The Extremes Professionals Will Go To Win

Farmington sixth grader Ryan Flanders' as one of the winners of an annual essay contest sponsored by the Farmington Rotary Club in collaboration with West Woods Upper Elementary School. Read his essay, "The Extremes Professionals Will Go To Win" below. 

By Ryan Flanders

Today, there’s nothing but cheating in professional sports.  What we hear and read on the Internet, on TV, and in newspapers proves that “elite” athletes can’t get enough of it.  People these days appear to be desperate to win. Winning means money, and professional athletes who cheat increase their chances of getting a bigger paycheck.

Have you ever heard of the Saints Bounty Program?  The Saints are a football team in the NFL. In 2010, the Saints defensive coordinator started a program to reward players who injured key players of the opposing offense. Eventually, the defensive coordinator was caught in his criminal actions when he gave a speech saying, “Kill the head and the body will die.” The players and coaches who had been participating in the Saints’ program were later suspended for various amounts of time. Thankfully, their cruel tactics were finally stopped; but unfortunately it was too late, as many talented players were seriously injured during the years of the Saints Bounty Program.

            Lance Armstrong is a popular name these days in the media.  For many years he had been considered the world’s best cyclist, winning the Tour de France 7 times. He was a hero in the eyes of the American people because he was a Cancer Survivor who became the world’s greatest cyclist.  Everything seemed so perfect for Armstrong until one of his former cyclist teammates caught him being injected with a PED (Performance Enhancing Drug) called Erythropoietin.  Lance’s former teammate went to the authorities to report his PED use.  Soon afterward, many other witnesses said the same thing. For years, Armstrong denied that he had cheated during his cycling career by using PED’s.  When the truth finally came out, the world’s once-greatest cyclist was stripped of all 7 of his Tour de France medals as well as his Olympic gold medals.  Using PED’s made him a cheater.

When PED’s were introduced to the sport of baseball in 2003, over 100 different major league baseball players were tested and caught using steroids. Those who use steroids are faster and stronger than the non-using players, which is an unfair advantage that screams “CHEATING!” To this day, major league baseball hasn’t been able to catch up to the amount of steroids being used by its players. Fans nowadays can’t even tell if incredible play by a professional athlete represents the athlete’s natural ability, or whether it is the work of PED’s. It’s a sad reality.

 After learning about the numerous cheating scandals in professional sports, I feel that athletes who break the rules and lie to their fans about cheating, should be banned from their sport for life. I don’t believe it’s right for them to receive big paychecks and positive media attention when they haven’t earned it through good, honest talent and work. 

Even in Farmington Recreational Sports there is cheating. I remember a time at one of my younger brother’s soccer games, when the opposing team was clearly targeting the star player on my brother’s team.  It was hard to believe that the other team was playing dirty at the direction of their coach. They weren’t focusing on playing as a team by passing well and scoring goals, instead, they only cared about targeting the other team’s star player!  Things got so out of hand, that the director of the Farmington Soccer Department came to the field in order to get the game under control.  I was happy that the craziness was stopped before someone really got hurt.

According to the rules of the Farmington Soccer Department, it is illegal for advanced travel soccer players to play in a Recreational Soccer League.  Travel soccer players aren’t allowed to play in leagues that don’t fit their appropriate age group and skill level.  Even though this is the case, I remember a soccer game when a kid from a travel league was playing for the opposing team.  I recall feeling like our team had no shot and the game was completely lop-sided.  It just wasn’t fair.  Soon after that game, the cheating player’s parents were confronted by the director of the FSC (Farmington Soccer Club), and the boy was kicked out of the league. When I learned what happened, I felt it was the right thing to do. Recreational soccer isn’t balanced and fair when an advanced travel soccer player is allowed to play in the league.

About a year ago, I was asked to be a substitute player for another soccer team. The coach wanted to win the game so badly that he played the most talented players, but sat the rest of the players on the bench. It was hard to be overlooked by the coach during each sub-in, because I was ready to get in the game. The inequality shown by the coach was completely unfair.  Coaches at my age level still are expected to give each player equal playing time.  I was extremely frustrated that I was asked to play on a team where I was nothing more than a bench warmer. 

The competition in professional sports today is so brutally intense that many athletes feel that they cannot measure up to the other players without cheating in some way. Such athletes feel that money and fame are more important than honesty and integrity.  There is no telling the extremes that athletes will go to, to win - and win big.  

What is so bad about playing fair?