Cheaters Here, Cheaters There, Cheaters Everywhere?
posted by Deven Desai
Dave’s post about New England Patriot’s head coach, Bill Belichick, being fined for apparently cheating points to a larger question. What does it take to stop cheating? Sure Bellichick has offered the obligatory apology saying how it’s his responsibility, and he made mistakes. He also said “As the commissioner acknowledged, our use of sideline video had no impact on the outcome of last week’s game. We have never used sideline video to obtain a competitive advantage while the game was in progress.” Ah contrition or is that no harm, no foul?
In Formula One racing the fine is much larger. The McLaren racing team must pay $100 million for spying and loses all its team points for the construction title; the drivers are allowed to keep their points and are eligible to win the driver’s title. On a related note, remember James Frey? He had a moving, personal memoir about his struggle with drugs and his wild days called A Million Little Pieces. No. Wait. That was a crock. No matter. Frey now has a new novel coming out. Oh and what about the book that forced the publisher to refund duped readers’ money? It sells around a thousand copies a week.
So where does cheating get punished? The cases above seem to agree with Yahoo columnist Dan Wetzel’s view that “Cheating is everywhere” in sports and that fans really don’t care about cheating. Instead he offers they “want victories and nothing else.” He sums up “Nobody cares. Nothing matters. If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. Just win, baby.” Wetzel seems a bit overboard, but not too much. More worrisome is the possibility that society really has changed its view of cheating. Sure if one gets caught red-handed, the knee-jerk reaction is talk show emulating outrage and narcissistic assertions regarding how it affected and hurt you. False contrition ensues and allows everyone to feel better. Soon the cheater is redeemed, perhaps even embraced. A true confession and repentance is a powerful phenomenon. The slaps on the wrist and farces of today fall well short of that. Whether the law and the lack of accountability reflect or feed the view that one should win at all costs is a matter for another time, but I do wonder.
September 14, 2007 at 1:05 am
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Responses (3)
Fraud Guy - September 14, 2007 at 9:43 am
Excellent book on cheating:
The Cheating Culture by David Callahan.
Frank - September 14, 2007 at 10:59 am
Interesting, news reports indicate that Bellicheck apologized to Patriots owners, fans and players. That doesn’t count. Shouldn’t he have been apologizing to the Jets? When a murderer apologizes for his crime, does he apologize only to the murderer’s family, and not the victim’s?
P.S. Ruckman, Jr. - September 14, 2007 at 1:41 pm
I still haven’t seen the exact rule that was violated. But, why not distinguish between “cheating” in three forms 1)breaking a clearly defined rule 2) pushing the bounds of a rule which is not clearly defined 3) acting consistent with the rules in such a way that the behavior calls to attention the need for a rule. I think we tolerate some kinds of cheating more than others.
A catcher moves the mit over the plate to make it appear to be a strike. A punter acts like he has been hit by a truck when someone hits his shoelace. A pitcher does all sort of things implying illegal behavior to distract and annoy batters. I am all for it.
A batter takes the bat down the baseline with him and clubs the firsbaseman. An outfield camera focuses on the cather’s signals and relays the signal to the opposing duggout. If there aren’t ruled there should be.
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