Ethics Newsline®

A reader adds an interesting sidelight to Newsline’s coverage of ethical issues in the Olympics:

During the Olympics, American tennis player James Blake hit a ball that grazed off his opponent’s racket and went out of bounds. It was during the tiebreaker and may have been material in the outcome of the match. The referee did not see it and awarded the point to the opponent. After the game Blake, at a press conference, commented angrily that tennis is a “gentleman’s game” and that his opponent should have called it on himself….

A couple of days later during the gold medal match of men’s beach volleyball, the Brazilians slammed a shot over the net which, in replay, clearly grazed the arm of an American player before landing out of bounds and the point being awarded to the Americans, who went on to win. The American was silent.

This poses some questions: Is Blake wrong, a sore-losing hothead, or should the opponent have called the shot against himself? Do the same ethics apply to other sports? Is tennis different? Is beach volleyball not a gentleman’s game? Is the Olympics different than other venues, with the standards of sportsmanship expected to be higher in the Olympics than in other places?

– Jim Batterson
Cary, NC