In American society we create a problem for some of our military personnel. We take young men, train them to be killers, send them into a pressure-cooker situation where everyone around them are enemies or at least potential enemies; and then we bring them home and require of them that they go back into society as well-adjusted individuals. Most of them can, but a few cannot, and they have serious mental and emotional problems and sometimes are never able to live as a normally functioning member of the community.
We have a similar problem in sports, although admittedly not nearly to that degree. Some men or boys play sports simply because they love the game and it is fun to them. Some, however, do so because they have a consuming need to best the other person. They must be better. So, we take those young men, put them in a contact sport, continually hound them in practice to go further into an intense competitive attitude - and then when that conduct spills over into poor sportsmanship we fault them.
The truth is that it is their fault: regardless of the circumstances, everyone should discipline his conduct so that it is appropriate and sportsmanlike. However, we cannot be blind to human nature and the "monster" that we create with our continual push toward a combative nature. No one ever accused John Wooden of not having a desire to win, and yet it is reported that the strongest language he ever used on the court was, "Good gracious sakes alive!" I also have read that one word of profanity from a player (or presumably an assistant coach) meant the showers for him that day. So, it can be done. But every coach is not John Wooden.
There is a fine line out there, and it is a continual battle to walk it.
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