Jamie Nye: Gamesmanship is not cheating

Remember when the little things in sports were gamesmanship and not cheating.

When players were felled by injuries in football to get their team an extra time out, it was gamesmanship. People laughed it off and rolled their eyes. Now it seems that is no longer gamesmanship but full-scale cheating by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Maybe the reaction is as fake as the alleged injuries.

The Boston Red Sox are now front and centre in cheating accusations in baseball with sign stealing using an apple watch and iPad. Gamesmanship, right? Evidently not. Some going as far to say the Red Sox need to be made examples of with loss of picks, money and some going as far to say wins.

Come on. Stealing signs in baseball or dropping to a knee in football has been going on almost as long as the sports have been around. If your signs are so easy to steal, you need to be better. And if your team is losing because of fake injuries, you’re not that good in the first place.

Hopefully gamesmanship still has a place in sports. It’s just a game after all. I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot lately.