As a follow up to my story yesterday, the New England Patriots will pay some steep penalties for violating the NFL’s rules that ban videotaping on the sidelines. Coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team $250,000 for what the NFL deemed was stealing signals using video taping equipment. In addition, the Patriots will lose a 2008 first-round draft pick if they make the playoffs this season. So, does this make the Patriots the biggest cheater in sports history?
The editors at the Miami Herald came up with their list of the biggest cheaters in sports history. I agree with most of the entries on their list, with one exception: the Chicago "Black" Sox, who were charged, acquitted, and subsequently banned from Major League Baseball for throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. It seems to me that cheaters are trying to gain a competitive advantage. They’re trying to win games. The Black Sox weren’t trying to do either. So while they may not have played fair and square, I can’t really count them among the biggest cheaters in sports history.
I also think the Herald’s list is missing one important name: Pete Rose. Surely a lifetime ban from baseball for betting on his own team’s games makes him one of the world’s biggest cheaters.
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