Basketball: The Sin Eater

Numerous cultures have a construct called "the Sin Eater." For example, from Wikipedia, "at funerals to hire poor people, who were to take upon them all the sinnes of the party deceased. One of them I remember lived in a Cottage on Rosse-high way. (He was a long, lean, ugly, lamentable Raskel.) The manner was that when the Corps was brought out of the house, and layd on the Biere; a Loafe of bread was brought out, and delivered to the Sinne-eater over the Corps, and also a Mazar-bowl of maple (Gossips bowle) full of beer, which he was to drinke up, and sixpence in money, in consideration whereof he took upon him (ipso facto) all the Sinnes of the Defunct, and freed him (or her) from walking after they were dead."

It extends from the ancient Aztecs, through Christianity, into Dutch and Welsh society. How does that pertain to sport and basketball? 

In most failed enterprises, failure is collective. Scapegoating is a form of sin-eating. Whether it's Bill Buckner, Leon Lett, or Chris Webber, it's easier to pin blame on one individual than an entire team. 

It's not unique to sports. The Navy attempted posthumously to 'force feed' accountability upon a homosexual gunner after a fatal 1989 explosion on the battleship Iowa. This conclusion was later debunked as "Investigators started with the conclusion and tried to retrofit evidence to it."

Rather than view the game as a whole, our nature assigns defeat to a key player or mistake rather than the other turnovers, missed shots, or defensive failures. 

Some players or coaches absorb responsibility for defeat.  

Some coaches won't go there. They're victims. 

In context, Lombardi adds that he thinks Gruden uses the "no talent" claim as personal motivation to win with whatever he has. 

Sometimes the analogy fits - the new coach becomes the sin eater, assuming possible lack of tradition, structure, initiative, development program, and interest. But she walks into that situation with eyes open. 

There's another take on the sin-eater, as a player becomes known as accountable or the 'stand-up guy'. "I shot three for fifteen, missed a key free throw, and had four turnovers. I own this." That's the best way to deal with inevitable failure in sports. 

Lagniappe.