One of my favorite teachers in high school used to routinely tell us, “no police officer is ever going to pull you over and thank you for driving the speed limit. You don’t get attention for behaving as expected.”

He would usually say this when people were seeking extra credit or points for doing something they were supposed to have done.

20 years later, along comes soccer with yet another idea that will contribute to the decline of our society.

This story is a few months old, but the gist is they’re going to experiment with giving green cards to players who conduct themselves well. There won’t be any advantage to a team or player for receiving a green card, but it’s supposed to be a way to reinforce good behavior.

I prefer good behavior be reinforced by expectations. I’m not opposed to recognizing someone for their reliability or standards (in fact, as a manager, I do it fairly often), but true rewards should be reserved for when people deliver beyond expectations.

People should the right thing because it’s the right thing – not because of receiving potential reward.