The Role Of Cheating In Sports

Cheating in our culture is often looked at with distain and is something that most find unacceptable. However, the question will always remain, is there ever a time when cheating can be justified? To answer this question one must define what cheating really is. Cheating at its root is dishonesty and with moral relativism swiftly becoming the norm in our society, dishonesty has fallen into a rather grey are of life. Something that one would find to be dishonest on all accounts another would find to be acceptable under the right circumstances. For each individual there must be a baseline from which their morals are established and from which they define the difference between right or wrong. One area of life we can look to for clarity is the world of sports. In sports, there are rules which govern a players conduct

and behavior that are in place not only for the benefit of the player but also for the integrity of the sport itself.

Take America’s favorite pastime for instance. Over its long and storied history baseball has been a game driven by statistics, percentages, and records. Major League Baseball has been a part of American History since 1869, so when someone is found to be cheating in the Majors they are not only condemned for being dishonest but for tampering with a part of our nations heritage.

Over the years, there have been many cheating scandals in baseball involving some of its best players.

In 2007 Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record. However, it was later discovered that this was done while using performance enhancing drugs, forever casting doubt on his legitimacy as a player and whether the previous record should still stand. Another infamous player was Pete Rose who was accused of betting on his own team during the 1986 season causing him to be kept from the MLB Hall of Fame despite his exceptional career. Lastly, there’s Shoeless Joe Jackson of the Chicago White Sox who was banned from baseball for life after receiving money for throwing games in the 1919 World Series.

All of these examples show how cheating in sports like baseball may achieve some desired results but the consequences of getting caught are not worth the risk to everyone involved. Cheating in these instances not only affected the players themselves but also the purity of the game by casting doubt that future achievements would ever be on the same level as those performed in the past. Therefore, in the world of sports cheating is never

acceptable.