Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
November 27, 2011
I went to the USC-UCLA football game last night, and saw lots of excitement and color—the tailgate feasts, the reunions—planned and unplanned—of old college pals and acquaintances, the bands playing, cheerleaders cheering, and the USC crowd exhorting star quarterback Matt Barkley to return, chanting “One more year.”
Then there was the game: exciting for a while if you were, like me, a Trojan fan, but without suspense as the Trojans won, 50-0.
It was easy to cheer for USC, harder if you were a UCLA fan, but the Bruins have had their day, and will in the future. No mixed feelings as you cheered your team on.
How different if you were a fan of the long-doormat Detroit Lions of the NFL professional football league. The Lions are 7-4, well placed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Their offense is led by quarterback Matt Stafford, their defense by the ferocious Ndamukong Suh.
But it’s no fun cheering for Suh, who along with his formidable talent is one of the dirtiest players in all of football—or any other sport. Thursday in a rage, he stomped on the unprotected arm (more…)
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Tags:Albert Haynesworth, Andrew Bynum, Bruins, Chip Kelly, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Lions, enforcers, ethics, J.J.Barea, Les Miles, Los Angeles Lakers, LSU, Matt Barkley, Matt Stafford, Oregon, professional hockey, stomping, Suh, Tennessee Titans, Trojans, USC-UCLA game, Washington Redskins
Posted in Apologies, Ethics-general, Sports | 5 Comments »
October 21, 2011
Sport is supposed to build character, but college sport often puts winning above sportsmanship or ethics. So it’s encouraging to see a big-time coach put character first. It’s especially encouraging when the stakes are huge.
LSU’s Tigers are undefeated at 7-0, and ranked #1 in the nation. Tomorrow they play improving and dangerous Auburn. LSU needs a win to preserve their path to the national championship.
LSU’s chances dropped a notch Wednesday when Coach Les Miles suspended three key players, reportedly for drug violations. The three included two considered the Tigers’ most valuable: cornerback and Heisman Trophy contender Tyrann Mathieu (six forced turnovers, including two returned for touchdowns), and star running back Spencer Ware (512 yards and six touchdowns). Defensive back Tharoid Simon (one interception and 29 tackles) was also suspended. The suspensions are for at least one game; if Miles extends them it could be devastating to the Tigers since their next game is at Alabama, ranked #2 in the nation.
Miles has been criticized for failing to control his players, but he deserves a lot of credit for putting character above winning. I don’t know whether to root for LSU to win to show that ethics pays off; or to root for them to lose to demonstrate just how much coach Miles put at risk to enforce LSU’s rules of behavior.
In any case, Coach Miles gets a Chip Kelly Award for putting character above winning.
__________
*Chip Kelly, Oregon Ducks football coach, suspended his star running back for poor sportsmanship right after Kelly’s first game as Ducks coach
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Tags:Alabama, Auburn, character, Chip Kelly award, drug violations, ethics, Heisman Trophy, Les Miles, LSU suspensions, LSU Tigers, Oregon Ducks, Spencer Ware, sportsmanship, Tharoid Simon, Tyrann Mathieu
Posted in Ethics-general, Sports | 1 Comment »
October 20, 2011
Nike workers in Indonesia earn about 1,285,000 rupiahs a month, or about $4.80 a day. Jim Keady went there to find out what their earnings can buy. Here’s the result.
For comparison, 1000 rupiahs is about a dime. If the worker is single they can earn enough to rent a tiny room, buy two meals a day and a couple of small bananas, and have enough left over to pay their bus fare to work. If they have kids, tough luck.
Jim has been at this for fourteen years now. He’s begun to gain some traction with Nike. They used to say it wasn’t any of their business: Founding CEO Phil Knight famously defended Nike’s practice by disclaiming, “We don’t make shoes.”
Now Nike slowly follows Jim’s lead, gradually accepting some responsibility for some of the abuses Jim exposes.
Here’s an example of a recent kind-of-success: Nike acknowledging that workers were being forced to work unpaid overtime, then being pressured to keep quiet about it.
Hooray for Jim Keady.
