Talk:Gamesmanship

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[edit] Several Corrections

I've gone through and edited out a lot of misinformation in this article. 1) "Methods to win a game, often a sport" - Gamesmanship applies almost exclusively to -games- not sports. Potter never wrote about ploys for soccer, rugby, or any other sport, only games, like golf, cricket or tennis. To quote page 40 of Gamesmanship, in discussing praising one's opponent's golf stroke so he'll over-analyze it and thus perform poorly, he writes, "I often think the possibilities of this gambit alone prove the superiority of games to sports, such as, for instance, rowing, where self-conscious analysis of the stroke can be of actual benefit to the stroke maker." 2) "Gamesmanship is unsportsmanlike conduct" - Maybe. But this statement is misleading, since, to quote page 19 of Gamesmanship, "The good gamesman is the good sportsman." 3) Spondoolicks' summary is basically close to the truth, though with the details off. Potter describes the scenario in the opening of Gamesmanship, and makes reference to it in almost every subsequent work. As Potter tells it though, Joad hit the ball out (the ball had landed six feet behind the back line), and while their opponents were readying their own serve, Joad prompted his famous question. Joad declined having the point replayed. 4) Potter usually writes with derision about the "feigned injury ploy", though it is gamesmanship, albeit sloppy. I touched it up nonetheless. 5)In billiards, intentionally standing in your opponent's line of sight, and then suddenly moving when you "realise" you're in the wrong place. - Potter actually cites this several times as an example of what Gamesmanship is -not-. Though he describes a technique similar to this, this example is misleading. To quote Gamesmanship pg. 19 again, "If your adversary is nervy, and put off by the mannerisms of his opponent, it is unsporting, and therefore not gamesmanship, to go in, e.g., for a loud noseblow, say, at billiards, or to chalk your cue squeakingly, when he is either making or considering a shot." The example I replaced this with is from page 24 of Gamesmanship. 6)Soccer- I have a big problem with this paragraph. Not only does Gamesmanship explicitly not apply to sports such as soccer, but the ploy described is incredibly unsportsmanslike. It is simply poor form, not gamesmanship. I have removed it. 7) Potter was being humorous - This line implies Potter thought gamesmanship was humorous, but sportsmanship came first. When in actuality he supports being sportsmanlike only because if you aren't it will upset an opponent. I think it's a minor point though, so I left it.

As Potter's books are nothing but examples of gamesmanship, I'll replace the removed and erroneous soccer example with one from Potter.

[edit] Ungamesmanship

Wouldn't that be the correct term--220.238.130.44 06:17, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

It may derive from playing to win the game instead of playing for sport. (18:33, 17 October 2005 (UTC))

[edit] Inspiration

I heard that Potter was inspired by an incident in a tennis match. He was partnering the philosopher C. E. M. Joad against two younger and fitter men who were outplaying them fairly comfortably. On one point the ball went past Joad and clearly landed inside the line. The opponents were already preparing for the next point when Joad queried whether the ball had landed out. The young men were confused and began to doubt themselves. A respectable professor surely wouldn't be querying it unless it was really in doubt. The point was replayed and the momentum swung the other way. Joad and Potter went on to win the match and Potter was inspired to write his book.

I would have put this into the article except I don't know if it's true. Shame that. --Spondoolicks 17:22, 15 March 2006 (UTC)