Former NBA official Tim Donaghy exposed his personal cheating during games he worked during the early 2000s.
By Thomas Sellers Jr.
With all the news about the upcoming Presidential election, Coronavirus hitting the States and celebrities doing goofy stuff, it’s almost time for the return of Major League Baseball.
Normally the MLB is an escape in the sports world after the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Week and March Madness. But the 2020 baseball season opening day has a huge cloud of darkness thanks to the Houston Astros.
The Astros’ sign stealing scandal is a major black-eye to all of sports. In 2017 Houston captured the championship using its system to gain an advantage over the competition. Sports all over the world have a long tradition of trying to get a leg-up on the opposition. From cycling to baseball, cheating is a long standing practice.
Some offenses are laughed at by the public, while other transgressions are frown upon. Then there is that rare category of sins than cannot be forgiven. I’m leaving out the Steroid Era of the 1990s and early 2000s in Major League Baseball because it appears most of the League’s significant players were using.
And it was must-see TV for me as a teenager. Baseball was enjoyable watching a pitch thrown by a man juiced get jacked 500 feet by a dude swing a bat aided by roids.
Let’s get into my top 10 cheating scandals across sports of all-time.
ROSIE RUIZ
Let’s get off to a running start with this countdown. While a solid pace over 26.2 miles is more like it. This entry is more laughable than a disgrace. Back during the prestigious Boston Marathon, a woman who didn’t look like the typical marathon runner won the 1980 edition.
Rosie Ruiz appeared to cross the finish line before all the other female competitors. Ruiz nearly collapsed over that finish line and appeared to give her all to win the race. Then people started to come forward with eyewitness accounts of how Ruiz was able to beat the competition.
Ruiz took a huge shortcut to finish the race. Some even say she took a bus during part of the race and tried to time her appearance back on the course to win the race.
DANNY ALMONTE
No kidding around for this No. 9 entry. You have to be grown or about to reach adulthood to understand why this had to make the list. Back in 2001, Danny Almonte was thrust into the national spotlight during the Little League World Series.
Almonte was blowing away the children at the plate with his dominating pitching style. He seemed to be overpowering the lineup of 12 and 11 year olds.
Rumors started to flow that maybe Almonte was a little too old to be playing. Those rumors were confirmed that the ace from New York was three years older than the rest of the competition.
THE HAND OF GOD
Going to another international sporting event, the 1986 World Cup had some controversy. Argentina’s Diego Maradona scored the most controversial goal in soccer history. Argentina vs. England was the Quarterfinal showdown. With a scoreless tie at the 51st minute, Maradona received a pass in front of goal. He proceeded to tap the ball in with his hand. You’re not allowed to use your hands in soccer unless you’re a goalie.
The ref, Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser, did not blow his whistle, and the goal stood.Diego went on to score another. Argentina won the match and eventually went on to win the Cup. Maradona later acknowledged his move was cheating and gave his hand the name “Hand of God.”
FLOYD LANDIS
Cheating to be the best in the world is a strong temptation. After American Lance Armstrong gave a secret blueprint to doping to championships, another cyclist from the United States turned the trick in 2006. From 1999 to 2005 Armstrong was the man winning the Tour de France every year.
With the King retired, Floyd Landis looked to take over American cycling and the Tour de France. In comeback fashion, Landis achieved his goal and captured the yellow jersey and championship.
The way Landis made a furious comeback sparked rumors of doping. Landis’ urine samples came back three times over the amount of testosterone was in his body. It was clear he was cheating. In his downfall, Landis accused Lance Armstrong of doping. They were stripped of their Tour de France titles. And cycling icon Greg LeMond takes his place back atop as the best American cyclist ever.
BLACK SOX SCANDAL
More than 100 years later and this scandal is still referenced. It kind of kicked off the baseball shame tour of the Hall of Fame. And it warned the public that our favorite sports could be tampered with by the players.
The “Black Sox Scandal,” took place during the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds. The lasting legacy is that eight players were banned from the MLB for life.
