Brandon Penoyer
CLCIV 371 001-012
First Response Paper (Prompt #3)
Cheating is present in many aspects of daily life including academics, relationships, and, of course, athletics. Although people generally are able to identify an act of cheating, it is actually much more difficult to explicitly define what qualifies something as cheating. In his book, The Ethics of Sport, Robert Simon argues, “one cheats when one violates a system of public rules central to a practice in order to gain a competitive advantage that would or could not reasonably be allowed as a general basis for making exceptions” (Simon, The Ethics of Sport p. 41-42). This proposes that cheaters justify their acts by considering themselves as exceptions to the rules. Since this mentality predisposes some athletes to perform unfair acts, all it takes is a few external pressures to turn a bona fide athlete into a full blown cheater. In both the aAncient Greek and modern worlds, amateur and professional athletes cheat for similar reasons which include financial gain, attainment of fame through victory, and selfishness derived from basic human nature.
In order to fully understand the reason’s that athletes cheat in their sports, we must consider some key psychological aspects of human nature that can help explain why athletes would commit these immoral acts. First of all, it is worth noting that most cheaters break the rules because they believe that they are either an exception to the rules and are not equal to the rest of the participants, or because they believe that they can get away with an illegal act due to lack of enforcement of punishment for violations. In both of these cases, cheaters basically have the mindset that the rules of sport do not apply to them and that they can pursue victory by any means necessary. That being said, let us consider Thomas Hobbes’s (a political philosopher) beliefs regarding a state of government in which there is no system of laws and no one to enforce punishment for immoral behavior. Hobbes argues that in such a state, extreme unregulated competition will ultimately drive human beings to become extremely selfish and to do anything in order to secure their well-being (Simon, The Ethics of Sport p. 30). Theoretically, this state with no rules and no regulation of competition would bring out the worst in people and cause them to take drastic measures in order to get what they want. This same philosophy can be applied to competition in sports. Since cheaters believe that the rules of the game do not apply to them, they essentially see themselves as a participant in a state of competition with no regulation. This argument primarily applies to higher levels of amateur and professional athletics where the level of competition is greatest, and this would include the Olympic games in Ancient Greece as well as any modern professional athletic organization. Now that we understand part of the internal mentality of cheaters and how intense competition can push athletes to commit selfish acts, we can focus on some of the external pressures that influence them to cheat.
The reason why almost all athletes participate in sports in the first place is to achieve greatness and fame, and the most common way to do this is by winning. Simon states that some critics of competitive athletics argue that too much emphasis on winning makes athletes too result oriented and causes them to focus only on the outcome of games rather than the hard work and preparation required to become great (Simon, The Ethics of Sport p. 31). Consequently, an athlete who only cares about winning and disregards the nature of fair competition is more likely to resort to cheating in order to achieve victory. Professional athletes in both the Ancient Greek and modern worlds take winning very seriously because it is often the only way to earn fame and glory that lasts throughout history. For example, Pindar composed a collection of lyrical poems praising many of the Olympic victors of his time. As Potter states, these victory odes would then be sung by choruses throughout the victor’s hometown, establishing them as a hero and marking their place in history (Potter, Victor’s Crown p. 89-90). The singing of victory odes in the hometowns of Olympic victors is comparable to modern professional athletic teams who celebrate with their city after winning a championship. For example, the 2016 World Series Champions, the Chicago Cubs, paraded through the streets of Chicago after their victory, and received much applause and adoration from their city. Fame and glory alone is a strong enough pressure to drive athletes to undermine the rules of a particular sport in order to achieve victory. However, the potential monetary gain that could result from winning a particular event also drives many athletes to cheat their way to victory.
An athlete’s decision to cheat in order to increase his chance of winning can also be examined from an economic standpoint. The punishment or cost for getting caught cheating often includes a fine, suspension or expulsion from the event, and even abhorrence from the fan base. Some athletes are willing to risk these punishments in order to obtain the prize for winning their event. Although it is relatively insignificant compared to the athletes of modern times, ancient texts suggest that Greek athletes were paid with a salary as well as gifts such as gold crowns and massive banquets (IG IV2.1.99 and Thucydidies 4.121.1 in Miller, Arete, p. 74 and 76). Compared to Ancient Greek athletes, modern professional athletes earn significantly more money usually in the form of a salary that is based on the individual’s performance. Jose Canseco is the perfect example of an athlete who used money to justify the illegal use of anabolic steroids to improve his performance. Canseco argued, “if you can put together back-to-back good seasons with strong home run totals, you can realistically set up your family and yourself for the rest of your life with a $40 to $50 million contract” (Szymanski, Playbooks and Checkbooks p. 92). Although there are only a handful of cases similar to Canseco’s that have been brought to public’s attention, it is not unreasonable to suggest that there are many other athletes in both modern and Ancient Greek times who use this same logic to justify their acts of cheating.
It is also worth noting that in some cases, certain acts which are generally viewed as cheating do not actually involve directly breaking any rules. This often occurs when a sport is relatively new and has many loopholes in the rule book. Pausanius reported that there was a pankratiast by the name Sostratos that won many victories not by overpowering his opponents, but by bending his fingers until they submitted (Pausanius 6.4.2 in Miller, Arete p. 39). Since there were no rules explicitly stating that it was illegal to use finger bending as a means to put your opponent into submission, it can be argued that Sostratos was not cheating. However, it can also be argued that this tactic is unfair and was only allowed due to the lack of rules prohibiting tricks like this. This is a case where the lack of definitive rules for a sport drove an athlete to abuse a loophole, which is considered by many people to be cheating.
In conclusion, cheating is an issue that is prevalent in both Ancient Greek and modern athletics, and the pressures that drive athletes to cheat are relatively unchanged over time. The external pressures of fame and money are the primary factors that drive athletes cheat. Furthermore, the only way to attain both fame and money through sports is by winning, and focusing this much pressure on the outcome of a game can make sports extremely competitive which can lead athletes to make immoral decisions. Additionally, since cheaters tend to think of themselves as exceptions to the rules, they essentially consider themselves to be in a state with no laws, which ultimately leads to selfish decisions. Taking all of these topics into account, it is easy to see how the mentality of athletes throughout the ages has not changed much. Athletes from the Ancient Greek and modern worlds both participate (and cheat) in sports for basically the same reasons. Even though cheating is a tradition that is universally frowned upon, this example shows how the conventions of sport remain relatively constant over time. This is one of the few ways that people of today can relate to the culture of Ancient Greece.
Works Cited
Miller, Stephen G. (2012) Arete: Greek Sports from Ancient Sources. California: University of California Press.
Potter, David. (2012) The Victor’s Crown. New York: Oxford University Press.
Simon, Robert L. (2016). The Ethics of Sport: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press.
Szymanski, Stefan. (2009). Playbooks and Checkbooks: An Introduction to the Economics of Modern Sports. New Jersey: Princeton University Press
The introductory paragraph starts very strong with a good thesis statement.