“Interestingly enough, if coaches know what the expectations are at the beginning of the season, they’ll work within the rules,” noted Rosenow. “If coaches and the officials meet meaningfully at the beginning of the season and understand how it’s going to work during the season, they (the coaches) will figure out a way to win within that framework.”

Even given exceptional rapport between coaches and officials, there will be plenty of gray areas for players and coaches to probe. If ethical behavior is of paramount concern, how do you deal with the trickery and deception that are part and parcel of your chosen sports? Should the rules require that the catcher tell the batter what pitch is coming? Is a successful head fake an ethical violation?

“The fundamental question I want to start with is what is our ethical obligation and what is the nature of sport?” Josephson responds. “The game can include trickery and deception. But I think if we look at our traditional games, the rules weren’t designed to encourage deception for the most part. You can steal a base. You can hide your signal. But, for instance, to doctor a baseball is clearly wrong.”

Much of the gray area mischief in sports falls under the heading of “gamesmanship,” the art of taking every physical and psychological advantage available in the pursuit of victory. By labeling it “gamesmanship,” says Josephson, the sports hierarchy has given it a veneer of legitimacy by implying that such efforts are, in fact, part of the game. Josephson acknowledges that gamesmanship is interwoven with the rules and traditions of various sports, but urges officials to analyze situations through the filter of ethical behavior. The television-inspired growth of trash talking and taunting provides a useful case study.

“I talked to a lot of coaches who think taunting is part of the game,” says Josephson. “OK, then let’s define it if it’s part of the game — because if it’s part of the game, I want to teach it to its highest level of proficiency. It’s not enough to say, ‘Is your mother still seeing the postman?’ Let’s teach them right. Catchers from time immemorial might be saying something to a batter to throw him off. If taunting is truly a part of the game, we ought to teach kids to taunt more effectively. Do some research.

“In fact, here’s an example that happened at a game last year where a young man’s father had been killed three nights before, and he was at the free throw line. One of the opposing players said quietly, ‘How’s your father?’

“Most sports people would say that’s gone beyond what the game is supposed to be about. We could change it if we wanted to put a higher premium on cleverness, on rudeness, on abrasiveness or intimidation. If we want to make that part of the game we can define it so, but for the most part we want skill. When we look at the skills that we like to admire in basketball, for instance, it isn’t the ability to say nasty things and upset your opponent.”

Gamesmanship is one thing, but what about cheating? How does Josephson apply his ethical framework to athletes who intentionally violate rules to gain an advantage with the hope that they will not be penalized? Officials expect athletes to bend and break rules.

“Policemen expect some people to be burglars and thieves, but that doesn’t make it right,” he answers. “To expect something means you can predict or anticipate it as being something that people do. The question of ethics is what one should do. It would be naïve for a referee not to expect that no matter what the rules are, a certain percentage of people playing a game will try to get an advantage.”

Discussion eventually turned to the Women’s World Cup championship game last summer in which U.S. goaltender Brianna Scurry intentionally broke from her position early to block a penalty kick. Scurry subsequently claimed that she had tested the referee earlier and discovered that an early break would not draw a penalty.

“Scurry said the second time (on the second penalty kick by the opposition) she got a good two and a half or three steps out,” recounted Josephson. “She was then asked about that by The Los Angeles Times and her reply was that it’s only cheating if you get caught. Was that acceptable to the principles of U.S. soccer? Tony DiCicco (head coach of the U.S. Womens’ Team) says that’s not cheating because it’s the referee’s job to catch that. Maybe he’s right, and if he is, then let’s teach it to our athletes. Shouldn’t the leadership of sports be taking positions as to what is and what is not part of the game?”