cheating taste in my mouth, it does not feel even close to a real victory to me. What coach Brown did was completely wrong in my book and him and all of his players should feel guilty for "bending" the rules so much like that.
I am excited for the next ethics discussion on Wednesday, this stuff really revs my engine.
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