Cheating scandals have been a notorious aspect of sports since their inception. Whenever there is a clear set of rules, someone will find a way to warp or break them. Looking as far back as the 1904 Olympic games when the apparent winner of the marathon race was revealed to have driven eleven of the miles in a car, or just a couple of years ago when the Houston Astros baseball team used a camera to zoom in on an opposing catcher’s signs to his pitcher- cheating has always been a possible way to play the game. But what are the consequences? Why are so many cheating scandals continuing to happen today in sports? Probably because, if done correctly, it can win you a championship.
On Monday, January 8th, the University of Michigan won the NCAA football championship after an undefeated season. The Michigan Wolverines are widely known for their triumphant history, having the most wins in all of college football. With that, of course, also comes with a few scandals. The program was involved in two controversies this season alone; one stemmed from allegations of recruiting violations during COVID-19, and the other involved a sign-stealing controversy that consumed the conversation of college football. As a consequence, head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended for the first and last three regular-season games. While these cases cannot completely diminish the team’s victories over potent programs like Alabama and Ohio State, the championship itself has the possibility of forever living with an attached asterisk. The same kind of asterisk accompanies many other victorious moments in sports.
Some of the best-known football scandals of recent years date back to 2007 when the New England Patriots were found to have filmed the New York Jets’ play calls during an early-season game. Nonetheless, New England went on to become the second team in the NFL to finish the regular season undefeated. In 2015, the Patriots embroiled themselves in yet another controversy- known famously as “Deflategate”- after it was revealed that they used under-inflated footballs in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. Although there is no doubt these moments will be remembered and mentioned again, both Tom Brady (who was the leading image of Deflategate), and Bill Belichick (the head coach that whom both of these controversies happened under), will still go down as some of the greatest figures in NFL history, as the controversies attached to them will fade.
The way programs, coaches, and players can bounce back from major cheating offenses has continually remained shocking. The Houston Astros went on to win the 2022 World Series despite their major scandal of 2017; Brian Cushing, a previous linebacker for the Houston Texans, won the Rookie of the Year Award after testing positive for using performance-enhancing drugs in 2009; Sean Miller, former head coach of the Arizona men’s basketball team, discussed paying $100,000 to secure Deandre Ayton’s, the star freshman, signing with the team. Although he was fired from Arizona as a consequence, he quickly picked up the head coaching job at Xavier University. These are only a select few of the many controversies of the last two decades.
The Michigan Wolverine’s talent as a football team is undeniable. But so is their scandalous cheating record. While people who root against Michigan can constantly bring up the cheating that supposedly helped their way to the top, and Michigan fans can claim they only found a loophole in the rules, Michigan still has the championship title. Fair or not, cheating, when done correctly, can come with championships, and the common consequence is an easily disregarded argument.
