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Universily Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order N u m b e r 8913641 Performance v results: A critique of values in contemporary- sport Gibson, John Howard, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1989 Copyright ©1989 by Gibson, John Howard. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 PERFORMANCE v RESULTS: A CRITIQUE OF VALUES IN CONTEMPORARY SPORT DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By John H, Gibson, B.Ed., M.S. * * * * The Ohio State University 1989 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Prof. Seymour Kleinman Prof. Melvin L. Adelman / ^ 7 Prof. Philip L. Smith Adviser "You've got no feeling for the game at all, man. You'll win, but it'll just be numbers on the scoreboard. Numbers, that's all you care about,.,.But that's not enough for me." Peter Gent, North Dallas Forty Copyright by J ohn H. Gibson 1 989 TO SUSAN AND RYAN & NOR MY MOTHER AND FATHER ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my sincere thanks to the members of my committee. I am grateful to Prof. Sy Kleinman for holding open the window in acedemia that allowed me to pursue my interests, and at the same time providing psychic shelter from the slings and arrows of outrageous and uncomprehending souls. I am grateful to Prof. Melvin L. Adelman for the hours he generously spent in working to correct my innumerable technical errors in the previous drafts of this document. Acknowledgment and enormous thanks are due to Prof. Philip Smith; acknowledgment as the philosophical father of much of this dissertation; and thanks for the friendship and strength which helped me to follow through on this task. Thanks also to my brothers in arms, Steve & Cheryl Estes, Bob Roth, and Dennis Latesse, who helped with draft reading and by being there. Cheers mates. VITA February 28, 1 956 ............ Born - London, England. 1977 ........................... B.Ed., St. Luke's College, [Exeter University], Devon, England. 1984-1985 ..................... Graduate Assistant, School HPERD, and Assistant Soccer Coach, Marshall University, Huntington, W.Va. 1985 ........................... M.S., School of HPERD, Marshall University, Huntington, W.Va. 1985-1988 ..................... Graduate Teaching Assistant, School of HPER, and Assistant Soccer Coach, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 1988-Present .................. Graduate Fellow, Assistant Soccer Coach, Department of Athletics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. FIELD OF STUDY Sport Philosophy TABLE OP CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................... iii VITA .................................................. iv INTRODUCTION ......................................... 1 CHAPTER PAGE ' I. THE PROBLEM OP VALUES IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY. 11 Ancient Greece Idealized ................. 12 The Enlightenment ......................... 13 The Being, Becoming, Doing and Having Ideal Cultural Types ........ 19 Prom Character to Personality........... 23 The Culture of Narcissism................ 26 The Monsters of Emot i v i s m................ 30 S u m m a r y .................................... 36 II. THE DEVELOPMENT OP CONTEMPORARY SPORT ....... 42 The Modernisation of Sport ............... 43 The Distinction Between Modernization and Commodification ........................... 50 The Marxist View of Commodified Sport ... 52 Marxist Sport; Rhetoric and Reality ..... 56 The Capitalist Commodification of Sport . 64 Contemporary Sport; Trivialized or Apotheosised? .............................. 74 S u m m a r y .................................... 78 III. THE CONSEQUENCES OP CONTEMPORARY VALUES FOR SPORT ........................................... 86 Winning as Excellence .................... 87 The Concepts of Play, Games, Sports and A thletics.................................. 92 Play; an Alternative V i e w ....... 98 An Escape Prom Keating; Winning is Not Necessarily Excellence ................... 103 Summary ............................... 106 v IV. CONTEMPORARY COMMUNITY: A WAY BACK? .......... 115 The Power of Nietzsche's Position ....... 115 The Pervasiveness of Nietzsche's Insight 119 The Misinterpitation of Nietzsche's Work 121 The Implications of Nietzsche's Position 122 MacIntyre's View: The Refutation of Nietzsche ................................. 124 The Practice .............................. 128 Institutions and Practices .............. 132 The Narrative Order of a Single Life .... 136 The Concept of a Tradition.............. 141 To Reject Aristotle and Retain MacIntyre's Social Framework ........... 143 S u m m a r y .................................... 1 45 V. POST MODERNITY: THE WAY F O R W A R D ............ 151 Habermas and Rorty ....................... 1 53 MacIntyre Minus Aristotle, Nietzsche With Comniunity: The Return to the Old Versus the Creation of the N e w .................. 158 S u m m a r y .................................... 165 VI.SPORT AS A FORM OF CONTEMPORARY COMMUNITY ... 168 The Horror of the Overman as Athlete .... 169 The Creative Possibility of the Overman as Athlete ................................ 172 Athlete as A r t i s t ......................... 180 Sport as a Practice ...................... 188 The Narrative Unity of a Single Life in Sport ...................................... 1 91 The Sport Tradition...................... 1 93 CONCLUSION .......................................... 1 99 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................ 206 vi INTRODUCTION This study examines the problem of values in contemporary sport, and offers an alternative conception of sport and its relationship to values. Today much of sport exists under a value system that recognizes the objectivity of the scoreboard as the only true assessment of worth, and denies the value of the subjective, experiential, and personal dimensions of sport. The concomitant emphasis on winning has come at the expense of the relationship of the athlete to his craft. This problem exists to a greater or lesser extent at all levels of sport, and can be detected from little leagues and intramurals to professional leagues and internationals. North Atlantic culture in general has an emphasis on "objectivity" which has had an effect on the development of its system of values. The result is that the powerful and rich tend to be viewed as inspirational personifications of the good, and often power is seen, in the most vulgar sense, as virtue. Graphic examples of this value system can sadly be found in European professional soccer. For example, Totenham Hotspurs, of London, England, met CF Barcelona, of Barcelona, Spain, in the semi-final of the 1982 European Cup Winners Cup. The second and deciding leg was played in Barcelona in front of a packed and hysterical crowd. The Spanish team won and the crowd was ecstatic with joy, "but the behaviour of the Barcelona players was so violent over both legs of the tie that UEFA fined the victorious Spanish team for bringing the game into disrepute. Barcelona went on to win the competition playing equally as disreputably in the final. The Barcelona supporters were delighted that their team had won a major European soccer trophy, but seemed incapable of seeing that the method by which the victory was achieved made it worthless. The great name of CF Barcelona, a club steeped in history and tradition, was discredited, along with the reputation of Spanish soccer as a whole, in the eyes of the rest of the soccer community. Moreover, the game of soccer itself was once again discredited in the eyes of the i community at large. This is an all to common example of the values of contemporary society. The victory is seen as being more important than the way in which it is achieved. Quality of performance is secondary to the result, and the values of the game are eclipsed by the cash value of winning. Previous works in sport philosophy