Violations of the Rules of Sport

       On November 25, 2002, baseball's all-time hit leader, Pete Rose, flew into Milwaukee for a meeting with the commissioner of the major leagues, Bud Selig. "I want to know one thing," Selig said to Rose, "Did you bet on baseball?"

       Rose responded, "Yes, sir, I did bet on baseball."

       "Why?" Selig asked.

       Rose answered, "I didn't think I'd get caught." Rose also admitted to another reason for gambling. For him, gambling was just "plain fun."

       The rules of sport are the starting point for any analysis of right and wrong on the playing field. Violations of those rules often stem simply from the alluring combination of "plain fun" and an environment where there is little expectation of getting caught. The fun can come in the form of something as serious as gambling on one's own games or as innocuous as eating a hot dog.

       In 1995, the Seattle Seahawks fined free safety and defensive captain Eugene Robinson, quarterback Rick Mirer, and defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy $1,000 each for violating team rules. During the third quarter of a pre-season game in San Francisco, the three players were caught eating hot dogs while standing on the Seahawks' sideline. The three had seen action in the first half of the game and were not slated to return. If not for the presence of network television cameras, they might have been able to consume the hot dogs without being detected. The cameras, however, caught the players "trying furtively to eat the hot dogs."