Some Further Thoughts on Cheating

When I was a kid, we used to say "cheaters never win." Back then I thought that was supposed to be literally true. Then I came to realize that, in fact, cheaters usually do win. That's why they cheat. I have an earlier post on this same subject -- Cheating in America -- where I make the point that cheating is the American way.

Not that the rest of the world doesn't cheat. Think only of the recent Tour de France, where cheating almost wiped out the race and probably did pretty much destroy the sport of cycling. We like to believe that no one has an unfair competitive advantage, but that kind of faith is harder and harder to hold onto in the grim light of day.

That's what they call cheating in professional sports, an unfair competitive advantage. When a professional athlete or sports team wins most of the time, they are either very good, or very lucky, or they cheat. These days it's likely to be a combination of all three. Even the New England Patriots and their formerly much respected coach feel perfectly comfortable about looking for that much desired competitive advantage. Was it wrong to steal the other team's signals? Doesn't everyone do that?

I've come to the conclusion that professional sports is a lot like all other "reality" TV. There may be some spontaneity about it from time to time. No one can script everything. But in so far as possible all of the interested parties, from the teams themselves to the players, umpires, and referees, are trying to rig the games for the big payoff. It's not whether you win or lose, it's how much money you can make in the process that really counts. And when the payoffs are sufficiently good, who's going to pass up the chance for nice helpful unfair competitive advantage? Hey, it's the American way.