Sports are especially big on unwritten rules. Any player who breaks one is immediately thrown under a microscope and criticized for compromising the integrity of the game. Baseball players, who play a sport built on such rich tradition, are particularly mindful of such unwritten rules.
You don't steal your opponent's signs. You don't steal a base when you're up by a bunch. You don't yell at an opposing player on a pop up. The list goes on.
But at what point do these unwritten rules overlap too much with a player's desire to win?
In other words, as fans of a particular sport, we love to see players who possess that "win at all costs" mentality. Going above and beyond what needs to be done in order to win commands a great deal of respect, and it is often what differentiates legends of a particular sport from the rest of the pack.
We often label such players as "winners" and claim that they have great "intangibles" or that "it-factor" — all of which possess positive connotations.
Yet, even in an age in which we should be praising those who want to win above all else, there are still those instances when a player's actions are questioned because they tread upon those "unwritten rules" — even when the player is simply trying to win a game.
Take Angels infielder Erick Aybar, for instance.
With Tigers ace and Cy Young front-runner Justin Verlander seeking his third career no-hitter on Sunday, Aybar dropped down a bunt in the eighth inning with his team trailing 3-0. Verlander ended up fielding the ball cleanly, but his errant throw to first allowed Aybar to reach, and Maicer Izturis subsequently broke up the no-hit bid.
After the game, Verlander called the play "bush league," seemingly because bunting while the opposing pitcher has a no-hitter going fails to comply with those unwritten rules that baseball players hold so sacred.
But with the game still well within reach and the Angels offense sputtering, why wouldn't Aybar play to his strengths in an effort to start a rally for his team?
Wouldn't that be a testament to his "intangibles," an indiciation that he's a "winner," or evidence that he possesses that "it-factor?"
Instead, players and fans alike are left debating whether or not Aybar's bunt was "bush league" because it's apparently so outlandish that a player wants to keep his team from being no-hit and, more importantly, from losing a game.
In fact, it would have been even more "bush league" for Aybar to refrain from bunting in the fear that he'd receive criticism or a 100-mph Verlander fastball to the rib cage the next time he stepped to the dish.
There was a lot of controversy throughout the teams' matinee matchup, including a seventh inning that featured an admired home run by Carlos Guillen, a Jered Weaver fastball over the head of Tigers catcher Alex Avila and an ensuing last-call barroom-style argument — all of which upped the level of gamesmanship that should have been considered acceptable in that game from there on out.
Yet Aybar was still the subject of scrutiny, even though he should have been given a pat on the back for his bold bunt attempt (even in the cleanest of games).
Every game counts. Play every game as if it's your last. Take the game one pitch at a time.
There are countless baseball cliches, most of which are overused, but all of which stress the importance of one thing — winning. No such cliches have a footnote that reads, "as long as it doesn't break any unwritten rules."
Then again, maybe that footnote is unwritten in and of itself.
