[HPforGrownups] Sportsmanship in Harry Potter

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 151692

Betsy:
> Does Harry getting a big point bonus for being noble actually taint
> his nobility a bit?  Do these books ever give us an example of good
> sportsmanship?

Magpie:
Basically, the other players get screwed for understanding the rules.  I can 
understand not penalizing Harry overmuch when you understand he thought the 
other people were in danger and that's why his time was worse than it should 
have been, but it's kind of ridiculous to reward him for it imo.  Any of the 
champions would have happily gone for extra credit by saving everyone. 
Harry isn't showing good sportsmanship there, he's showing what he thinks is 
common sense--if you thought lives were at stake would you leave people 
behind once you got your person?  I hope I wouldn't!

Throughout the tournament everybody's cheating like it's going out of style 
(that is, mostly the adults are bringing the cheat to the players; none of 
them are overtly trying to cheat that we can see).  None of them experience 
the tournament how the public is told they're experiencing it.

Harry and Cedric's noble-off for the cup at the end could count.  They're 
basically sharing the glory for their school, but the one first at the cup 
is sharing something where he could have personal glory.

Other examples of good sportsmanship?  Err, there's a couple of places where 
JKR seems to be highlighting Harry being a good sport.  Notably when he 
doesn't hit Malfoy when he's down in the CoS duel, though I don't think 
hexing him when he's down really wouldn't be bad sportsmanship.  It seems to 
be perfectly in keeping with what you're supposed to do in a duel (heh--it's 
got to be the only time in canon somebody refrains from hexing Malfoy when 
he's overpowered, huh?).  Malfoy's hexing early is a good example of not 
good sportsmanship, though he doesn't get penalized for it that I remember. 
Usually "good sportsmanship" seems to just get thrown around to describe how 
other people are fighting terribly dirty.  Generally whenever our guys are 
playing a game where they're just having fun it seems likeit's supposed to 
be good sportsmanship, even when they're being tricky or trash talk later.

-m