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Tags:daily wage, ethics, forced overtime, Indonesia, Jim Keady, Nike, Phil Knight
Posted in Business ethics, International, Sports | 5 Comments »
September 29, 2011
President Obama focused on ethics in his annual back-to-school speech today at Benjamin Banneker High School in Washington. It’s worth thinking about what he had to say about ethics:
Now, if you promise not to tell anybody, I will let you in on a little secret: I was not always the very best student that I could be when I was in high school, and certainly not when I was in middle school. I did not love every class I took. I wasn’t always paying attention the way I should have. I remember when I was in 8th grade I had to take a class called ethics. Now, ethics is about right and wrong, but if you’d ask me what my favorite subject was back in 8th grade, it was basketball. I don’t think ethics would have made it on the list.
But here’s the interesting thing. I still remember that ethics class, all these years later. I remember the way it made me think. I remember being asked questions like: What matters in life? Or, what does it mean to treat other people with dignity and respect? What does it mean to live in a diverse nation, where not everybody looks like you do, or thinks like you do, or (more…)
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Tags:back-to-school speech, Banneker High School, ethics, high school, Obama
Posted in Education, Ethics-general, Government, Sports | Leave a Comment »
July 21, 2011
It’s hard to root root root for the home team when it’s led by bums. Like Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers. Back in May, in the closing minutes of the playoff game in which the Dallas Mavericks eliminated the Lakers, 122-86, Bynum committed one of the ugliest fouls in the history of the NBA.
The giant Bynum, seven feet tall and listed at 285 pounds, flattened the smallest player on the floor, J.J.Barea, six feet and 175 pounds, as he was going up for a shot and in a completely vulnerable position. The non-partisan announcers pronounced Bynum’s behavior “disgusting” and “bush league.” Bynum later apologized for the incident, and Laker fans were inclined to give the talented 24-year old another chance.
Yesterday NBC television cameras caught Bynum parking in a handicapped spot, in a parking lot that was half empty. The $15-million per year athlete wouldn’t walk a few extra feet, so took a parking space that was reserved for people who couldn’t easily walk the few extra feet.
High crime? No. Behavior that’ll encourage me to yell, “Hooray, Andrew”? No. How about “Go, Lakers!” Not while Bynum is on the team.
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Tags:Andrew Bynum, Dallas Mavericks, ethics, handicapped parking, J.J.Barea, Los Angeles Lakers, NBC television
Posted in Ethics-general, Sports | 3 Comments »
July 19, 2011
The Pig, if I am not mistaken,
Supplies us sausage, ham, and Bacon.
Let others say his heart is big,
I think it stupid of the Pig.
This old Ogden Nash poem keeps rattling around my brain when I think about Christian Lopez, a 23-year-old, the Verizon Wireless salesman. Lopez caught New York Yankee Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit, and big-heartedly gave the ball to Jeter.
In return Lopez got from the Yankees four luxury suite tickets for the rest of the season, and three bats, three balls, and two jerseys, all signed by Jeter. There has been talk of the Yankees helping Lopez pay off his several hundred thousand dollars in college loans, as well as the tax bill the IRS is likely to present, since the IRS considers Lopez’s catching the ball to be taxable income.
What’s wrong with this picture: a young man, struggling to pay off college loans and support himself with a minimal-paying job, gives a gift—estimated to be worth $300,000 on the open market—to a baseball superstar whose salary for 2011 is $14,729,365?
While others may say Lopez’s heart is big, I think it stupid. But is there a pig in the story? How about Jeter, the gazillionaire who accepts a $300,000 gift from a fan who could only afford one of the cheap seats to see his Yankees play?
Jeter is widely considered classy. No sign of it in this story.
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Tags:3000th hit, Christian Lopez, class, college loans, Derek Jeter, ethics, IRS, New York Yankees, Ogden Nash, taxable income
Posted in Ethics-general, Sports | 4 Comments »
July 18, 2011
The USA women’s soccer lost to Japan in the World Cup final on penalty kicks, but what a show they put on! It really seemed like watching a game, complete with sportsmanship and good feelings all around. No diving, no faking injuries, lots of smiles, and a helping hand whenever an opposing player was knocked down.
They played with incredible energy, outplayed the Japanese except when it came to the important area of getting the ball into the net, and were as gracious in losing as they had been earlier in winning. Megan Rapinoe’s speed and passing, Hope Solo’s goal-keeping, and Alex Morgan’s shooting, bode well for next year’s Olympics.
We hated to lose on a penalty shootout, but we were glad enough to get by Brazil on PKs, so maybe we shouldn’t complain. And if the USA team had to lose, who better to lose to than Japan. See you next year in London.
