me?... no... have I seen this on the course?.. yes. Have I screwed up and misjudged?... absolutely! Why did I get so close to a foul in the first place?... because I get sucked into the mindset of competing.... push the line...

Everyone parses their language here... On the one hand... they know the rules... on the other hand... they know the game as its played today of push the edge of the rule. Its the prevailing culture in America. It's OK in our culture to push the rules... its not ok to cheat.. We mythologize our fealty to honor and code.... but ...

I wanted to contrast the big football controversy with our sport.

My point.. The NFL is an entertainment business and there is NO HONOR culture in the business... So Brady did not cheat... he broke a rule...and the consequence was they re inflated the balls at half time...No other penalty meted out. The consequence is that more people will watch the Superbowl to hope that moral justice is dealt to the cheaters aka... the Patriots. (umm... we are confused or just fuzzy thinkers)... Bottom line. That is a win win $$$... but unintentional I am sure...

In our sport.... the consequence of not honoring the rules is that Organizing Authorities REQUIRE a million bucks in liability coverage to allow you to compete and we have prescriptions to the ISAF rules of sailing that can't be discarded and spell out your responsibly and liability.
So... the slippery slope here has consequences.