Does anybody care about cheating in sports?

I was only 7 years old when Ben Johnson captured the imagination of Canadians and won the 100-metre race in a world-record time of 9.79 seconds at the Seoul Olympics. One of Canada's greatest sporting moments would turn into the most infamous Olympic cheating example as Johnson would test positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol. I remember the subsequent unrelenting media coverage that vilified Johnson. His image could never be fully rehabilitated after the Seoul scandal. That was my first memorable experience of cheating in sports. Baseball has a long history of cheating from spitballs to tipping pitches with the most infamous example being when eight players from the Chicago White Sox were allegedly bribed by gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds known as the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Baseball was a national institution back then and the incident tarnished the game removing some its innocence and becoming the sport’s benchmark for cheating. Late last week, there were two possible significant sports scandal stories that broke. On May 7th, news leaked that Manny Ramirez had a positive drug test. Two sources told ESPN's T.J. Quinn and Mark Fainaru-Wada that the drug used by Ramirez is human chorionic gonadotropin. According to the story, male athletes usually use HCG after a cycle of steroids "because steroids often shut down the testosterone-making ability of the testicles. HCG restores their capacity to make testosterone." The second story is detailed in author Selena Roberts' book A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez. As a shortstop, Rodriguez, an admitted steroid user during the 2001-2003 seasons, would tip opposing hitters in blowouts (only opposing infielders so the favor could be returned) as to what pitch was coming next. According to Roberts' sources: "If it was a change, he'd twist his glove, a slider, he'd sweep the dirt in front of him and he'd bend in the direction of where the pitch was going to be, inside or outside." Both stories received a moderate amount of media coverage but neither garnered the amount of attention that past sports cheating scandals received. With all of the cheating in sports that has come to light since the Seoul Olympics I am starting to believe that the public is becoming desensitized to cheating in sports with the very real possibility that cheating is not only accepted but expected by the public (in baseball especially). It follows; does anybody really care about cheating in sports anymore?

For the most part, to answer that question, one only has to look at their own past experiences. These days, it seems that there are just too many injustices to get equally passionate about. We should probably get outraged by every single scandal because morals say we should but truthfully, cheating only seems to matter when it affects you. We all laughed when Kramer and Newman decided to leave the RISK board at a neutral country ("like Switzerland") in Jerry's apartment but we all know there is a part of us who understands and applauds those actions. We are outraged at the underhanded ways our opponents will try to achieve victory, but are shocked if those wearing our team colors are accused of the same wrong doings. Floyd Landis getting caught cheating in the Tour de France scandal did not affect me since I do not watch the sport but do not get me started on the injustice to fellow Canadians Sale and Pelletier in the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is easy and understandable to turn a blind eye to wrong doings when it does not directly affect you or your team. Acknowledging cheating robs sport of its innocence and that flawed view has been entrenched in our minds since we were kids. I cannot imagine being a young fan these days as putting your faith in any athlete seemingly amounts to a game of chance with the likelihood that your hero will turn out to be a fraud.

But what happens when cheating does not matter to fans anymore even if it directly affects them? This happens when cheating is both accepted and expected by fans. I believe we are beginning to see this trend in sports. Reading Bill Simmons' column regarding the Ramirez situation and the possibility that other Red Sox players may have been cheating at the time of their 2004 World Series, I began to realize that he sadly could be right: "everyone cheated back then." If fans do end up turning a blind eye toward scandals, where does sport go from here? I think that we all believe that there are general rules that should not be broken which would affect the outcome of a game and the integrity of the sport. For example, there should not be a predetermined medal podium in figure skating and boxers should not be allowed to plaster their hands. My take has always been that athletes should not be doing anything that damages the integrity of the sport. But there are other grey areas which are being ignored by both the athlete and now the public. Should we let athletes inject themselves with whatever they want, whenever they want with no regard to their well being? With purity of sport almost being lost, if the fans do not care and the athletes are willing to risk their health then why not let them roid up?

We all have cheated at a game and for the most part, I bet none of us has even thought twice about it. Cheating is part of human nature and has always been linked to sports. Infamous names such as Rosie Ruiz, Tonya Harding and Ben Johnson will be associated forever with their disgraceful acts. There is a change in the attitude toward cheating though as I believe the general public is beginning to accept and expect it. The innocence of sports was lost a long time ago and sadly, we are now truly beginning to appreciate that.

Note: Regarding Selena Roberts' book about Alex Rodriguez, her former New York Times colleague Murray Chass calls it a "journalistic abomination." Furthermore, she was the journalist who prominently wrote about the apparent rape involving lacrosse players at Duke University. Almost all of it proving to be untrue upon further examination.