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Tags:Alex Morgan, Brazil, diving, ethics, faking injuries, Hope Solo, Japan, London., Megan Rapinoe, Olympics, penalty kicks, sportsmanship, USA women’s soccer, World Cup final
Posted in Ethics-general, International, Sports | 1 Comment »
July 13, 2011
It’s nice to see cheaters caught and punished, and especially rewarding when their cheating costs them a victory that was almost in the bag.
In the Women’s World Cup (soccer) quarter-finals Brazil led the US 2-1 with time running out. Brazilian defender Erika (Brazilian players don’t use their last names, presumably because they’re so famous: think Kobe. Wilt, Magic, Manny, etc) faked injury and fell to the ground, writhing and moaning. The delay would rob the Americans of the slim chance they had to tie the game.
Erika was carried off the field strapped to a stretcher, then, once off the field, rolled off the stretcher and raced back into play. (Video here) Not so fast: the referee gave her a yellow card and put three extra minutes back on the clock. The US scored in the extra time, and won on tie-breaker penalty kicks.
The referee got it right this time. Unfortunately the referees don’t get it right every time, and soccer has no instant replay. As a result games often turn on “diving”—falling to the ground to make the ref think you’ve been fouled. Soccer should take the simple step needed to disincentivize diving: (more…)
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Tags:Arjen Robben, Brazilian women, cheating, diving, Erika, ethics, Netherlands, penalty kick, replay, soccer, suspension, Women’s World Cup, World Cup
Posted in Ethics-general, Sports | 4 Comments »
June 19, 2011
Sports fans who try to live an ethical life are often pulled in two directions by their favorites. What Dodger fan could, with a clear conscience, pull for drug-cheat Manny Ramirez to hit one out of the park? And what Redskins fan could root for Albert Haynesworth to sack the opposing quarterback, after the 300-pound tackle stomped on an opposing player’s face with his football cleats.? And what fans of the Vancouver Canucks or L.A. Lakers could go on feeling good rooting for their teams after ugly displays of pure brutality?
Well, all of us do, even though we know we’re rooting for deeply flawed individuals.
But then a new hero comes along with a dazzling smile, so apparently pure and strong of character that we fall in love again. So it is with Rory McIlroy, winner today of golf’s U.S. Open by an unheard of eight strokes with a record low Open score of 268. At 22, McIlroy is the youngest Open winner since the legendary Bobby Jones won in 1923 at age 21.
After earning praise here for an extraordinary display of grace and sportsmanship after his game collapsed in the last round of the Masters—as it had in last year’s British Open—McIlroy exorcised his inner demons and (more…)
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Tags:Albert Haynesworth, Bobby Jones, British Open, brutality, Dodger fans, ethics, Haiti, Lakers, Manny Ramirez, Masters, Redskins fans, Rory McIlroy, sports fans, sportsmanship, U.S. Open, UNICEF, Vancouver Canucks
Posted in Ethics-general, Sports | Leave a Comment »
June 14, 2011
Soccer, aka futbol, aka futebol, aka football, is also known as the beautiful game. It’s the closest thing there is to a universal sport, played in over 200 countries. It’s championship game, the World Cup final, player every four years, draws a television audience of over one billion, according to FIFA, the international governing body.
FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) rules soccer internationally. And corruptly: its board is rife with bribery, which is apparently why it awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, where summer temperatures reach over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
And it rules arbitrarily, inconsistently, and ugly, as when last week it disqualified the Iran women’s team for wearing head scarves to their match with Jordan. Why? Because head scarves were dangerous. Don’t you know, they’re a choking hazard. As a result Iran won’t have a chance to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.
The issue has come up before, and FIFA reversed an earlier ruling against head scarves (more…)
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Tags:2012 Olympics, beautiful game, bribery, choking, choking hazard, ethics, FIFA, football, futbol, futebol, head scarves, Iran, Iran women’s team, Jordan, Qatar, soccer, universal sport, World Cup
Posted in Ethics-general, International, Sports, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
I went to the USC-UCLA football game last night, and saw lots of excitement and color—the tailgate feasts, the reunions—planned and unplanned—of old college pals and acquaintances, the bands playing, cheerleaders cheering, and the USC crowd exhorting star quarterback Matt Barkley to return, chanting “One more year.”
Ethics Bob 