Our lives are filled with risk. Just being alive is risky. And that gets me immediately to the point: humans don’t choose to accept the risk of coming into existence, but for those next eighteen years, those of us who…
Trending in the world of #WorldCup2014 more than almost any other topic is the moral condemnation of players feigning injury in order to deceive the referee thus garnering a free kick, aka, “flopping.” Americans seem disgusted by it. Even our…
There’s a consensus amongst soccer fanatics that U.S. goalie Tim Howard’s save near the end of the first half against Portugal is the best—by far—of the World Cup. But there’s something much more interesting and relevant that preceded this save…
This past weekend’s U.S. Open provided one of those exceptionally rare and exciting moments in all of sport: a hole in one. With such a small hole, this lunar-eclipse-like event requires quite a bit of skill, and quite a bit…
Many years ago I read Umberto Eco’s richly complex novel, Foucault’s Pendulum. I still recall a quote that jumped out to me at the time and rings true now more than ever: “What we become depends on what our fathers…
Last week, as my wife and I watched the San Francisco Giants play division rival Colorado Rockies, a moment occurred in which Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner hit Rockies batter Troy Tulowitzki square in the calf with a pitch. I realize this…
In writing a weekly sports ethics blog, it would be easy to cherry-pick the week’s most controversial viral sports video or tune in to the weekly MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) cage-fighting highlights. This week these two are one and the…
Who better to distill the virtue and culture of sport than three phenomenally successful sportspersons, all under the banner of the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA)? Last week, I attended PCA’s annual “Coffee With Coaches.” At last year’s event I was…
In today’s posting, I take on a task I occasionally assign to my students: I argue against myself. Obviously, I will win this argument (and, I suppose, will also lose), but more importantly, will more accurately frame not only this…
Two weeks ago, I posted a piece that drew a great deal of thoughtful commentary and debate. I attribute this to the grey-area nature of the question and, also, because I did not weigh in on the question but, instead,…
