ABSTRACT
This chapter expresses sport's general character as competitive play to help to read Homer more insightfully and to prepare contemporary thesis of sport as competitive play as developed through the method of reflective equilibrium. On the hypothesis of sport as competitive play, one can easily understand why cheating in a sport event is bothersome in that it indicates that one takes sport competition too seriously such that one would be willing to lie or gain an unfair advantage over one's opponent in the pursuit of victory. There is a remarkable convergence of opinion among morally reflective people that loss in a sport event, even a high-stakes sport event such as the World Cup, pales in comparison with the death of a child. The idea that it is possible to take sport competition too seriously is the key point in Homer's depiction of the Patroclos games, specifically in the ideas expressed by Menelaos and by the spectators at the footrace.
