Cheating. It’s a word that can trigger reactions of an unlimited variety. A roll of the eyes, a shake of the head, or a hand raised in class are all common. Less forgiving, are the reactions of professional sporting associations, olympic committees, or even the Federal Government. Fines, suspensions, and even banishment from ones chosen craft are becoming more and more common. Students plagiarize, songwriters steal copyrighted work, and politicians all over the world are rigging elections. But why cheat? Is cheating ever justified? I personally believe that cheating is never justified, because at the end of the day the biggest victim of cheating is the cheater himself. The conscience is a very powerful thing. Even if the cheater is never caught, he will still live the rest of his life knowing he has been anything but genuine to those around him. For the purpose of this essay I will focus on cheating in professional sports, as these incidents tend to be the most well known and widely reported.

There’s a saying in sports, “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.” We’ve all heard the stories - performance enhancing drugs, point shaving, deflated footballs, the pumping-in of additional crowd noise - all have become commonplace in the world of professional sports. But what is the incentive to cheat in sports? Winning, of course. Winning brings fans through the door. Winning puts money in the owner’s pockets, which in turn puts money in the athlete’s pockets. Sure, the records are nice, but only in the now. Just ask Mark McGwire, Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, or countless others what those records mean to them now. All were caught cheating, and all have been apologetic, but they haven’t been forgiven. Not by the fans, or the powers-that-be in their respective sports. Being labeled a cheater comes with a stigma that lasts a lifetime. I believe that every one of these individuals, afforded the chance to do it over again, would decide against the decision they made to cheat. Because they know now that they will not be remembered for the home-runs they hit, the first place finishes, or the gold medals. They will be remembered for cheating.

An argument can be made that sports are just more entertaining when the athletes are filling up the stat sheets. I don’t disagree. I’d much rather watch a football game with ten touchdowns than a game with zero. I’d much rather watch a home-run derby than a pitcher’s duel. And I’d much rather see a basketball get slam dunked than laid gently over the rim. These are the things I want to see, but I need to know they they are being accomplished by hard work, not by a skirting of the rules. Whatever each of our paths, whatever our individual contributions, we need to instill in our children that that which we accomplish is done by the way of dedication and hard work. Cheating ourselves is cheating them, and that’s not something I’m willing to have on my conscience. In the case pf cheating, the rewards don’t ever outweigh the risk of letting ourselves, or those that look up to us down.