"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." - Galatians 6:7-8:

Man has always endeavored to display his athletic abilities in sports. The Ancient Greeks once played for the gods in a pure display of sportsmanship using only their natural athletic ability, grace, power and agility in their Olympics. But sadly today on our athletic fields we have allowed 'the game' to degenerate into the corrupt mindset that winning is everything. Second place is only for losers. Today winning is the only thing that matters and to accomplish that goal the ends justify the means.

Take baseball for instance. A few years ago a home run derby exploded in major league baseball led by the Cubs' Sammy Sosa and the Cardinals' Mark McGuire. Even among the most casual baseball fans it captured our imaginations and both excited and inspired America. These two players were among many others who seemed to be hitting home runs every time we turned around. Suddenly baseball was a hitter's paradise with the seasonal home run record on the endangered list. There was talk of "juiced up" baseballs, corked bats and depleted pitching skills due to the increased number of teams now in the leagues. Emerging from this group were the likes of Bobby Bonds, A-Rod and a number of others that have now shown us that this home run derby had nothing to do with anything but "juiced up" players on steroids trying to get an edge, to win at all costs.

Recently Manny Rameriz has been suspended for fifty games because he used "an illegal substance." As always the player claims he didn't know what he was taking was illegal or, like McGuire, he denies taking the illegal drugs all together. Yet after taking this illegal substance he did not question why he had put on weight or how he could now consistently hit 400-foot towering home runs. But he did collect the millions, the accolades and the endorsements. As always, in the eyes of the player, he is the victim not the fans. It has gotten to the point that when a player now consistently hits a few home runs we the fans have to wonder if it is due to his natural ability and talent, or is this mastery of the long ball simply the marvels of modern chemistry? We wonder when a player, like A-Rod, seems to good to be true, well then chances are he's probably not being true to himself, his fans or the game.

But baseball and professional sports are not the only places where this cheating is taking pace. Two prime examples were college football players from a few years ago. Remember Michigan State's Tony Mandarich and Oklahoma's Brian 'The Boz' Bozworth? Both were first team, All-Americans on successful college teams, both were number one NFL draft picks and both were using steroids. Once in the NFL, where they were denied the continued use of steroids because of drug testing, their careers went down the drain.

So why do players who are already good enough to play college and professional sports cheat? Well here is what I believe to be part of the problem.

The 2009 ACC Conference Basketball Tournament - Duke vs Florida State:

A young Duke player named Singler goes up for a twelve foot jump shot, the ball bounces around the rim, starts to fall through the net only to bounce back out to be rebounded by an FSU player. The announcer hypes, "Singler finally has one rattle out… he's now three for seven."

I shook my head. What? He's shooting less than fifty percent at only three for seven and he "finally has one rattle out"? It would be safe to say that young Mr. Singler wasn't exactly burning the nets that day as he ended up making only five out of sixteen shots. So what in the wide world of sports was this talking head rattling on about? Now I'm not picking on Singler, he's a fine young ball player. Likewise this may seem trivial to some but this is the kind of mindless nonsense that is passing for analysis these days in all areas of our media and, which is driving me nuts. It seems that sports announcers, media reporters and our good, old say anything you want to now and deny it later politicians, can get away with constantly uttering the stupidest remarks. Even if what they say is an outright lie.

As I get older more and more of the world that I once knew is rapidly changing. And it's not always for the better. Besides straightforward talk, in the society that I grew up in honesty, fair play and sportsmanship were to be admired. At that time there were penalties to pay for not playing by the rules both during the game and after. Not only in our games of sport but also in life. No one wanted to be known as a cheater. But today it is WINNING at all costs, even if it is just a game. More and more we find ourselves in that ends justify the means society. In the process it is all ingloriously hyped by overbearing, exaggerating pitch men with lame trademarks like the one doing the Duke-FSU game who often emphasized a player's athleticism by producing a sharp high pitched squeal when he screeched out a word in a phrase. It leaves me wondering if someone doesn't have his personable's in a vice and every once in a while gives the handle another half turn to the RRIIGHT! Whatever is going on with this guy it is very annoying.

