(5) Athletic games, where properly supervised, inculcate the spirit
of sportsmanship. To keep to the rules of longing, to restrain temper
and accept the decisions of the umpire without complaint, to take no
unfair advantage and indulge in no foul play, to give a square deal
to opponents and ask no more for one's own side, to endure defeat with
a smile and without discouragement- surely this is just the spirit
we need in everything. It is vitally important that unsportsmanlike
conduct should be ruthlessly stamped out in all competitive sports,
and that every team should prefer to lose honorably than to win unfairly.
[Footnote: There has been a good deal of criticism of American
intercollegiate athletics on the ground of their fostering
unsportsmanlike conduct. A recent paper in the Atlantic Monthly (by
C. A. Stewart, vol. 113, p. 153) concludes with this recommendation:
"A forceful presentation of the facts of the situation, with an appeal
to the innate sense of honor of the undergraduates; such a revision
of the rules as will retain only those based upon essential fairness;
and a strict supervision by the faculty;-upon the success of these
three measures rests the hope that college athletics may be purged
of trickery and the spirit of 'get away with it.' ... A few men expelled
for lying about eligibility, and a few teams disbanded because of
unfair play, would arouse undergraduates with a wholesome jolt.
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