Basketball and Philosophy by Jerry L. Walls

Author:Jerry L. Walls
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky

Lord Chesterfield and Cheating

Well, as Andre Agassi said in the famous commercial, “image is everything.” In a society inclined to accept this notion, cheating may seem like a relatively small matter. One can cheat while being a very likable person, the sort of person who is “like everybody's grandfather.”

This point was made very memorably centuries ago by James Boswell, the biographer of Samuel Johnson. His famous biography recounts many conversations he had with Johnson and their friends, conversations that sometimes dealt with questions of moral philosophy. In one such conversation, a certain Mr. Hicky asserted that “gentility and morality are inseparable.” Boswell, however, insisted otherwise. “By no means, Sir,” he replied. “The genteelest characters are often the most immoral. Does not Lord Chesterfield give precepts for uniting wickedness and the graces? A man, indeed, is not genteel when he gets drunk; but most vices may be committed very genteely: a man may debauch his friend's wife genteely: he may cheat at cards genteely.”19 And, I would add, a man may cheat at recruiting genteely.

Boswell goes on to tell us that Johnson joined the debate with Mr. Hicky by drawing a distinction between honor and exterior grace, noting that a man who displays exterior grace may not necessarily be honorable. I suspect that this distinction is one that has become obscured in our society, which places so much emphasis on image. Indeed, I am inclined to think that the difference between Knight's and Wooden's public image is due to the fact that our society values certain personality dispositions and social graces more than it values core moral virtues like honesty and fair play, or even assumes that they are one and the same. But those who accept Samuel Johnson's distinction will see things differently. Faced with Kindred's “scruples question” mentioned above, I suspect Johnson would choose the man who throws vases over the man who turns a blind eye to cheating.

This is not to defend throwing vases or chairs, nor is it to deny that Knight deserves some of the criticism he has received. Knight's failings should not be whitewashed, nor should it be denied that some of his failings have detracted from his greatness as a coach. Indeed, even some of his best friends and most loyal fans sometimes find themselves reduced to silence by his behavior. And most would agree that the General apparently has a considerable way to go before he will be a candidate for sainthood.

But keeping in mind that I am concerned here with the more modest issue of what makes for coaching greatness, I would nevertheless contend that Knight's shortcomings do not detract from his legacy nearly as much as the shadow of Gilbert detracts from Wooden's achievements. At the heart of the issue here is nothing less than the integrity of the game that has made both Knight and Wooden famous and allowed both of them many opportunities they would not otherwise have enjoyed. Knight's foibles and flaws do not undermine the very integrity of this great game, but cheating clearly does.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.