Winning At All Co$t

Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi on his way to court, where titles are won or lost in today's sports world.




Today, as we speak (or as I write), Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is giving a press conference in Madrid to defend his innocence in the face of a positive drug test that has already overshadowed his amazing victory and may even lead to the loss of his title, a lengthy suspension, and - combined with his hip problems - the end of his career.

In San Francisco, Giants slugger Barry Bonds has seen his chase for Hank Aaron's home-run record ruined by constant allegations of steroid use, the incarceration of his personal trainer, and a possible indictment of Bonds himself in the coming days and weeks.

Last week in Rome, an appeals committee reduced the punishments handed out to Serie A sides Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina in the Italian league's much-publicized match-fixing scandal. Juve, the most popular and successful team in Italian soccer, has been relegated to Serie B and penalized 17 points in the coming season. The other three teams will all remain in Serie A, but will also have their own point penalties to overcome this year. Juve's general manager "Lucky" Luciano Moggi was banned from the game for years, as were a number of the referees with whom he and other team administrators were in cahoots. Even the coach of Italy's World Cup-winning side, Marcello Lippi, has been implicated in this controversy and his resignation following the tournament undoubtedly stemmed, at least in part, from the fall-out from this match-fixing investigation.

Testosterone limits, steroid use, indictments, investigations, match-fixing...does this sound like a sports article to you? Well, today, these aren't just excerpts from articles - these are the headlines jumping off the cover pages. In what should be a golden age for sports, what with all the money, media attention, and technological advancements that have made worldwide sports so profitable, plentiful, and accessible via TV and internet, a dark cloud of cheating threatens to tarnish the sports world for the indefinite future. How can this be? How is it possible that these glory days of sports might end up becoming a time to forget?

Unfortunately, it is the newfound riches of modern sports that are the root of the problem itself, as they frequently prove too enticing for others to resist. The sports world began to experience phenomenal growth in the 80s and 90s, as leagues like the NFL, NBA, and English Premiership rose to prominence; meanwhile, international events like the Olympics and the World Cup became worldwide showcases, highlighted by magnetic teams and players such as US basketball's Dream Team and Argentina's Diego Maradona. Sports were booming, fame and fortune was always just one win away and, although this was a positive development in many ways, for some individuals it would prove to be their undoing.

In the early 90s, it was Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson who found the lure of Olympic glory too tempting; a juiced-up Johnson, looking like he was literally about to burst out of his skin, raced to gold in the 100-meter dash before testing positive. In the late 90s, it was Mark McGwire, whose beefy upper-body made Popeye look anorexic, who was unable to resist the fame and fortune that came with being the new home-run champ of baseball; after lasting for 37 years, Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs was suddenly shattered as juiced-up roidheads like McGwire, Bonds, and Sammy Sosa began jacking balls over the fence as if there were honing devices inside them. At the start of the new millenium, it only got worse. Premier cyclists like Jan Ullrich, Richard Virenque, and Marco Pantani were all suspended for drug use; even Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour winner, continues to be suspected of foul play. Top tennis players like Mariano Puerta and Guillermo Canas were caught for doping. Track star Marion Jones was reported to have taken steroids before the 2000 Olympics in which she won two gold medals. A veritable Hall-of-Fame group of baseball players such as McGwire, Sosa, and Rafael Palmeiro were forced to testify in front of Congress after another steroid-user Jose Canseco wrote a book outlining rampant steroid use in the sport; Yankees slugger Jason Giambi was also implicated in this case. Even at levels of sports where the innocence of it all is the main attraction, Little League baseball stars like Danny Almonte were found to have lied about their age in an attempt to become the best in the world by any means necessary.

As athletes went to new extremes to get an edge on the field, sports administrators were also caught up in a growing web of corruption off the field. In Germany, referee Robert Hoyzer was sentenced to two years in jail for his part in Germany's biggest-ever match-fixing scandal. In the 2002 Olympics, a French judge admitted that she had been part of a plan to award the gold medal in figure skating's pairs competition to Russia in exchange for a return favor from the Russian judges in the ensuing ice dancing competition. In the US, as evidenced by comments by the Dallas Mavericks' Mark Cuban and the Seattle Seahawks' Mike Holmgren, it has become commonplace for owners and coaches to question the honesty and integrity of referees.

In today's sports world, that poisoned apple of fame and fortune is simply too hard to resist for most people. Rather than ushering in a golden age for sports, all of the newfound riches have only caused people to go to new extremes for success. Today, there is just too much at stake, whether it be money or fame or power, for people to resist putting their reputations and careers on the line for a shot at becoming the best in the world. (And in the case of the East German female swimmers of the 80s, even becoming a man was a realistic option) It might not be what anyone wants to hear, but it's becoming awfully hard to enjoy any victories in sports anymore. Nothing is sacred. From baseball's record books to Serie A titles, everything comes with an asterisk. Even the best stories, like Landis' courageous effort in the Tour, seem to come with a grain of salt. For the past month, everyone made a conscious effort to forget about doping in the Tour or match-fixing in Italy to savor the impressive triumphs of Landis and the Azzurri, but now it's back to reality. And, sad but true as it is to say, reality in sports isn't about epic comebacks or inspiring performances anymore. Not today - in today's sports world, cheating is the name of the game.