A lot of good points brought up which makes me reflect on how I treat "stall-ball" poorly.
It's a tactic all right, and sure one I don't like either at all, but some teams need to play away from the opponent's strengths. I'll admit I used to always on a "Sportsmen" score immediately give the lowest score possible to that opponent for it. (As unless you're talking NFL bookies and all there's no team in it's right mind stalls like that...you got the ball on an open run/drive you hammer it in.)
At least at the recent Spike! 2008 I finally revised that approach, and didn't just automatically give the worst Sportsman score to my only opponent that did that. (Though I'll fully grant I did give a lower than normal score for what I thought was a fun opponent in what proved to be a disasterous bad luck game.

) Guess some habits are hard to break in just one go. At least I didn't just hand out the lowest though automatically, and instead at least took the "player" in context, and not just the fact he'd picked a style I hated at that time which in fact was the correct action to do. (And nearly backfired!)
The flip side of it at the same tournament due to my having changed races to my "non-goblin" speedsters I found I got low Sportsmanship scores for "Running the score".

I shrug that one off as the penalty for playing a team where it's best option was to score fast and often to make up for it not winning any battle of attrition.
I myself do not consider myself a 'model" player either for it. I reserve the right to always "berate and heckle" my goblins when they find yet another way to foul things up. I curse Nuffle and the dice when they betray EITHER player with the worst possible roll in what is a tight game. And I get pretty cynical when the luck of Nuffle clearly is making someone run away with it despite any effort by insisting on lousy dice. Practically human nature. Almost... My years in the TBBF days would attest to just how "vocal" I can get laughing and heckling my team for gross incompetence.
So for me, Sportsman has started taking on new; and better context.
Did I enjoy playing the player and sharing evil jokes with them?
Did we equally cheer success and bemoan failing no matter which team it was for?
Do they encourage and cheer on when things are at the darkest before the fouling?

Even so far as to suggest an even better course of action for the opponent?
In short just because I didn't like the "style of play" at the moment from my opponent, I shouldn't "punish" the "player" for having the brains to do it.
My two denarii' worth
