Sportsmanship/legitimacy

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 151928

> >>Magpie:
> > But that still goes to a_svirn's point, which is not that Harry 
> > is a big cheater himself.  It's that Dumbledore gets to meddle   
> > in things when he thinks they need evening up but at other times-
> > -times when things are a lot more blatantly irregular--he       
> > doesn't do anything.  
> > For instance, his school having an extra champion is far more    
> > unfair and not in the spirit of the rules than Harry getting    
> > fewer points because he took the most time to come out of the    
> > lake.  I don't even think the latter is not in the spirit of the 
> > rules any more than it would be in the spirit of the rules of    
> > basketball to say that someone should get points for scoring a   
> > basket after the buzzer because they stopped to help someone up 
> > who had fallen on their way to the basket.

> >>Pippin;
> The rules seem to be that scoring is totally within the judges'    
> discretion, just like the scoring for the House Cup. I don't      
> recall anything in the rules that says they can't award extra     
> points for moral fibre.
> Does anyone think that if it had been Krum or Fleur who stayed to 
> make sure the other hostages were safe, Dumbledore wouldn't have 
> wanted extra points awarded to them?

Betsy Hp:
Oh, he proabably would have.  And it would have been just as bad, 
IMO.  In the end, the three competitions were fairly straight 
forward.  They were races.  Get the egg from the dragon first.  Get 
your hostage from the lake first.  Get to the cup in the middle of 
the maze first.

Yes, there could be a bit of judging on *how* someone got their 
egg.  Krum looses points for causing his dragon to injure her eggs.  
I think Cedric lost some points because of his injury.  But in the 
end, getting the egg was the key.

In the second task there was a time limit, and Harry blew it.  He 
didn't surface with his hostage until the time was up.  Yes, Harry 
showed moral fiber (or panicky idiocy, depending on your point of 
view <g>), and sure, maybe a special mention would have been good.  
But the extra points that pushed him into second place were bad 
sport, to my mind.  The judges suddenly turned the whole game on its 
head in order to give the game to Harry. And that, in turn, lessened 
the sacrifice Harry made.

Actually, the corruption on display in the Triwizard Tournament 
could easily be seen as an echo of the corruption in the WW.  
Especially in the way it helps Voldemort achieve his goals.  The 
interesting thing is it shows that Dumbledore is as entangled in the 
corruption of his world as Lucius Malfoy or Arthur Weasley.  Even 
when he fights against it (the age line, for example, or his refusal 
to help his Champions cheat) he gets pulled in.

Hmm, perhaps this is what the bad sportsmanship is all about?  The 
attempt to entangle Harry in the corruption as well?  Which raises 
the question: is Harry getting sucked in, or is he resisting the 
pull?

> >>Pippin:
> Anyway, no one has addressed my  point that as far as Dumbledore   
> knew, all Harry would get out of being awarded extra points is    
> more exposure to the dangers of the maze.

Betsy Hp:
How does that follow?  If Harry had lost the second task (as he 
should have) he still would have entered the maze.  Are you saying 
Fleur had an easier time of it because she was the last to enter?

No, I don't think Dumbledore (and the other judges) either increased 
Harry's danger or lessened it.  What they *did* do was increase 
Harry's personal glory.  Something Harry neither sought after (at 
that time, anyway) nor needed.

Betsy Hp