Vince Lombardi - Winning is the Only Thing That Matters

2109 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of cheating in sports

Vince Lombardi’s statement that “winning is the only thing that matters in sport”, is one of the truths that are inherent in the world of sports. Athletes are willing to cheat to guarantee success, either through the use of performance-enhancing drugs, or through the act of injuring others. Lombardi’s statement not only applies to athletes, but it also applies to countries that athletes are representing. Events such as the Olympics and the World Cup of Hockey are a source of national pride and some countries are willing to try anything to bring a little prestige back, while other athletes, who are representing their country will resort to unethical tactics. Judges and officials are bribed in order to win events. Lombardi’s statement also affects coaches, owners, and managers. They too place winning as their number one concern. Fair play generally takes a back seat to the desire for winning that some will bend rules, while others will outright cheat. The corruptness of sports today has lead to many methods of unethical behaviour. Winning is a very important thing not only to athletes, but winning is very important to countries as well. In the early 1960s drugs were used more frequently among the communist nations who wanted to enhance their national prestige through sports. Countries such as China and East Germany have been guilty of using such practices as doping their athletes. The glory of winning a gold medal and what will follow after that is more important than anything else. It one of the major influences behind drug use in sports. The main concern now for athletes who are representing their countries is not just about the satisfaction of winning but the rewards for success. The rewards are staggering, as the dollar volume being showered on winners is second to none. The figures have become so mind-boggling that the interests of people involved in this lucrative business is no longer centred around ethical and health-related concerns. Athletes are willing to give up all that they have worked for their entire lives in order to win a gold medal. Athletes use performance-enhancing drugs to help break records or win gold medals. Blood doping is another example in which athletes attempt to improve performance. Drug related scandals are some of the major concerns with the Olympics. Drug testing was introduced at the Olympics in 1967, when at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Swedish cyclist Knut Jensen took compound drugs to compete in the road race during which he collapsed and died.

Show More
Related

  • Vince Lombardi's What It Takes To Be Number One

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the speech “What it takes to be number One” by Vince Lombardi was a motivational speech given to his team the Green Bay Packers which he was coaching during the time. Vince Lombardi was a hall of fame coach who had a habit of winning and never lost too many games as a coach. Vince started out as a offensive coordinator with the New york Giants in the years of 1954-1958, then became head coach for the for Green Bay in 1959-1967. “What it takes to be number one” was taken in place in the Green Bay Packers football locker room before the super bowl game in 1967. The reason this speech was given was because Vince wanted to show what it takes to be number one and at the top. It was a motivational speech as well because he didn't want to lose

    Read More

  • Introduction To The Philosophy Of Sport Heather Reid Summary

    409 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport, Heather L. Reid presents a discussion of how ethics is treated in the arena of Olympism and some of the struggles of defining and how or if the ethical guidelines should be enforced. Reid notes, “Some would say that ethical principles are always the product of a particular culture, so there can no more be universal ethical principles than there can be a universal culture” (Reid, 22). I disagree with the notion that there cannot be universal ethical principles for athletes to follow in sport because even across cultures there are general morals that shape the lives of people from all over the world. For example, murder and cheating are inherently immoral actions, no matter where someone comes from;

    Read More

  • And May The Best Cheater Win, by Harry Bruce

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    Can cheating be an excuse for the phrase; survival of the fittest, or is it an epidemic moral corruption? Since the advent of modern competitive sport, winning has always been the bottom line. Honesty, honour and fair play have taken the backseat. The purpose of the essay May The Best Cheater Win, by Harry Bruce, is to inform how cheating has become widespread and accepted in America. Sports are an integral part of American culture and indeed an entire industry exists because of these competitive sports. The result of these competitive sports has led to the moral corruption of most athletes, as they would do anything to win. Harry Bruce discusses the distortion of right and wrong that has penetrated all levels of sports, from children's league to regional division. He confidently informs his reader that organized sports not only "offer benefits to youngsters" but "they also offer a massive program of moral corruption".

