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Comment by _carbyau_ | Hacker News Reader

"In a Western-style sport, the aim is gaining victory at all costs,”

This statement most resonated with me. I had to give up playing hockey because - at the lowest grade - people paid no respect to you. If they could kick the ball and the ref didn't see it, they would continue play. If they could hit the ball hard at you from point blank, that is fine.

You see similar in elite sport, players in "football" of whatever code. Everyone knows it. A professional player who breaks the rules is expected to play on as if nothing happened until the ref calls it.

At this point it is not a game, it is a grudge match.

The win at all costs mentality costs one themselves.

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You mean Cobra Kai were supposed to be the real heroes?

I think the west may put a lot less emphasis on competing honorably or whatever. But playing fair is still morally better than not. E.g. people get viewed negatively for real cheating in pro sports (steroids, the "Cheatriots"). In some sports, however, the ref and what they catch is just part of the game.

The tolerance of cheating/bending-rules as a general cultural issue is very interesting though. Generally ethical behavior is sort of a luxury, which is harder to maintain as it goes against one's economic benefit. Japan seems like something of an outlier in that regard.

/me not a soccer fan, but I watched a few matches from Euro2020.

I was rather alarmed at the number of fouls I saw, including fouls occasioning injury. Thing is, footie players practice luring their opponent into perpetrating a foul, thus gaining a free kick. Getting fouled a lot is a way of contributing to your team's success, and for some players it is their signature skill.

If you have the ball, and are being pursued, you leave what appears to be an opening for a tackle, but you bait-and-switch, so that the pursuer's boot connects with your shin, not the ball.

Similar in hockey, a trick is to simply tap the ball into your opponents feet for a foul. And similarly allowed by the rules.

This I have no issue with. The rules make the game and at elite levels you would expect every little optimisation to be made.

But soccer also has a history of players flopping too. People who are trying to get the foul you mention, but without the cause. This is a despicable act. It is blatant disrespect for the players and the game.

I don't know if it happened in the latest championship but I didn't watch it, due to such crap in the past.

I really don’t see it like that, true athletes aim to be their best and not just win using any dirty trick. Think Usain Bolt for example.

You are right in that there are gracious players. Not all are dubious. But sadly it seems it is increasingly not the way to bet.

> Think Usain Bolt for example.

Usain Bolt doesn’t exactly have much opportunity to engage in funny business aside from peps, at least not funny business which would fall short of criminal charges if discovered.

I admire Usain Bolt I do. Good example!

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