In this PSA for sportsmanship, the ball goes out of bounds, and one team gets the call, so they huddle up for a plan of attack, and one of their players tells the coach: "I touched it. I touched the ball before it went out, coach." A teammate objects to this demonstration of scruples, but the coach overrules him. And so they tell the referee, and the other team gets the ball. (And I can only surmise that they then lose the game, none of them get the basketball scholarships they needed to go to college, all of which depended on the outcome of this game, and so they all have to work at Walmart. So, with resentment building, tragedy strikes the community when they all fight to the death. And all because of these meddling PSAs! Oh, the humanity. But at least it teaches us that cheating is the way to go! {Just kidding! And the irony is that they wouldn't have been able to find a job even with a college degree in this economy, and they would have been crushed for life underneath their massive student loan debt, but because they believed in the value of a college education, they couldn't see how lucky they truly were not to have had to owe all that money in student loans!})
So, okay, snarky jokes aside, this PSA is trying to help instill good values in youngsters. And that's very nice and everything, but this scenario might not play out like this in real life. When I was in high school, I had a teammate who did this very same thing once in a soccer game, and the referee got angry that he was being shown up for having made the wrong call, and he hated my teammate for it. And so he turned the game against our team, permitting all kinds of fouls, which the other team quickly noticed, leading up to a broken leg for one of our players due to the game becoming rougher and rougher in its fouling, and all because of the wounded pride of one asinine referee. And this is hardly the only time I've seen this sort of thing happen, either.
This PSA's story seems like the right thing to do, but in my experience it isn't wise to do it. Why is that? Well, it's basically because the referees of high school sports games can have low self-worth or whatever the hell it is, and they really enjoy lording it over this group in this microcosm where they are the absolute authority. And this is the only chance in life they have to feel important or superior. And so when a teen athlete corrects their ruling, they take it as an insult and a threat, and they punish the kid for it. Now, not all people are like this, but I have noticed that quite a few are. And if you get on the wrong side of someone like that when you need an athletic scholarship, it can ruin your life. So while displaying good sportsmanship is definitely a plus, correcting a referee (or a coach, or assistant coach) can have disastrous consequences, regardless of the altruism on display. It is a sad fact of life that occasionally displays of altruism feel threatening to others, and do not lead to the expected magnanimous response. And it's a hard lesson to learn that, as the saying goes, often "no good deed goes unpunished." (That's why it's such a universal expression, because it is unfortunately true sometimes.)
So while I am not advocating dishonesty or unsportsmanlike conduct, I would warn young athletes against correcting a referee's ruling regardless of your honest and sportsmanlike intent. It can be very easy to get on the bad side of petty people in positions of authority by appearing to them that you are challenging their authority or competence, or seeking to correct them. This can frequently lead to wrath from damaged or over-inflated pride. And I'm afraid that the good intentions of those behind this PSA may blind them to this inconvenient truth. (But if you become the coach or the referee some day, remember this, and be magnanimous, rather than vengeful and petty. Kids never forget this type of bad behavior in adults, and so adults really must remember that they are role models and act accordingly. I can't tell you how much it disillusioned me to watch adults in positions of authority act like petulant children and abuse their power to bully those in their charge. And it's a sad fact that I find myself writing this stuff in response to a well-intentioned PSA advocating for honesty and sportsmanship, but maybe the Values.org group needs to make a new PSA encouraging adults in positions of authority to use it wisely and remember that their actions are informing the next generation, and that their job is about the kids, not about themselves.)
Here's the vulgar display of sportsmanship:
http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/106-Basketball
BTW: There is one odd thing in this PSA about sportsmanship, and that's the fact that their coach tells his players: "Don't foul them when they're in bounds." So does this mean that he wants them to foul the opposing team's players when they're out of bounds? Because that's what it sounds like, doesn't it? And I'm pretty sure that it's not a display of good sportsmanship to foul the other team intentionally whether you're in bounds or out of bounds (but especially when you're out of bounds!). Oh, but do you know what? This PSA does not specify that it is advocating for good sportsmanship, but just that it's encouraging sportsmanship, which can be good sportsmanship or bad sportsmanship. So maybe the intent here is to encourage good sportsmanship in visibly being honest about calls, but also to encourage bad sportsmanship in fouling opposing players when they're out of bounds, because it's less likely that the referee will be paying attention to players then. Do you suppose that could be the message the makers of this PSA secretly intended to send here?
