Burning on cheats in sport

Okay, Jim Rome is not the only one who gets to burn! I am still simmering a bit over some comments made by idiots after Derek Jeter got caught cheating in a Yankees game a couple of weeks back. I've tried to let it lie but I just can't. You know the incident I'm talking about; Jeter acted his way to first base after a pitch in the seventh inning hit the skinny end of his bat. He shook his arm, winced as if in pain, received a visit from the trainer and was awarded first by the umpire. The next batter belted a home run that gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead. Thankfully, the Rays rallied for a 4-3 victory.

Later, Jeter admitted he was not personally hit, but that it hit the bat. He said that the umpire told him to go to first base. I'm not going to tell him I'm not going to first, you know." Rays manager Joe Maddon was tossed from the game for arguing the call, but he didn't fault Jeter. He said he would have applauded if a Rays player had done it. Great, just what we need from a "leader".

I'm sorry but cheating is cheating. No other word describes it, not gamesmanship, not acting, not "it's just part of the game". Sports is a microcosm of life and if cheating is condoned and even "applauded" on the sports field, what chance do we have in society. We just end up teaching our kids that unless you are caught and it has consequences, then it's totally okay. Wrong, that's total BS ( and I'm not talking about a Bachelor of Science degree).

I guess the thing that burns me the most is that Major League Baseball did nothing about it. If an organization has the power to censure a player for taking drugs, they can make a guy lose a couple of weeks salary for cheating and bringing the game into disrepute, and that's exactly what Jeter did. I'm not picking on Derek, he just happens to be the best current example. The same thing could be said about Thierry Henry when he blatantly hand-balled a shot into goal, and his cheating bundled Ireland out of a chance to compete in the FIFA World Cup. What if Jeter's cheating had caused the Rays to loose the game, like Henry's did to Ireland? What outcry then? Oh FIFA did nothing afterwards about Henry either; what a bunch of pathetic losers.

Clutch Performers, Those Brits! Pun Intended.

British motor sports is enjoying quite a renaissance. It's like "the British are coming, the British are coming" all over again. However, this time, they're not wearing red uniforms and carrying muskets. Their uniforms are just as colourful, maybe more so, but now they are driving fast cars and riding hot bikes, not marching through wooded hillsides by night, led by friendly natives.

Let me provide some details. The U.K. has provided the last two Formula One champions in Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button (above). Five of the top nine riders in the current World Superbike Championship are British. The Brits even have two representatives in the top ten of that bastion of American sport, the Indycar Series. One of them, Dario Franchitti (yes I know he's a Scot, but that still fits some definitions of British at least), is currently in second place on the championship ladder.

So why is this British invasion eating up the world of motor racing? Frankly I'm not sure I have a truly definitive answer. Oftentimes, these things have a life of their own and work in cycles. The Poms have been up there before, producing a number of world champions; Nigel Mansell and Jackie Stewart come to mind. But when such phenomenon have momentum they are hard to stop. That's where British racing is now... rolling.