With FSU losing by five points, towards the end of this game an FSU player was fouled while trying to put back a rebound. So with Duke ahead in a close game he was supposed to go to the line for two free throws. Now apparently this fouled player was not a very good free throw shooter making only about fifty percent from the line. In the confusion after the play another FSU player, who was a better free throw shooter, tried to take the fouled players place at the line to shoot the free throws. The player had been fouled under the basket and replays clearly showed that the FSU interloper who perpetrated the deceit had been way out by the half court line when the foul had been called, thus erasing any doubt that there had been no confusion on who was actually fouled on the play. The officials caught this deception and had the fouled player take his rightful place at the line. Besides the facts that FSU had just ignored the rules of the game, that they had deliberately tried to cheat and, that at least to me, they had shown a total lack of what used to be called sportsmanship and honor, everyone involved not only accepted this wrongful behavior but also indeed thought that it was just hunky dory! The officials had the right to at least call a technical foul against FSU and could have ejected the cheating player from the game. But all they did was make the correct player shoot the free throws without any further penalty to FSU.

Meanwhile the FSU head coach was seen smiling sheepishly on the sideline. As a teacher and coach of young men, why didn't he yank that cheating player from the game to set an example? Well, because obviously the coach condoned and approved of the attempted deception by his player. Certainly most of the FSU fans were not concerned about their man trying to cheat. After all they wanted to win! But it was the two announcers of this game who took this attempt at cheating to its lowest point by laughing about it, making excuses for it and by again confirming to their viewers, young and old, that it was all right to do whatever was necessary to win the game. Well, at least as long as you can get away with it.

Now this wasn't the first time I have seen this happen and there are many other examples of "bending the rules to get an edge." I am also not so naïve that I don't pretend that cheating did not go on in the past. But in today's society it is rampant and it is not frowned upon as it once was long ago. In fact today it is accepted as a method of getting an advantage over an opponent to win the game and there seems to be little in the way of consequences for this appalling behavior on or off the court. If you watch sports you have heard an announcer explain that it is all right to bend the rules if it helps your team to win. Whatever it takes short of shooting your opponent 'to get an edge,' seems to be justified. This should be unacceptable.

Likewise even after it has become known that someone has cheated, broken the rules or even broken our society's laws, if those people are winners then most of the time all is forgiven. Jimmy Johnson has not missed a step in his climb up the social and economic ladder yet he ran one of the most corrupt football programs at Miami in college football. The 1988 football game of Notre Dame versus Johnson's Miami team was dubbed the game between the Catholics and the Convicts because of the Miami players' numerous on and off the field scandals. Right as the NCAA investigations hit that university Johnson vamoosed, but he had won a National Championship so all was forgiven. Likewise at Dallas Johnson's Cowboys won two Super Bowls so everyone turned a blind eye to many of his players running lawless through the state of Texas. Now Johnson sits on Fox's pre-game panel of NFL experts, so despite his unethical methods he hasn't missed a beat.

Likewise Michael Irving who played for Johnson at Miami U. and Dallas has been repeatedly arrested for drugs and possession. His rap sheet is as long as any of his touchdown catches but that didn't stop the NFL from electing him to their Hall Of Fame or ESPN from hiring him as an NFL 'expert.' When he was once again busted for possession for the umpteenth time ESPN finally 'let him go' but the NFL Network turned right around and hired him to be one of their NFL experts. He probably should have been 'benched' by the courts for a long time when he was back at Miami U. If not, then definitely while he was playing for the Cowboys, but you know he was just so darn good at catching that old pigskin so…

Now I ask you, is this the type of guy you want your kids and grandkids to listen to and perhaps emulate when they watch sports?

The list goes on and on to include ex-Cowboy Nate Newton. As Nate explained, because of his fiercely competitive life in sports, he was so busy trying to be "the biggest drug pusher in Louisiana" that while out on bail for being busted with over two hundred pounds of marijuana in the trunk of his car he was again busted with another hundred plus pounds of marijuana in the trunk of his car. Newton was just as good a football player as an offensive lineman as his teammate Irving was at wide receiver but as of yet the NFL has refused to elect Nate into the Hall and ESPN never offered him a shot to be on TV. But then offensive linemen just aren't as flashy as wide receivers and it doesn't help now that Nate is cooling it in a prison cell. I guess offensive linemen can't get the better lawyers like wide receivers either.

When you have Lawrence 'LT' Taylor admitting that as a player on cocaine he was often higher than the space shuttle ten minutes after liftoff but then he is still elected to the Hall of Fame you have to wonder if there are any ethics left in our society today. LT is called the most feared player in the history of the NFL. It's no wonder since when he was playing he was often completely whacked out of his gourd on goofballs!

