The term "gamesmanship"

[t.j 35]

To me the most annoying thing about the Spygate scandal has been the increased popularity of the buzzword "gamesmanship". Whenver someone uses it these days, invariably what they mean is "If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying." Makes it sounds like gamesmanship is something we should want to see from teams that want to compete. But here's the first definition of the word from m-w.com: "the art or practice of winning games by questionable expedients without actually violating the rules" Without actually violating the rules! What a concept. I guess that doesn't apply for most of the actions that people have been using the term for. The second definition is "the use of ethically dubious methods to gain an objective". That definition is looser, and a little more in line with the typical recent usage. Still, dubious doesn't mean "acceptable among competitors." Flopping is gamemanship. Blatantly violating rules is not gamesmanship.