When did America decide that cheating was OK?
OK, who remembers Spygate? Need a refresher? It was 2007 and the New England Patriots got caught videotaping the opposing team’s defensive play calling signals.
Was the spying illegal or against the rules? It depends on who you ask. Some considered it a grey area but for many, well, these cheaters committed a horrifying affront on the integrity of the game and yada, yada, yada. The league stepped in, fined Coach Bill Belichick $500,000. Hit the Patriots with a fine of another $250 large. Stripped the team of a first round draft pick. Even Congressmen got involved because of course they did.
Right or wrong, agree or disagree, most folks accepted that to “protect the integrity of the game” from cheaters, something had to be done and the team should be punished. But this all happened in the pre-Trump before times. Before America lost its collective mind, accepting that lies could be “alternative facts.” Accepting that ends always justified the means, as long as the ends meant remaining in power and screwing over everyone else. Accepting that a little (or a lot of ) cheating is just the way things are done.
So now, the college football season is over with the University of Michigan Wolverines as champions, and no one really cares that they cheated in the same way as Spygate. Stole signs, snuck around their opponents’ sidelines. No, all you heard leading up to the game was about the plucky Wolverines overcoming so much to get so far. That’s because when caught, their only punishment was to give the coach a time out and make him watch three games from the stands.
David Rafferty
Heck, no Wolverines were even embarrassed by the cheating revelations.
But what makes this really interesting, is the Michigan Spygate kerfuffle may not even be their most egregious cheating episode of the season. Way back in early 2023, Michigan confessed to NCAA charges over previous recruiting violations (bad) while denying that the coach lied to investigators (even worse). This could actually lead to their championship being stripped by the NCAA, and we’ll see how that plays out, but my goodness, is there an Ethics course offered at Michigan? Because there are some Wolverines who could use really use a refresher.
Nope, cheating doesn’t matter anymore because that’s the world we live in now. Studies that have come out since Spygate have shown an American acceptance for cheating that has grown significantly. Some is easily recognizable, like tax evasion. It’s estimated that the United States is robbed of nearly $1 trillion every year due to tax cheats, making it ever more difficult for towns and communities to pay for necessities such as roads, schools and parks.
Some cheating is less recognizable, like the nearly $50 billion lost annually to employee theft. Think about that for a second. The news recently has been filled with stories of businesses and retailers supposedly reeling from shoplifting sprees, but the losses from their own employees is nearly 15 times greater, and rising every year. That’s average citizens stealing from their employers and not thinking anything of it.
American high school students in growing numbers cheat or plagiarize to graduate, then cheat on their resumes to get into college, and then to get jobs. But 90 percent of those students tell pollsters they’re honest people who believe living a life of honesty and integrity is most important to them. Which is how we get back to people not caring about Michigan’s shenanigans this season.
See, the Ann Arbor campus is filled with those students, and Wolverine Nation is filled with alumni who gleefully look the other way because remember, cheating isn’t bad anymore if the ends justify the means.
Famous cheaters such as the 1919 Chicago White Sox were never given a pass. Pete Rose is still not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and neither is Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens. Cyclist Lance Armstrong is forever tainted and Diego Maradona will forever be diminished (outside Argentina) for his Hand of God goal. They all had the misfortune of cheating at a time when cheating was something bad, a moral failure. But isn’t that a time we should rather live in, when truth is not subjective, and honesty matters more?
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