    Read More

  • Vince Lombardi

    1723 Words  | 4 Pages

    Every person ever associated with football knows how the game is played. They know every rule, play, stat, and anything else that can be recorded. There was a certain one of these people, though, that stood out from the rest. This was a man by the name of Vince Lombardi. Most people generally know who Vince Lombardi was. They know him as the former, and most famous, coach of the Green Bay Packers back in the late fifties and early sixties. They also recognize him as the man the trophy awarded to the Super Bowl winner, the Lombardi Trophy, is named after. This is all common knowledge in the football world. Do any of these people know who Vince really was? Do they know what he did to the game of football? Do they know that he changed the game, forever? Not many can actually say they know what Vince Lombardi did to the game of football that left a lasting impression. There can be arguments made of other coaches that have made great lasting impressions in football. Some names including: Bud Grant, Mike Ditka, and Don Shula. If you look more in depth at this though, they haven’t left that big of a lasting impression of the game. None of them really changed the way the game of football is played. None of them did like Vince Lombardi. He was the first to truly take risks to change the game of football. Through hard work, dedication, and an understanding of the game, Vince Lombardi was truly the most influential person in footballs history.

    Read More

  • Professional Sports Teams Move - Cities Fight To Keep Them

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    Professional sports, like most of our popular culture, can be understood only partly by through its exiting plays and tremendous athletes. Baseball and football most of all are not only games anymore but also hardcore businesses. As businesses, sports leagues can be as conniving, deceitful, and manipulative as any other businesses in the world. No matter what the circumstances are, it seems that Politicians are always some how right around the corner from the world of sports. These Politicians look to exploit both the cultural and the economic dimensions of the sports for their own purposes. This is what is known in the sports industry as “playing the field”.

    Read More

  • Drug Testing in The Olympics

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    Citius, Altius, Fortius is the motto of the Olympic games. Translated from Greek, it means "Faster, Higher, Stronger". Recently, Olympic contenders have been doing everything they can to live up to that motto. Most do it by training hour after hour, each day. Others try to do it by illegally taking performance enhancing drugs. This is why we need to test for drugs at the Olympics. Drug Testing in the Olympics began only recently in the 1968 Games held in Mexico1. Drugs are banned for two very good reasons: the use of drugs produces an unfair advantage, and it is hazardous to the athlete to take them. While drug testing is now commonplace, the procedures are still fairly primitive and arouse much controversy2. We all remember the Andreea Raducan situation from the Sydney Olympics. She unknowingly had consumed a performing enhancing drug that was in her cold medication. Her medal was revoked as soon as the drug test results got back.3 While Andreea was caught, many others who intentionally "doped up" weren't Many of the drugs or procedures out there, still can't be tested for, and more and more athletes are cheating. Most of the drugs and procedures have adverse long term effects, some resulting in death. The drug tests are detrimental to the existence of the Olympics and need to be upheld at all costs.

    Read More

  • Vince Lombardi

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vince Lombardi Vince Lombardi was a great man, many say. He exemplified that American ideal that greatness can only be achieved by hard work and discipline. However, Lombardi’s life was far from perfect. He did not begin his career as the head coach of the great Green Bay Packers of the 1960’s; hardly, as he began as a lowly assistant at a run down Catholic high school, just scraping by.

    Read More

  • Dr. Jekyll Case Study

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    Human beings have always had a strong competitive nature, and many people have a inclination towards achieving fame and glory. Professional sporting events measure the great spirit, unique natural talents, and competitive nature of humans as they attempt to heroically represent the entire race. Often times humans search for the ultimate advantage in sports to put themselves above and beyond the other athletes. Unfortunately, some athletes turn to unnatural agents to supplement their own natural talents. They often ignore the side effects of the drugs and more importantly ignore the damage they do to how they are perceived and how people view the game. Athletes who use performance enhancing drugs, also known as PEDs, create a monstrous persona,

    Read More

  • Andrew Sullivan's Article on Drugs in Sports

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    The use of illegal substances in sports is a trendy topic in today’s society. In the last few years a copious amount of players have been under the spotlight of substance abuse, which led to a punishment for their actions. Andrew Sullivan wrote an article in the year 2004 called “In a Drugged-up Nation, the Steroid Sports Star is King”, in which he illustrates how these “pharmaceuticals” have revolutionized sports around the world but mostly in America. These drugs have had a large influence in the overall performance of the players, even if it the use of drugs is “often denied or simply overlooked”(Sullivan 1), it will lead to a lack of judgment in what is right and what is wrong.

