By DAN GARTLAND
EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR
Tomlin thrust himself in the middle of controversy when he got in the way of Jacoby Jones in last Thursday’s game. (Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia)
When I was 13, I had a baseball coach tell our team’s right fielder to kick first base on his way out to play defense in order to lengthen the distance the opposing team had to run in order to reach safely. On the way back to the dugout, he was supposed to kick it back in, so our team didn’t have to run as far.
“You know what we call that, son?” the coach asked the player.
“Cheating?” the kid replied.
“No. Gamesmanship.”
This weekend, two men made headlines for testing the limits of the rules: Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd earned his team an extra timeout by intentionally spilling soda on the court and Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin nearly made contact with the Ravens’ Jacoby Jones, denying Jones a touchdown on a kickoff return. Kidd was fined $50,000 by the league and Tomlin’s punishment will be handed down later this week.
I have one problem with what Kidd did: He could have done a better job. His fatal mistake was getting caught telling Tyshawn Taylor to bump into him. If Kidd had used the cup to obscure his mouth, he probably wouldn’t have gotten caught.
Mike Fratello, the Nets’ color commentator, explained during the broadcast that he used the same tactic all the time when he was a coach. By all accounts, what Kidd did wasn’t that unusual. In fact, there isn’t even a rule against it. It’s a perfect example of gamesmanship.
Now, what Mike Tomlin did — that was cheating. There is a (rarely enforced) rule which says no one can occupy the two-yard wide stripe between the sideline and the bench. Not only was Tomlin on the stripe, he even strayed out on to the playing field. He claims it was accident, that he was unaware how close to the field he was because he was watching the play on the jumbotron, but it seems all too convenient that he inched onto the field just as Jones was running by.
For as long as people have played sports, they’ve bent the rules. Gaining an advantage by testing the limits of the rules is what sports are all about. But, once you step outside the rules, you are cheating.
I think there’s something really admirable about pushing the limits of legality, as long as you don’t do anything overtly contrary to the rules. It means you’re doing everything possible to win. Toeing the line and figuring out exactly what you can get away with means you’re giving maximum effort.
Of course, it’s also important to remember that what Kidd did was relatively minor compared to Tomlin. All Kidd did was give his team a chance to draw up a play (while also allowing the opposing team to set up a defensive play). Tomlin denied the Ravens a touchdown.
In 2007, Alex Rodriguez caused a ruckus by shouting at a Toronto Blue Jays fielder as he rounded the bases, fooling the player into letting the ball drop to the ground. He had mistaken A-Rod’s “Ha!” for the shortstop calling for the ball. The Blue Jays’ manager called it “bush league,” and A-Rod, as he is prone to, became the center of a controversy for breaking one of baseball’s “unwritten rules.”
It’s hard to take issue with A-Rod ignoring one of baseball’s unofficial guidelines. But, breaking the well-delineated rules for performance-enhancing drugs? That’s not gamesmanship. That’s cheating. Hopefully the NFL realizes the difference when it hands down Tomlin’s sentence.
