Dishonesty in sports? What is acceptable?

[Hankk]

Last night, Derek Jeter squared to bunt. The pitch sailed inside. Jeter grabbed his arm and grimaced in pain, as if the ball had struck him. The umpire awarded Jeter first base. Later, Jeter admitted that the ball did not strike him and that it had struck the bat. You can read a little more about the incident here.

 

This type of thing happens a lot in sports. Football and baseball players pretend to catch the ball. Basketball players flop. Hockey players dive. Soccer players act like perch shot them if they get grazed by another player. When is it ok?

 

Note - to clarify, for purposes of the poll, choices # 2 and #3 presume that its acceptable for Jeter to take the base if he had not pretended to be struck by the ball.

Edited September 16, 2010 by Hankk

[Kid Cid]

Jeez, you're just as bad as T_Bone at making polls, you know that?

 

Player flop all the time trying to get something from the officials.

[whoopazz]

Jeter's a pretty accomplished ball player. I'd say if he's doing this then its part of the game. Shields could have thrown the ball over the plate and avoided that incident...just sayin

 

Also, soccer is over the top of course, but this is common in all team sports.

[Hankk]

Jeez, you're just as bad as T_Bone at making polls, you know that?

 

[driveby]

Cheating is part of our culture and acceptable to most people.

 

In fact in some circles being fair, honest and respectful is seen as a weakness.

[Azazello1313]

I don't see the point in labelling it "acceptable" or "unacceptable". it is simply par for the course. however, it is not something I respect. jeter gets knocked down a few pegs in my book.

[Ursa Majoris]

He's a filthy Yankee, what else would you expect?

[whomper]

Its a grey area for some . In some cases people could accept a win or a benefit from faking and sleep like a baby at night. Other people wouldnt be able to live with themselves. Its like the receiver who knows damn well the ball bounced but gets up and swears they made the catch and when the ref calls it incomplete they act surprised. personally I would feel like crap if I faked my way into something positive on the field . In some instances it is common place and par for the course. Id say soccer is a main culprit here but i would like to keep the discussion to actual sports

[matt770]

I don't see the point in labelling it "acceptable" or "unacceptable". it is simply par for the course. however, it is not something I respect. jeter gets knocked down a few pegs in my book.

 

I agree with this, but I have more of an issue with him admitting the ball didn't hit him afterwards. If you didn't have a problem faking it at the time, why admit what you did afterwards? What is he trying to accomplish?

 

I think flopping in general is shady but it happens and the officials are charged with making the right call, period.

[Pope Flick]

I don't see the point in labelling it "acceptable" or "unacceptable". it is simply par for the course. however, it is not something I respect. jeter gets knocked down a few pegs in my book.

 

 

Pretty much but not down a whole lot. He isn't 'known' for shady plays like this but if it were A-Rod it would be more of the same from that guy. Maybe some's rubbing off on Jeter?

[Delicious_bass]

I agree with this, but I have more of an issue with him admitting the ball didn't hit him afterwards. If you didn't have a problem faking it at the time, why admit what you did afterwards? What is he trying to accomplish?

 

I think flopping in general is shady but it happens and the officials are charged with making the right call, period.

Agreed. Whether he is low for doing what he did can be debated, but I dont see how anything good could come from him admitting the ball didnt actually hit him. Stuff like that tends to make the umpires look bad and is likely to get him on their chitlist. Not that I have a problem with the dirty Yankees being on the umpires chitlist...

[General Itals]

Baseball isn't a gentlemen's game, so there is some leeway with trying to get away with things. However, my criteria for going to far would be that if you have to act like a sissy to gain an advantage, it's not worth it. I.e. A-Rod slapping like a girl at a first baseman's glove to dislodge the ball, Jeter grimacing in pain to fool the ump into a HBP, etc.

 

And I say that as a Yankee fan.

[Seahawks21]

I agree with Jeter. I personally wouldn't have done something like this and lie, but as a left-handed batter, I leaned into a couple curveballs from lefties in college, which is probably a bit dirty as well. This is the umpire's fault, not Jeter's. The same with all the flopping in soccer and the NBA. It ultimately falls on the umpire to make the correct call.

[MojoMan]

Given the blatant cheating by the steroid users (not to name names but whose initials include Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, and Roger Clemons), this is nothing.

