Cheating in sports

My good friend Brian O'Rourke brought up a good topic on his blog recently about cheating and telling our youth it is ok to cheat (not that he supports it just about something he read of someone who does). It really got me furious and made me start typing. My blogs might not be the most well written but they will clearly tell you how I feel....


It boggles my mind as a big sports fan and a person who loves competition why people cheat or do not play honestly. A big example of this is the current issue with steriods in sports. The problem I have is yes baseball has cracked down and is trying to rid the game of it which I applaud but why is it ok to use them in football. In football a person like Shawn Merriman of the San Diego Chargers was found to have used performance enhancing drugs. He was suspended for 4 games (which is the NFL rule for first time offenders). The whole time all anyone spoke of the situation was about how him returning from the suspension would help the team win more games. Nothing was mentioned once about how he cheated or how this shows a total disrespect for the game. What kind of example is this setting for the youth of America? Whether they like it or not athletes are role models. Cheating of anysort should be treated much more sternly....

Another example is of Albert Haynesworth now of the Washington Redskins. Several years ago while playing with the Tenessee Titans he stomped on the head of an opposing player while that player was down on the ground and defenseless. Yes, the other player was wearing a helmet but still he was hurt severely. What was the result of this? A less than sufficient suspension and after two years Albert signs a 7 year 100 million dollar contract. Yes he was rewarded with 100 million bucks for stomping on a defenseless person. Yet again showing the youth that it is ok to cheat or bend the rules because if doing so puts you ontop of the sport you will be financially rewarded for it.

Back to baseball for a second. Yes Alex Rodriguez was found to use PED's and he will face the boo's of the crowds for years to come but when he hits a walk off homerun later this year (or anyother awesome play) he will be cheered and cheered. He still is earning in excess of 20 million dollars a year. So as long as he can take the booing it doesn't matter because he still will have more money than he needs for a long time.... I am not against athletes making millions of dollars, because it is what it is, the pro athlete paycheck.

Pete Rose bet on baseball as a manager (I'm sure he did when he played too but wasn't caught) and was caught. He is banned from the game forever. Arguably the best hitter of all time cannot enter the hall of fame because of his mistakes. This is OK in my book because he broke rules, cheated, whatever you want to call it. So now why is he banned and others get away with so much.

So in summation what I am trying to say is that the professional sport athletes are telling the youth today it is ok to cheat. They are role models for our youth and need to represent as such. The penalties are not nearly harsh enough to make someone not cheat because cheating could put someone at the top of a sport and make a crap load of money.. that is what every youth wants (to be the best).