Arnold “Chick” Gandil orchestrated the throwing of the games. He got his teammates to joined in the fix for some cash. The player hurt the most by the scandal is “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. He was a potential Hall of Famer. But when you’re banned for life, you get no entry into the museum of honors.
SPYGATE
If the NFL hadn’t burn the tapes, maybe this cheating scandal would be No. 1 on the list. Instead it falls in the middle of the pack. The New England Patriots dynasty has lasted 20 years. That’s unheard of for any sport.
Most critics of the Pats say it’s because they out-prepare all over teams in the league by stealing signs and recording the opposition’s practices.
Head Coach Bill Belichick is the one getting the most heat from all the allegations.In 2007, the New York Jets sent a complaint to the commissioner of the NFL Roger Goodell. The complaint stated that the Patriots filmed their signals. The Patriots were fined by the league destroyed those tapes proving wrong doing.
HARDING ATTACKS KERRIGAN
This scandal produced a piece of film that I wish was destroyed. I saw the honeymoon of Tonya Harding and her then husband Jeff Gillooly.
They were just two of the major players in a real-life soap opera. The act of cheating crossed the line of criminal when a person attacked American figure skater and Olympic hopefully Nancy Kerrigan.
Kerrigan and her rival Tonya Harding were two of the best American figure skaters in 1994. Apparently Harding wanted a clear advantage. The men in her life devised a plan to whack Kerrigan in her knee prior to the competition in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Michigan.
The cries of Kerrigan will live among those who watched the footage on TV. “Why? Why me? Why?”
At first, Harding was banned from skating. She threaten a lawsuit and was reinstated in time for the Olympics finished eighth. Kerrigan was awarded a spot on the U.S. team and
SMU DEATH PENALTY
I love college football. But not enough to buy some of the best high school talent for my favorite teams. Apparently some boosters are willing to go that far. And in Texas they do everything bigger. Back in the 1980s, Southern Methodist University was on top of the collegiate gridiron scene with great talented players like Eric Dickerson and Craig “The Pony’ James.
The pipeline of money to talented players was exposed in 1986. The investigation unearthed 16 years of violating NCAA rules.
Players had been given large sums of money from boosters and from SMU as well. Those on staff were aware of the violations. The NCAA hit SMU with the “Death Penalty.”
The effects of that ruling, SMU had one winning season over 20 years.
TIM DONAGHY
Worse than a player or coach fixing a game, when one of the officials does it. The NBA lived this nightmare with Tim Donaghy.
Former NBA referee, Donaghy was gambling on games he officiated. He made a direct impact on the outcome to benefit his own pockets and others he had a connection.
Two gamblers in one picture. The difference? One confined himself to the legal stages of gambling; the other bet on games in which he participated.
Donaghy is notorious because he bet on many games in which he worked and called the game according to where he had money to gain. Donaghy has been talking about his sins and calling out others ever since he was exposed. Makes me doubt all the Jordan Era and Los Angeles Lakers’ run in the early 2000s. Got to market the game to draw in eyes for all those advertisers I guess.
HOUSTON ASTROS
Maybe I am a prisoner of the moment, but the Houston Astros are the champions of this countdown.
With them winning in 2017, there sinning paid off with the ultimate goal. The Astros stole opponents’ signs for two years until one of their former players exposed the cheating system.
Mike Fiers brought this Astros secret weapon to the masses. The system used technology, a garbage can and talented players to capture a title. Let’s see how the league will punish those players involved throughout the season. For the first time since the “Steroid Era” I want to watch baseball.
“If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying,” some players say. Well I say if you’re cheating, I will come and watch to see you get a measure of payback.
THOMAS SELLERS JR. is the editor of The Millington Star and both the sports editor and a weekly personal columnist for West 10 Media/Magic Valley Publishing. Contact him by phone at (901) 433-9138, by fax to (901) 529-7687 and by email to [email protected].
