Graeme Street recently asked, 

“Have Recent Doping Allegations, Conspiracies, And Lies Killed Cycling?  What Matters Most Is YOU.”

My answer: Cycling is the only sport that I’ve really enjoyed participating in.  Why? Aside from the fact that I’m (somewhat) good at it, I've always believed that sports should be FUN.  Cycling for me has always been fun, even during those times when my muscles were screaming WTF at me and I was ready to kill whoever convinced me to go on such-and-such ride/race.

However, many of the P.E. and athletics coaches that I encountered even as early as elementary school seemed to subscribe to the Coach Red Saunders' mentality expressed by his (in)famous quote, "Winning isn't everything, its the only thing."  It’s that unfortunate mindset that has resulted in cheating apparently being okay as long as you don't get caught. 

(I guess I'm lucky that I never had a cycling coach. )

What do we have to show for this? How about Lance Armstrong having all of his Tour de France wins stripped by the USADA over a sophisticated, long-term doping program? Then there’s Saints Coach Sean Peyton being suspended for a year due to the "Bountygate" scandal.  Just today, the NFL announced that it is investigating the San Diego Chargers for possibly using an illegal "Stick 'em"-like substance during their 35-24 loss to the Denver Broncos last Monday night.  I'm not even beginning to scratch the surface here . . . it goes on and on.

Back to Graeme's question: My answer is an emphatic “no”.  I started racing as a Cat IV in 1977 and LOVED it!  I enjoyed the comradery and the good natured rivalries.  For us, racing was what it was about the doing and not simply the winning.  We rode for the sheer love of the sport.  Oh, the beer and bullshit sessions after a race or long ride were lots of fun too.  There was no point in cheating because we were just lowly amateurs - there weren't multi-million dollar sponsorship fees, huge ticket sales or enormous advertising revenues at stake.  We were usually just racing for ribbons, tee-shirts, the occasional prime, and beer.  When we were racing non-sanctioned, we were often racing solely for the bragging rights (and beer).

Would taking the big money out of sports eliminate cheating? Cheating seems to (unfortunately) be a part of human nature that is probably tied to some survival mechanism left over from our pre-historic past, so I suspect not.  Maybe it would significantly reduce it, but as long as everybody loves a winner and sports equals dollars then I think we’ll be stuck with cheating – even if the resulting victories are all too often hollow.