Isn’t this stupid? To have an extra set of ‘rules’ which aren’t really rules and everyone disagrees on what they actually are and you can choose to ignore them and still win the game?
Yes, it is stupid.
Games aren’t real life. The purpose of participating in a game is to maximize performance, think laterally, exploit mistakes, and do everything you can, within the explicit rules, to win. Doing that is what makes games fun to play. Watching other people do that, at a level that you could never hope to reach is what makes spectator sports fun to watch.
Imagine if this principle were applied to other sports. Should tennis umpires suddenly start excusing double faults, because the sun was in the eyes of the serving player? Should soccer referees start disallowing own-goals, because no player could possibly mean to shoot into their own net? If a football player trips and fumbles the ball for no particular reason, should the referee stop the play, and not allow the other team to recover? If Magnus Carlsen blunders and puts his queen in a position where it can be captured, should Ian Nepomniachtchi feel any obligation to offer a takeback?
Fundamentally, what happened was that Bairstow made a mistake. He made a damned silly mistake, forgetting that overs are six balls, not five. Carey took advantage of the error, as was his right, and, I would argue, his obligation. Everything else is sour grapes on the part of the English side. If the Australian batsman had made a similarly silly mistake, and the English bowler had not taken advantage, I would be willing to bet that very few would be talking about the sportsmanship of the English bowler. Instead, the narrative would have been one of missed opportunities. How could the bowler have let such an obvious opportunity slip through his fingers?!
The purpose of participating in a game is to maximize performance, think laterally, exploit mistakes, and do everything you can, within the explicit rules, to win. Doing that is what makes games fun to play. Watching other people do that, at a level that you could never hope to reach is what makes spectator sports fun to watch.
I don’t know if you read the rest of the piece, but the point I was trying to make is that sometimes this isn’t true! Sometimes if each team does everything within the rules to win then the game becomes less fun to watch and play (you may disagree, but many sports fans feel this way). I already gave some examples where this happens in other sports, so I don’t see the need for your list of hypotheticals (and I feel like they are strawmen anyway).
For what its worth, I agree with you on Bairstow/Carey but which side you take on it is irrelevant (though I can see you are quite passionate about it!). The piece was about the ‘meta’ aspects of games which try to address these kind of issues.
Sometimes if each team does everything within the rules to win then the game becomes less fun to watch and play
Then the solution is to change the rules. Basketball did this. After an infamous game where a team took the lead and then just passed the ball around to deny it to their opponents, basketball added a shot clock, to force teams to try to score (or else give the ball to the other team). (American) Football has all sorts of rules and penalties (“illegal formation”, “ineligible receiver downfield”, “pass interference”, etc) whose sole purpose is to ensure that games aren’t dominated by tactics that aren’t fun to watch. Soccer has the off-sides rule, which prevents teams from parking all their players right next to the other team’s goal. Tennis forces crosscourt serves. And, as I alluded to above, motorsport regularly changes its rules, to try to ensure greater competitive balance and more entertaining races.
With regards to chess, specifically, Magnus Carlsen agrees (archive) that classical chess is boring and too reliant on pre-memorized opening lines. He argues for shorter games with simpler time controls, which would lead to more entertaining games which would be easier to explain to new viewers.
None of these other sports feel the need to appeal to a wooly-headed “spirit of the game” in order to achieve entertaining play. What makes cricket so special?
EDIT: I would add that cricket is also undergoing an evolution of its own, with the rise of twenty-20 cricket and the Indian Premier League.
Yes, it is stupid.
Games aren’t real life. The purpose of participating in a game is to maximize performance, think laterally, exploit mistakes, and do everything you can, within the explicit rules, to win. Doing that is what makes games fun to play. Watching other people do that, at a level that you could never hope to reach is what makes spectator sports fun to watch.
Imagine if this principle were applied to other sports. Should tennis umpires suddenly start excusing double faults, because the sun was in the eyes of the serving player? Should soccer referees start disallowing own-goals, because no player could possibly mean to shoot into their own net? If a football player trips and fumbles the ball for no particular reason, should the referee stop the play, and not allow the other team to recover? If Magnus Carlsen blunders and puts his queen in a position where it can be captured, should Ian Nepomniachtchi feel any obligation to offer a takeback?
Fundamentally, what happened was that Bairstow made a mistake. He made a damned silly mistake, forgetting that overs are six balls, not five. Carey took advantage of the error, as was his right, and, I would argue, his obligation. Everything else is sour grapes on the part of the English side. If the Australian batsman had made a similarly silly mistake, and the English bowler had not taken advantage, I would be willing to bet that very few would be talking about the sportsmanship of the English bowler. Instead, the narrative would have been one of missed opportunities. How could the bowler have let such an obvious opportunity slip through his fingers?!
I don’t know if you read the rest of the piece, but the point I was trying to make is that sometimes this isn’t true! Sometimes if each team does everything within the rules to win then the game becomes less fun to watch and play (you may disagree, but many sports fans feel this way). I already gave some examples where this happens in other sports, so I don’t see the need for your list of hypotheticals (and I feel like they are strawmen anyway).
For what its worth, I agree with you on Bairstow/Carey but which side you take on it is irrelevant (though I can see you are quite passionate about it!). The piece was about the ‘meta’ aspects of games which try to address these kind of issues.
Then the solution is to change the rules. Basketball did this. After an infamous game where a team took the lead and then just passed the ball around to deny it to their opponents, basketball added a shot clock, to force teams to try to score (or else give the ball to the other team). (American) Football has all sorts of rules and penalties (“illegal formation”, “ineligible receiver downfield”, “pass interference”, etc) whose sole purpose is to ensure that games aren’t dominated by tactics that aren’t fun to watch. Soccer has the off-sides rule, which prevents teams from parking all their players right next to the other team’s goal. Tennis forces crosscourt serves. And, as I alluded to above, motorsport regularly changes its rules, to try to ensure greater competitive balance and more entertaining races.
With regards to chess, specifically, Magnus Carlsen agrees (archive) that classical chess is boring and too reliant on pre-memorized opening lines. He argues for shorter games with simpler time controls, which would lead to more entertaining games which would be easier to explain to new viewers.
None of these other sports feel the need to appeal to a wooly-headed “spirit of the game” in order to achieve entertaining play. What makes cricket so special?
EDIT: I would add that cricket is also undergoing an evolution of its own, with the rise of twenty-20 cricket and the Indian Premier League.