Sports Ethics

What’s the distinction between sports and games?

Is it the degree of physicality and psychologicality? E.g., Is chess a sport?

Do animals engage in sports? Horse racing? Dog racing? Rooster fighting?

If a machine dominates the activity, is it sport? E.g., iIs car racing a sport?

Topic 3: Is Sport Good or Bad?

Movie or Documentary: Million Dollar Baby.

Questions:

Mind-body dualism or integration?

Is competition opposed to cooperation or a type of cooperation?

Does sport promote values or disvalues, virtues or vices?

Are violent sports no different from violence in general? “Frederick Pollock argues that a violent assault on the football field is not an actionable tort because it is part of the activities of a voluntarily agreed to association of adults” (1895).

Topic 4: What Values Does Sport Embody?

Shawn Klein, “Competition” [article].

Movie or Documentary: Breaking Away.

Questions:

Core values? Health, goal-pursuit, skill acquisition, risk/safety, mind/body integrity, achievement, experience of competence.

Runner Iván Fernández Anaya refused to take advantage when his rival Mutai stopped short of the finishing line in a cross-country race.

Does sport model real life? Or is it an escape from real life?

Roles? Player, coach, referee, fan, support staff, business. Value priorities for each.

Winning and losing or just playing for fun?

The purpose of medals, trophies, records?

Is there a hierarchy of sports? Thompson: Yes.

Supplemental:

Topic 5: What Virtues Does Sport Embody?

Shawn Klein, “Sportsmanship“ [podcast]

Courage: “Ten Meter Tower.” Focus: Tyson Gay on racing Usain Bolt.

Movie or Documentary: Rocky

Questions:

Key virtues: Purposefulness, Courage, Perseverance, Honesty, Responsibility, Respect for accomplishment, Rule-following, Self-control.

What does “being a good sport” mean?

Integrity. E.g., on/off field.

Referee/umpire error.

Bullying/hazing.

Topic 6: What Is Competition?

Stephen Hicks, “Is Life Unfair? My Challenge to the Best Tennis Player in the World”

Movie or Documentary: Ford v. Ferrari

Questions:

Defining: Cooperation, Competition, Rivalry, Adversary, Enemy?

Supplemental:

Timothy Taylor, “The Blurry Line Between Competition and Cooperation,” Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
Frédéric Bastiat, “A Petition from the Candlemakers about Unfair Competition from the Sun” (1845).
Satire: “Ball-less Soccer in Olympia, Washington” [Video].

Topic 7: What Is Cheating?

Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” in the 1986 World Cup football match between Argentina and England.

Movie: I, Tonya. (On the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan saga.)

Questions:

What is cheating? Why do people cheat? Why do people not cheat?

Examples: Baseball: “Spying” on pitcher-catcher signals: Astros case. Boxing and gambling: throwing a match. Tennis: calling ball out when know it was in. Soccer: dramatic fake falling. Multiple sports; Performance enhancing drugs. Soccer: What happened with Maradona’s goal? Did he cheat? If the referee didn’t see it … ?

Cheating contrasted to violating the ethos of sports? E.g., running up the score against a weaker opponent. The badminton teams that lost intentionally (more here.)

Topic 8: Individualism and Collectivism in Sports?

Stephen Hicks, “When Altruism becomes Pathological“

Movie: Chariots of Fire

Questions:

Is there an “I” in “team”?

What is teamwork?

What is it to be a good leader? follower? teammate?

Do teams need captains?

Topic 9: Money in Sports?

Movie: Moneyball.

Questions:

What is the difference between amateur vs. professional?

College athletes: scholarships?

Tim Horton, the famous Canadian hockey player: “They pay me to practice. I’d play the games for free.”

Is gambling on sports a problem?

Supplemental: Shawn Klein, Gambling.

Topic 10: Drugs in Sports?

What are performance-enhancing drugs: Primer. No. Yes.

Movie: The Program. (Lance Armstrong). Or at Amazon.

Questions:

What’s the difference between an appropriate and inappropriate enhancer?

Do inappropriate enhancers mean one is cheating oneself? One’s competitors? The fans?

Topic 11: What Is the Place of Politics in Sports?

Arizona State University News. “More than sports: 2022 Beijing Olympics stir up conversations about human rights” (2022)

Movie: Miracle.

Questions:

Should the National Anthem be played at matches? How about before a religious service? A business meeting? A romantic date? Etc.

What about ethnic team names? Respect vs. disrespect, Public domain vs. ownership/appropriation

Is sports a metaphor for war? Catharsis? Substitute?

What was the/an original purpose of the Olympic Games?

Should athletes boycott events in politically bad nations?

Should one refuse to participate against particular individuals due to their national origin or religion?

Supplemental: Simon Jordan interviewed (Triggernometry). “Concerns and controversies at the 2022 Winter Olympics.”

Topic 12: Fans and/or Fanatics?