    Read More

  • Should Athletes Use Anabolic Steroids

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    Athletes put their lives in danger by using performance enhancement drugs. They use these drugs to gain physical advantages for their sporting events. These methods have been around for thousands of years. According to research, “In ancient Greece, Olympic athletes would ingest huge portions of meat that contained testosterone and creatine before they competed. They would also consume large quantities of alcoholic beverages and lamb testicles” (“Steroids”). Today, sportspersons have a drug policy due to health hazards, violence and incapability’s of normal performances. From lamb chops to steroids, many athletes are willing to destroy their bodies to become “popular” legends.

    Read More

  • Deviance in Sports: Four Categories of Violence

    1728 Words  | 4 Pages

    March 8th, 2004 was supposed to be nothing more than a competitive and action packed regular season hockey game between feuding rivals, the Colorado Avalanche and the Vancouver Canucks. The game slipped away from the Canucks, with the Avalanche up 6-2 heading into the third period. The heated contested already had its fair share of fighting majors, but an incident that happened late in the third period shocked the more than 18,000 fans in attendance at Rogers Arena, the hockey community, and North America. After failing to instigate a fight with Avalanche forward Steve Moore, Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks grabbed the back of Moore’s jersey, landed a vicious punch to the back of Moore’s head, before slamming him face first on the ice and falling on top of him. Moore had to be helped off the ice on a stretcher, and has never returned to the NHL. Bertuzzi, on the other hand, was suspended for 20 games by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, and is still playing in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings. This is one of many examples of deviance in sports, and how a win-at-all costs mentality can drive athletes to act in extreme manners. As a result of the growing commercialization of sports, athletes are socialized at young ages to believe that winning is everything, and that stopping at nothing will help you succeed. Athletes will do almost anything to gain the upper hand in their respective sports, whether it is through engaging in excessive on-field violence or through the use of performance enhancing drugs, excessively committing themselves to their sport, or by violating league rules and policies. In sports, deviance is viewed in a different light than in the outside world. As professional athletes strive towards conforming to spor...

    Read More

  • Steroids Essay

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ther competitions, by wrong and unjust means. And consequently, the sports commissioner s of all the sports have to ensure that the players in a particular sport are not using steroids or any other similar drugs, and for that they often have to direct the medical staff in a particular sport to check the athletes, that whether they are using steroids or any other similar drugs. And in case, if steroids are located in their bodies, then the sports commissioners have to conduct thorough investigation, which eventually, results in unique unprecedented punishments for such athletes. Therefore, it s extremity imperative for these Professional athletes to realize the fact that they are the current role models for the future athletes, and can quite significantly influence the young athletes, all over the world, through any sort of misconduct on their part (Haupt & Rovere,

    Read More

  • Doping, Athletes and Sports

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    Turning sports into a way of life instead of a leisure activity has generated fierce competition for athletes to be the best at what they do. Having a "natural ability" no longer is enough. One must work long and hard hours to gain an edge on the competition. However, these days, even good training cannot guarantee a victory. For athletes and coaches the drive to be at the top is so great that they look for shortcuts to their end goal: winning. The one who wins is always the one who is remembered in the end; finishing second is worse than finishing last. When this type of attitude becomes predominant, it is not so surprising that they try any and all methods of cheating the system. In this way, doping has become a common practice for athletes to gain advantage on their competition. Is this a practice that we as the general public should accept, or is there something we can do to change the status quo?

    Read More

  • Cheating in Sports

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Drug use in sports is considered cheating. Doping has many historical backgrounds, but now it is on a larger scale in order to maximiz...

    Read More

  • Doping In Sports Essay

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    Doping rids the true athletes of what they truly deserve and is wrong; because why should those who put in a hundred per cent of their effort, be outshone by individuals who are choosing to use substances to enhance their physical and mental abilities? Doping damages the sports industry as a whole because it has a serious physical and mental effects on the athletes, as well as damaging the idea of sportsmanship and it also breaks the trust of the fans, as they realise their idols are hypocrites. Doping in sports dates back to the ancient Greek times (need ref here). There are anti-doping agencies worldwide in virtually every country. In Switzerland its anti-doping Switzerland, in Nigeria it’s the Nigerian national anti-doping committee and in the UK its UK anti-doping.

    Read More

More about Vince Lombardi - Winning is the Only Thing That Matters

Open Document