I have probably watched more professional baseball this summer than any other summer or my life. I think my son’s love for the game has served to stoke the fires I always had for the game. It often won out over basketball when I was young.

Anyhow, over the past few weeks, I have seen two Yankees games and heard numerous more discussions by commentators regarding the need for expanded use of video review. I mention the two in connection because they are connected, as much of the discussion as of late has been in response to two missed calls during Yankees games.

The two I saw firsthand involved Yankees batters, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada, apparently being hit by pitches and being rewarded first base. Upon further review, however, it became plain that Jeter faked getting hit in the hand when the ball really hit the bottom of his bat while Posada acted like a pathetic European soccer player who falls without getting hit at all. The pitch clearly bounced past his leg without so much as grazing his uniform. (In Jeter’s defense, his hand at least might have stung a bit, but it was obvious a foul ball.)

In listening to much of the commentary about these incidents, the overwhelming emphasis was on the need for replay. But I found this overwhelming emphasis on replay to be more disturbing than the incidents themselves. Why? Because in these instances (note: there are other instances that certainly warrant the discussion), such an emphasis completely misses the real issue.

In my opinion, the response to two players essentially cheating should not be, “This is why we need replay” but instead should be, “This is why we need Jesus and a radical renewal of our minds in regards to sports.” Of course, I don’t expect that from ESPN anytime soon, so at the very least, we should hear, “We don’t need replay, we need these men to step up like men, be honest, and play fair. We need them to play the way they should play and win or lose within the rules. We need them to be the men we all want them to be, men who set a good example of playing the game the way it should be played. We need them to give us all a breath of fresh air and tell the truth.”

But you know, the sad thing is that the reason we don’t hear people talking like that is because we don’t value these things enough. In our dominant sports culture, winning is king, so rather than call it cheating, the talking heads call it competitive fire or gamesmanship. What? It’s not gamesmanship or competitive fire. It’s cheating. It’s lying. It’s sin. And it is terrible for the game and everyone involved in the game. It’s not the way things ought to be in sports, or anywhere else for that matter.

I am all for competitiveness and winning, but we need to recognize that we emphasize winning too much if we have any room for bending the rules. Not only that, but we need to recognize that if we see these men cheat and laugh it off as no big deal, we ourselves are exposed. If we don’t think it is a big deal for them to commit such a minor offense, it shows we are probably guilty of the same thing, at least somewhere in life. Our low standard for them reveals the low standard we have for ourselves.

Do we need replay in professional baseball? Maybe. But certainly we need good, honest men who value the right things more.