Auburn-Alabama 2013 final play. Reactions.

Movie: Secretariat.

Questions:

Why do we enjoy playing sports? Why do we enjoying watching sports?

We enjoy watching movies, looking at paintings and sculptures, reading novels: Is there a connection between enjoying sports and enjoying art?

Is there something more to watching team sports, in contrast to individual sports?

What explains the dark side of being a fan: Us-versus-them tribalism? Depression and violence when one’s team loses?

Topic 13: What is the Relation between Religion and Sports?

Movie: The Blind Side

Questions:

Are sports a kind of religion?

What is the relation between mind and body?

How do various religions value and disvalue physicality?

Conflict and tolerance among religions?

Supplemental: Competing with members of other religions: Rio Olympics example. Muscular Christianity?

Topic 14: Sports and Education

Movie: In Search of Greatness.

Questions

Supplemental.

Movies and Documentaries

The English Game. The Last Dance. Secretariat. Miracle. Without Limits. Ford v. Ferrari. Chariots of Fire. Seabiscuit. The Natural. I, Tonya. Personal Best. Mystery, Alaska. Hoosiers. Moneyball. The Blind Side. Breaking Away. Million Dollar Baby. Bull Durham. Bend It Like Beckham. Rocky. Ali. Rudy. Chak de India. Field of Dreams. The Queen’s Gambit. The Program. (Lance Armstrong). Raging Bull. Hoop Dreams. Lagaan. Jerry McGuire. Any Given Sunday. Dream Alliance. Hidalgo. In Search of Greatness.

Men, Women, and Children

School Now Accepts Everyone to Cheerleading Squad to Be ‘Inclusive’ After Parent Complained.

Sports prodigies.

Age-specific sports.

Parents’ hopes/expectations for their children. The obnoxious dad on the sidelines.

Sex/gender-specific sports.

Resources

Shawn Klein, The Sports Ethicist.

Russ Roberts, EconTalk Sports.

Kaizen interviews with sports entrepreneurs: Ed Snider, Jerry Reinsdorf, David Checketts.

ABC News, “Feds Drop Charges Against AAU Basketball Program Director in Adidas Scandal Case”. ABC News, “Report: FBI Probe Into NCAA Corruption Identifies Possible Violations by Basketball Powers”. Athletic Business, “AD, Coaches Fired in High School Recruiting Scandal”Athletic Business, “Gender Inequality Persists in High School Sports”CBSSports.com, “30 Years Later: The Legacy of SMU’s Death Penalty and Six Teams Nearly Hit with One”Chicago Tribune, “Why NCAA Sexual Assault Policy Stops Short of Punishment”The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Baylor’s President: Sexual-Assault Scandal ‘Will Always Be a Part of Who We Are’”Cincinnati.com, “Update: Patriots Admit Film Crew Broke NFL Rules Filming Bengals Sideline Sunday at Browns”CNN, “Ex-Frat Leader’s Plea Deal Is The Latest In A Series Of Baylor Sex Assault Scandals” CNN, “UNC Report Finds 18 Years of Academic Fraud to Keep Athletes Playing”Coach and A.D., “Dealing with Parental Interference in Coaching”ESPN, “Sports Hazing Incidents”Fanbuzz, “Take The “Final Exam” From Georgia’s 2003 Academic Scandal”Forbes, “Business Ethics in Light of the Houston Astros Scandal”The Guardian, “Two Weeks in Hockey Showed Sport Is No Escape From Society’s Dark Side”Indeed, “How to Write an Action Plan to Help You Achieve Your Goals”Journal of Medical Ethics, “How to Justify a Ban on Doping?”Law.com, “Houston Astros Playbook Now Includes Lessons on Ethics and Corporate Governance”Mayo Clinic, “Performance-Enhancing Drugs and Teen Athletes”NBC Sports Chicago, “Lawsuit Filed Following Alleged Lake Zurich High School Football Hazing Scandal”NCAA, “NCAA Drug Testing Program”NCAA, “Mind. Body and Sport: Interpersonal Violence and the Student-Athlete Population”NCBI, “Ethical Concerns in Sport: When the Will to Win Exceed the Spirit of Sport”Ohio University, Online Master of Athletic AdministrationPhilosophy of Sport, “Philosophy of Sports: From a Wrestling Plato to Modern AI”Routledge, Sports, Ethics and LeadershipSociety of Health and Physical Educators, National Standards for Sport Coaches. Sports Illustrated, Report: “Six Schools to Face NCAA Allegations in Corruption Scandal”. Steve Mintz Ethics, “What Is the Role of Ethics in Sports?”ThoughtCo., Sports Ethics and Our SocietyUSA Today, “‘Where’s the Moral Compass of Our Game?’: Houston Astros Cheating Scandal Exposes MLB’s Problems”U.S. News and World Report, “The Ugly Truth of March Madness”. USADA, “Effects of PEDs: Athlete Stories”