[Ursa Majoris]

This is the umpire's fault, not Jeter's. The same with all the flopping in soccer and the NBA. It ultimately falls on the umpire to make the correct call.

I agree. Burglary is entirely the fault of the police too. And you shouldn't blame arsonists, it's those stupid firefighters not paying enough attention.

[Delicious_bass]

Given the blatant cheating by the steroid users (not to name names but whose initials include Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, and Roger Clemons), this is nothing.

So, since there are murderers out there we shouldnt waste time with the rapists? Sorry...I just hate when people excuse something bad by saying it could be worse...

 

Anyways, back to Jeter, if the umpire thought the ball hit him and awarded him first base, I dont think DJ is necessarily obligated to tell the ump it didnt actually hit him. I am ok with him just taking the base. To carry on the charade and pretend to be injured is just bush league, though, and makes Jeter look like a chump.

 

Play the game and leave the theatrics for the WWE

[chester]

Anyways, back to Jeter, if the umpire thought the ball hit him and awarded him first base, I dont think DJ is necessarily obligated to tell the ump it didnt actually hit him. I am ok with him just taking the base. To carry on the charade and pretend to be injured is just bush league, though, and makes Jeter look like a chump.

 

Agree 100%

 

If a guy slides into 2nd and knows he was out but was called safe, he doesn't need to tell the ump. But the theatrics were uncalled for.

[detlef]

Anyways, back to Jeter, if the umpire thought the ball hit him and awarded him first base, I dont think DJ is necessarily obligated to tell the ump it didnt actually hit him. I am ok with him just taking the base. To carry on the charade and pretend to be injured is just bush league, though, and makes Jeter look like a chump.

That's basically where I stand.

[Jackass]

So, since there are murderers out there we shouldnt waste time with the rapists? Sorry...I just hate when people excuse something bad by saying it could be worse...

 

Anyways, back to Jeter, if the umpire thought the ball hit him and awarded him first base, I dont think DJ is necessarily obligated to tell the ump it didnt actually hit him. I am ok with him just taking the base. To carry on the charade and pretend to be injured is just bush league, though, and makes Jeter look like a chump.

 

Play the game and leave the theatrics for the WWE

 

he did that b/c the umpires were still meeting and discussing whether to reverse the call, which they could've done.

 

Same thing goes on in every sport and has been going on since the beginning of time - that's how sports is played.

[SayItAintSoJoe]

Same thing goes on in every sport and has been going on since the beginning of time - that's how sports is played.

 

+1

 

Especially in baseball. It's got a lot of quirky things to it which when you look at it may seem shady, but it's just accepted as part of the game. Getting one over on the ump included. It's like the catcher pulling an outside pitch over the plate after catching it to make it look more like a strike.

[Duchess Jack]

I don't see it as any different than a WR trying to earn himself a pass interference penalty on a CB or a soccer player taking a dive.

[Hugh B Tool]

In all sports you get away with whatever you can to help your team win. Phantom tags, phantom catches. phantom fouls etc.

Has been considered "Gamesmanship" since the first time I laced them up and still is.

[wiegie]

If I were that pitcher, I would make sure that the next time I faced Jeter that nobody would have any doubt that he truly got hit by the pitch.

[T_bone65]

Jeez, you're just as bad as T_Bone at making polls, you know that?

 

Player flop all the time trying to get something from the officials.

 

 

ahmmmm, I think you may be referring to Nuke here

[Furd]

I understand that embellishment is, to some extent, a part of sports. I don't expect all sportsmen to play like golfers, although I must admit that I find it admirable that golfers police themselves. Think about it. You call a penalty on yourself and, as a result, lose a tournament and everything that goes with it. Can you imagine if in the World Series a batter with the basis loaded and the winning run at third corrects the umpire and tells him that he was not hit by the pitch?

 

But I suppose that there is a distiction between an individual sport and a team sport.

 

Sports encourage men to act dishonorably, which I don't think a good thing.

 

I imagine that you fathers face a quandry in this situation. I don't know what I'd tell my child if he/she asked me my opinion on the Jeter incident or something similar. "Gee Jimmy, sometimes its ok to be dishonest" or maybe "its not right to be dishonest, unless your playing sports." How else do you justify it to the kid? I think that saying that its just "part of the game" is a pretty facile way to deal with it.

 

Anyway, say what you will, Jeter acted in an undignified manner. (Like a chump.) So I'd say that it was "unacceptable."