At every level of sports today we have players cheating with drugs such as steroids to enhance their performance. Sportsmanship is outdated, corny and for losers as players are now taught at an early age to bend the rules to gain an advantage over their opponents. Trash talking has become as much as the game as sinking a shot, scoring a TD or hitting a home run. "You gotta get into your opponent's head!" In this age of 'showmanship' taunting your opponent has replaced sportsmanship. But constantly screaming and glaring at your opponents after dunking a shot is not forgotten by a cursory slap on the back after the game while dryly stating, "Nice game."

Off the field it seems that as long as you can play the game anything goes. Well at least until you are finally put permanently behind bars. Just ask the notorious Vick brothers of Virginia Tech. By the way, just how many rapes does a quarterback have to commit before he is kicked out of a university anyway?

In high schools what was once one community's young players against another's has become big business with recruiting wars between coaches for the best players not only within the communities but also from other states. At this level sports should be a teaching and learning experience with winning coming a distant second to developing skills, sportsmanship, character, ethics and physical fitness. But as kids will ultimately always imitate their heroes in college and the Pros high school sports is now more about winning at all costs.

Sadly somewhere in the past twenty odd years all of the legitimate sports seemingly decided to follow the idiotic pro wrestling mentality with the showboating, boastful taunting, false bravado and its macho stupidity. In pro wrestling the 'players' often openly cheat to win and to get the crowd riled up. Sadly more and more of this 'show business' type hype has bled its way into legitimate sports. This bending of the rules and lack of true sportsmanship has been going on for years now without many, if any, consequences to those who are guilty. It does not matter what a player does on or off the field as long as he is good at what he does and wins. It is a shame that these are the lessons that we have been teaching and are continuing to teach our children. Not just the ones who participate or the avid fans, but also those with even a passing interest in the sport.

By condoning this atmosphere of do anything to win, or to succeed, while ignoring, justifying and celebrating the cheaters and unlawful scoundrels, why are we always so surprised when we find that so many of our fellow citizens have not paid their taxes or scammed us on Wall Street, in Congress and in business? Why are we surprised at ACORN's multi-state registration fraud, dirty political campaigns, biased media coverage, or businessmen running fraudulent money scams and a tax evader now in charge of our National Treasury? Hey, its now America's way of doing things. We have reaped what we have sown. This was confirmed once again in the Duke-FSU game, with Manny Ramirez and will again be confirmed when the truth comes out about the multi-multi-millionaire A-Rod. Winning is everything, and the guy with the most at the end of the day wins. So in the scandals of Washington, Wall Street and corporate America, aren't we just now harvesting what we have propagated in among other aspects of our society, our most straightforward and basic forms of entertainment, our sports?

But what is truly sad about this situation is that it was never necessary to allow this boorish and illegal behavior in our athletes for our sports to remain popular and economically successful. In today's liberal society of unlimited second chances without the burdens of responsibility or consequences too many people are excused for their actions, especially if they are 'gifted.'

Miami University and the Dallas Cowboys would still have their fan base without the corruptive Johnson years, and they would have maintained a better reputation. The Vick brothers were big trouble even in high school and yet they were granted full scholarships. Somehow in a country of 300 million, I believe that Virginia Tech could have found a couple of other quality quarterbacks to take their place. McGuire, Bonds and so on were all well on their way to stardom when they started cheating with steroids. They could have had good if not great careers without the juice, now they have the statistics but have lost their honor.

As for Manny, well he and those like him should be banned from their sports. Life will go on without them. The games will be played in their absence and we will watch. We were watching and loving baseball for over a hundred years before them and their deceit. Likewise we will remain faithful to the sport after they are gone, and in spite of them. Who knows, maybe somewhere along the line we may even be able to once again teach our children about respect for oneself and their opponents. That actions and words have consequences. That rules, and our laws, are to be respected and followed. About fair play, sportsmanship, honor and pride of accomplishment. That winning is not the only thing, but that rather it is the effort, sacrifice and heart that make a winner, not the final score. That by doing whatever is necessary to win you can lose much more than you gain.

But then perhaps I'm just getting old.

Semper Fi,
Mike

"Copyright 2009.  Michael E. Tank   All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author."