The Patriots' video snooping, which resulted in $750,000 in fines from the NFL and the potential loss of a first-round draft pick, has been widely condemned. Many of the team's fans, though, have been defending coach Bill Belichick. "I've always said it's a continuum," said Boston University sports psychologist Len Zaichkowsky. "And the continuum isn't the same for everybody."
Cheating in sports is nothing new, even in obscure events. In the 1976 Olympics, Soviet modern pentathlete Boris Onischenko was disqualified for wiring his fencing weapon to register an electronic hit without touching his opponent.
Even the most popular sports aren't immune.
"Take baseball, the national pastime," said Michael Josephson, founder of the Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute of Ethics, which provides consulting and training services in fields ranging from business to government to sports. "The spitball came in with the game. There always was a category of people who would do anything to get an edge."
What has changed is how many prominent people across multiple sports are breaking the rules to do it. Thursday, the McLaren auto racing team was fined $100 million for using technical documents stolen from Formula One rival Ferrari. This year, eight NASCAR crew chiefs have been suspended for cheating in separate incidents. Michael Rasmussen, who was leading the Tour de France, was pulled out of the race by his cycling team for ducking doping tests by lying about where he was during training.
Barry Bonds, who broke Hank Aaron's career home run record, allegedly has used a combination of banned drugs. Patriots safety Rodney Harrison was suspended for four games for obtaining human growth hormone through an online scam that reportedly involved numerous athletes.
In a society where cheating, from insider trading on Wall Street to plagiarism in the classroom, seems to be a common occurrence, observers say sports hardly can be considered immune.
