Top Ten Cheating Scandals In Sports

This list goes through some of the biggest and most popular instances of cheating that has happened in sports.

10. Pete Rose

Via biography.com

Pete Rose was a great baseball player for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1960's and 1970's. He is considered one of the best players of all time and was even given the name the "Hit-King", finishing his career with a .303 batting average. It seems like he should most definitely be in the Hall of Fame, but unfortunately he may never achieve that. In 1986 Rose was accused of betting on his own baseball games. Following an investigation, Rose was banned from baseball in 1989. He will not be allowed in the Hall of Fame unless that ban is lifted.

9. Deflate Gate

Brian Spurlock / Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The New England Patriots have been the dominant franchise in the NFL ever since Tom Brady has been their quarter-back, winning 5 Super Bowls since 2000. They have also had a few controversial moments in that time frame. Their most recent happened in 2015 following their AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. They beat the colts to advance to the Super Bowl, but after the game is when the controversy happened. Colt's linebacker D'Qwell Jackson, who had an interception during the game, stated that he noticed the ball was deflated. Following an investigation by the NFL, it was found that 11 of the 12 footballs used in the game were deflated. There was also a camera that caught a Patriots equipment manager taking a bag of balls and taking them into another room before taking the bag to the field. Calls between Tom Brady and the equipment manager were discovered as well. In May 2015 the Roger Goodell suspended Tom Brady for the first four games of the 2016, fined the Patriots One Million Dollars, and took away two of their draft picks.

8. USC Football and Reggie Bush

Reggie Bush is considered one of the best running backs in College Football history. He played at USC during the peak of Pete Carroll's dynasty. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2005 and broke multiple USC rushing records. It was not until 5 years later that the NCAA found out that Bush had received benefits as a player and had even had contact with an agent. USC was forced to vacate their wins when Bush played, which included the 2004 National Championship Season. Reggie Bush was also forced to give back his Heisman Trophy.

7. SMU

Via cocktailcalendar.wordpress.com

Cheating in college football recruiting has and will always be an issue. During the 1970's and 80's, however, is when most consider recruiting violations to be at its peak. Southern Methodist University was one of the smallest schools in its conference. In order to make up for that, they adopted a very aggressive recruiting style so that they could compete with the big schools for the top talent. What started out as little payments of 20 dollars here and there, turned into much more, and even a car was bought for a recruit. Finally after the 1986 season the Mustangs were given the "death- penalty", which suspended SMU's football program for the entirety of the1987 season. Additionally, SMU, did not participate in the 1988 season either because they could not get a good enough team to play. This punishment is the most devastating punishment ever handed down by the NCAA. SMU, who had become a good football program before the penalty, did not reach another bowl game until 2009. This punishment, given by the NCAA, destroyed SMU's football program. Many believe that the NCAA will not and should not give the "death penalty" again, since it was to severe.

6. Spy-gate

Via businessinsider.com

The #9 on this list was the most recent New England Patriot's scandal to occur. That one would probably not have been as big of a deal if it was the first time. However, "deflate-gate" was not the first time the Patriots had been caught cheating. In a September game against the New York Jets in the 2007 season, Bill Belichick and the Patriots were accused of filming the Jet's signals. Stealing signals is not uncommon in the NFL, but what was wrong with this case is that the NFL had specifically stated that teams could not film the other teams signals. NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell fined Bill Belichick 500,000 dollars and took away the Patriots first round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.

5. Steroid use in Major League Baseball

Via nytimes.com

PED's, Performance Enhancing Drugs, have been banned from Major League Baseball since 1991. However, the MLB did not start drug testing players until 2003. In 2007 US Senator George Mitchell began an investigation into the use of steroids in baseball. The Mitchel Report became something like the Salem Witch Hunt, every good major league player seemed to be accused. There were multiple hearings in front of Congress. The most famous was multiple Cy Young winner Roger Clements, who was accused of perjury. He was later found not guilty. In the end, many of the great players of the last 20 years were found to have used steroids. The most famous being Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez.

4. Black Sox Scandal

Via en.wikipedia.org

Eight players on the 1919 Chicago White Sox were accused of purposely losing the 1919 world series, in order to receive money from gamblers. This resulted in the appointment of the first ever commissioner of the MLB. The commissioner was given full control of the sport, and he decided to ban all 8 players from baseball. Their punishment is very similar to Pete Rose. They were no longer allowed to play in the MLB, and also could not ever be voted into the Hall of Fame.

3. 2000 Spanish Paralympic Basketball Team

Via insidethegames.biz

In 2000, the head of the Spanish Federation of mentally handicapped sports, Fernando Martin Vicente allowed athletes without any disabilities to compete in the Paralympics. The Spanish Paralympic basketball team won gold. After winning, a player on the team confessed that some players on the team were not disabled at all. It was found that Vicente had purposely added non disabled players to the team, in order to win the gold medal. Vicente was forced to resign, and the team was forced to return their gold medals.

2. Tonya Harding attacking Nancy Kerrigan

Via people.com

In the early 1990s Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan were rivals in figure skating, competing against each other for every championship. Nancy Kerrigan was always slightly better and more popular, which caused Harding to become very jealous. In 1994 Kerrigan was attacked and hit in the knee cap and was unable to compete in the 1994 US Championships. Since Kerrigan did not compete, Tonya Harding won. It was soon discovered that the attack was planned by Tonya Harding's ex-husband, but Harding claimed she knew nothing about it. Harding was allowed to compete in the 1994 Olympics, and Kerrigan was healthy enough to compete as well. During the competition, Nancy Kerrigan skated the best she had ever done, and Harding had the biggest choke of her career. After the games, Harding returned home and admitted to covering up her knowledge of the attacks. As a result, she was fined 100,000 dollars and she banned from future competition and her championship titles were taken from her.

1. Lance Armstrong

Via cnn.com

Lance Armstrong is the most popular biker in the history of the sport. He won the Tour De France 7 times in a row, starting in 1999. Throughout his whole career he was constantly accused of doping, although he always denied it. In 2012 he finally admitted to the use of steroids and was banned from future Olympic competition. It was found that he had been using steroids almost his whole career, so as a result all of his Tour de France victories were voided. His entire career had been a fraud.