"Warfare is a continuation of politics by other means." - Carl von Clausewitz
Coaches educate. Education changes behavior. Aristotle taught Alexander about science, morals, and philosophy, but that didn't stop war.
Some describe sport as war between opposing forces. It is not. Rivalries inflame passions - UNC/Duke in college basketball, BU/BC in hockey, the Giants and the Dodgers in baseball. They never justify fighting or violence.
Superficial similarities exist between sport and war.
- Point guards become field generals.
- Teams throw bullet passes and long bombs.
- Defenses 'trap' opponents to seek advantage.
- Teams 'scout' our opposition.
- Coaches create 'battle plans' for the game.
- Teams win territorial advantage and plan to win with infantry (power game), cavalry (speed), or artillery (long-range bombers).
- Coaches talk about 'war of attrition'
- Sun Tzu knew The Art of War taught preparation, "every battle is won before it is fought."
- Bobby Knight was known as "The General."
- Sun Tzu also advised, "Attack weaknesses, utilize strengths."
But the similarities pale beyond the differences. Warfare corrupts moral accountability and codifies unacceptable actions and brutality as 'normal'. Fortunately, most of us will never see the horrors of war - death, dismemberment, the physical and psychological damage, and rarely the destructive power of NBC warfare - nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
All military physicians were exposed to the impact of high velocity projectile injuries and to NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) gear at extreme temperatures (if San Antonio 80 degrees was extreme). It is virtually impossible to function medically in MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) gear, let alone repair damages inflicted by modern weaponry. An M16 fires projectiles at over 3100 feet/second that can penetrate a helmet at 500 yards. That's not a hunting rifle. Assault rifles are specifically designed to kill people.
In the midst of the threat of global warfare, it's worth discussing what constitutes 'just war.' Here are concepts from Mount Holyoke.
Principles of the Just War
- A just war can only be waged as a last resort. All non-violent options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified.
- A war is just only if it is waged by a legitimate authority. Even just causes cannot be served by actions taken by individuals or groups who do not constitute an authority sanctioned by whatever the society and outsiders to the society deem legitimate.
- A just war can only be fought to redress a wrong suffered. For example, self-defense against an armed attack is always considered to be a just cause (although the justice of the cause is not sufficient--see point #4). Further, a just war can only be fought with "right" intentions: the only permissible objective of a just war is to redress the injury.
- A war can only be just if it is fought with a reasonable chance of success. Deaths and injury incurred in a hopeless cause are not morally justifiable.
- The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace. More specifically, the peace established after the war must be preferable to the peace that would have prevailed if the war had not been fought.
- The violence used in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered. States are prohibited from using force not necessary to attain the limited objective of addressing the injury suffered.
- The weapons used in war must discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. Civilians are never permissible targets of war, and every effort must be taken to avoid killing civilians. The deaths of civilians are justified only if they are unavoidable victims of a deliberate attack on a military target.
Professional sport is business, complete with media contracts, advertising and sponsorships. The Department of Defense sponsors "paid patriotism" which most of us did not recognize. The Atlanta Hawks were the biggest (although modest) beneficiaries of DoD sponsorship. Patriotism is also big business.