Cheating in Sports

As you read my blog you will find that I tend to comment on just about everything. Politics, sports or just the simply stupid things that people do. It is all fair game in my book.

So with that said…off we go.

There was a lot of talk this past NFL season about cheating going on with a certain NFL team. I don’t know why this seems to surprise people. Cheating in sports was invented about 20 seconds after the sport itself was invented. Competition is what it is and people are always looking for some kind of edge. Whether it is steroids and other performance enhancing drugs or stealing signs, this has been going on for ages.

I can remember growing up and listening to baseball announcers talking about how a team would have someone in the score board stealing signs from the opposing teams catcher and then relay the pitch selection to their hitter. This was in the day of no compact wireless receiver capability.

So now the NFL has its version. Below is the latest story from the NFL on what they are going to do to crack down on cheating.

Below is the article in Italic type face. My final thoughts (no I ain't Jerry Springer) follow.

Goodell proposes plan making cheating penalties easier to impose

ESPN.com news services

With confidence in NFL rules oversight at low ebb, commissioner Roger Goddell is proposing enacting easier-to-impose cheating penalties as a deterrent for future SpyGate scandals, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The newspaper cited a memo sent to the league's competition committee Thursday in an article on its Web site and said the proposals included a change in rules that would allow league officials to make unannounced inspections of locker rooms, press boxes and in-game communications equipment.

The measure was among a series of stricter rule changes Goodell wants to enact before next season "to preserve the integrity of the game" and "maintain public confidence" in the sport, according to the memo.

"As the Commissioner and Competition Committee, we must take every appropriate step to safeguard the integrity of the NFL," Goodell wrote in the memo. "We have already taken some positive and significant actions this past season, but we must go further to ensure fair competition amongst our 32 teams and maintain public confidence in our game."

Goodell pledged stricter penalties for competition-rules violations and proposed a plan requiring team employees to give the league reports of "actual or suspected" violations.

Another measure would place each franchise's main owner, top executive and head coach under the threat of league discipline to stipulate that they have complied with the rules and reported violations.

The commissioner also endorsed a proposal to permit one defensive player per team to be connected to a coach on the sideline during games via a wireless device, and called upon the committee to conduct "a thorough review" of all competitive rules and practices.

"I think there are a number of steps that should be taken in advance of the start of the 2008 season to improve and strengthen the enforcement procedures designed to preserve the competitive integrity of the game," Goodell wrote, adding that "too often, competitive violations have gone unpunished because conclusive proof of the violation was lacking."

Last month, Sen. Arlen Specter questioned the quality of the NFL's investigation of the New England Patriots' videotaping practices and Goodell's decision to destroy video evidence uncovered by the league earlier this season.

Goodell fined New England coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and docked the team $250,000 and a first-round draft pick after the Patriots were accused of videotaping New York Jets defensive coaches as they signaled to players during the Sept. 9 season opener.

Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, also cited NFL officials indicating the Patriots taped Pittsburgh Steelers' coaches during AFC Championship games at the end of the 2001 and 2004 seasons, and during regular-season games in 2002 and 2004.

During the NFL season when all of this came out, the commissioner lead us to believe that this was really no big deal. Then they promptly destroyed all the evidence so we, the fans, could get no idea of what had actually occurred.

We also heard that there was no issue and that the matter was considered over once the fines were levied. No we have this proclamation from the commissioner of the changes within the NFL to fix a problem that, according to the league, didn’t need fixing.

We, the fans of professional sports, pay millions of dollars each year to the leagues and to the advertisers of pro sports to attend, watch and listen to their product. It is about time that these people stop treating the fans like we are a bunch of idiots. Its not that we want to know everything about every deal that is made in some secret smoke filled room. But when something such as this cheating scandal occurs, come out and show us the evidence. Let us make our own decision. This is actually what I think they are afraid of the most. They are afraid that we will find out that they are a bunch of egotistical bastards who will do anything to gain an advantage and win.

Nothing personal ya’ll. But I came to that conclusion years ago.