Philosophy to the Rescue

Deadspin links to an editorial in the Caspar Star-Tribune, a limited defense by two philosophers for Coach Dave Christensen.  Coach Christensen had been suspended for an outburst, caught on video and uploaded onto You Tube, in which he lambasts Coach Troy Calhoun of the Air Force Academy for allegedly having a player fake an injury to allow for more time in AFA's matchup with Wyoming, using quite colorful and incendiary language.  

It's a good thing when the academy gets involved in these disputes; after all, football teams represent their institutions, so any potential ethical problems should be addressed by the faculty or some representative of the faculty.  Philosophers are trained in arguing close ethical issues, so there's no reason why they shouldn't take the lead.

However, one has a responsibility to respond if one sees some problems in the argument.  To paraphrase, Ulatowski and Lockwood find Chistensen's behavior wrong and hence he earned the suspension.  But his actions are defensible insofar as he was seeking justice.  Calhoun, in encouraging the alleged fake injury, deserved greater punishment since he countenanced cheating, a greater offense than letting loose with an f-bomb.  The Mountain West Conference should take charge, and punish Calhoun for his behavior.  This would correct the injustice of one coach being punished while the other gets a free pass. 

In the ideal world, where everyone's intentions are clear, perhaps they have a case to make.  But in the hurly burly of a football game, it doesn't make sense to question injuries.  If a player claims to be hurt, the referees are not in the position to judge.  Nor can the conference be held accountable for adjudicating claims of fakery.  In our criminal justice system, the economics of judicial decisions imply that some outcomes will be unjust.  Likewise, as decisions by the referees are done on the fly; one can suspect that the outcome is unjust, but one shouldn't expect that all injustices can be rectified.  To attempt to do so would create more problems than it would solve.