Our society likes to believe that we value fair competition. I think this is one of the reasons why the United States has such a large focus on sports and sports culture. We love to see two parties really compete in order to find out which is the best. I have found however, that we are really acquiescent to cheating and performance enhancers. This may seem contradictory to prior events (such as Supreme Court hearings on steroid abuse in professional baseball) but let me explain.
Sometimes the people who have the most unfair advantage are those who you would least expect to be using performance enhancers. Let’s take for instance all-star Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant, a guy so thin if he swallowed a breath of helium he just might float away. He certainly isn’t using steroids, that much is clear. So how could he possibly be unfairly changing the outcome of the game? According to his own testimony he is harboring the will of god. He is known for thanking god after games and don’t be mistaken, he is certainly not the only one. I have however noticed that players only thank god after winning a game, a sign that god is always helping teams on the better side of the competition. Why would he/she/it do this? Does god have a bet on the game? Whatever the reason, it is time for us to put a stop to it.
The idea of sport is to have competing parties trying to best each other at a given event with an agreed upon set of rules. This is why we like the idea of competition; it is supposed to be an unbiased assessment at who the best is, whether at football, soccer, boxing, basketball, swimming or what have you. If god is stepping in and helping teams or individuals, it is fundamentally no longer a fair competition and sacrifices the integrity of the event.
Clearly we as a society are purportedly against cheating. Most are indignant at the pervasive use of performance-enhancing drugs or collegiate athletes receiving benefits for playing. We also expect there to be consequences for cheaters, for example, look at the USC sanctions or the multiple investigations that have gone on around university sports programs. We are fundamentally against cheating because it sacrifices the virtue of a truly fair competition.
So why have we been so acquiescent to the most effective form of cheating – divine intervention? Surely there is no way to counter the ultimate performance enhancer, the will of a higher power. The most shocking thing about this most pervasive form of cheating is that players constantly admit to it! I can’t count the amount of times I have seen an athlete after winning an important game thank god for helping his or her team win and for helping their performance. How is the losing team supposed to win against the will of god? In addition, this god is obviously biased; I’m sure both teams are asking for help, so why does this god only help one team? This is a fundamental sacrifice and bastardization of our ideals of fair competition. If we really want to see truly fair, unbiased, and virtuous competition in sports then we need to plead god to stay out of it and insist that he/she/it just be an entertained spectator like the rest of us. Surely we would all like to affect the outcome of games, but unfortunately we mere mortals do not have the capability to change it. We must insist that higher powers stay out of it as well.
So there it is god. I’ve called you on it. Stay out of sports, no matter how much athletes may plead for your help; unless of course, you want to help our Beavs for the remainder of the season…