Chess, Fishing and Cornhole: Why Cheating Scandals Will Haunt Sports in 2022? | | US Sports

aAll in all, it’s been a pretty steep drop for two stars of the professional fishing world, Jacob Runyan and Chase Kominski. In just a few weeks, they went from near-sealing top-team honors to facing prison.

their criminal charges? Stuffing the insides of five Lake Erie pollock with stones and supermarket fillets at a fishing tournament in northeastern Ohio.Tournament his director Jason His fisher says, after removing the prey from the guts, “weigh the fish.” has come in!” and rang the alarm bell. The suspects could only sit quietly behind the police who came to arrest them as a mob of angry onlookers approached.

In October, a grand jury indicted Runyan and Kominski with misdemeanor charges of fraud, attempted grand theft, possession of criminal tools, and illegal possession of wildlife. If convicted, they could serve up to one year in prison. After filing a plea of ​​not guilty, they quickly posted bail. But that didn’t stop Fisher from declaring Fishgate “the most disgusting and dishonest act the fishing world has ever seen.”

In another year, their alleged stunt would be the best ever. The sports world in 2022 is rife with cheating scandals, suggesting that professional competition has its own problems.

Most of these misconducts undermine confidence in the sport by blaming and disrespecting fellow competitors. However, few have presented much evidence and the suspects have pleaded not guilty.

19-year-old American grandmaster Hans Niemann watched world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen withdraw from a major tournament match for reasons other than health reasons. Two weeks later, Carlsen withdrew from his tournament online, and he moved two hands for a rematch with Niemann. Meanwhile, a third top-tier chess player jokingly speculates that Niemann’s mentor is communicating computer-assisted moves to Niemann via his bead, vibrating anal, and an interesting suggestion is Wildfire’s. spread like this.

Hans Niemann at the US Chess Championship in October. Photo: Michael Thomas/EPA

T.The world’s oldest and largest competitive Irish dance organization has been forced to launch an extensive investigation. After receiving a complaint A leading teacher is said to have held an unfair competition for his students. Some were accused of trying to right the competition.of another casea dance teacher was accused of exchanging sexual favors for a higher score.

Alleged The deception didn’t stop there: Doubles teams ranked in professional cornhole (bar and backyard bean bag toss games) were accused of using undersized pillows. (Judges found the duo using smaller bags, but so did their competitors.)).Former Survivor Contestant he claimed to have quarreled From a jackpot by an Instagram influencer rookie player, possibly with the help of a vibrating ring, in a high-stakes Texas Hold’em game. Her coach said she was in luck, confusing the hands she played.

this year’s Miss USA contest ends with goodbye protest of the pageant; some contestants believed that Miss Texas’ victory was predetermined by the event organizers.

Scandals of this kind are usually grouped together in one file. Marquee University’s track and field program was overthrown by illegal payments, and the hero’s record-setter who’d been on juice the whole time..but in 2022 he didn’t even have time to catch his breath.Only Nascar, the birthplace of outlaw culture not. Disqualify top 2 finishers in one race for cheatingyou let the House Oversight Committee find the evidence Dan Snyder skims profits from fellow NFL team owners.

Megan Bartlett, founder of the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sports, says these controversies put a new focus on “the contradiction between humanity and sport.”

There were many other cases that at least smelled of unfair play. This was the year the World Cup was held in Qatar, and it has long been claimed that rights were acquired through bribery. Despite declaring his 2021 crown to be the result of an official verdict of ‘human error’, he has reiterated his status as Formula 1 champion. Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros won his Series at the Worlds on his five carryovers from the same group that cheated on their way to the title five years ago and was ejected. At a qualifying event at the Korn Ferry Tour (the PGA Tour’s catering facility), the 35-year-old player who qualified was disqualified for taking a stroke out of the game. (Initially, he partly thought a lucky bounce off a wild turkey was his breakthrough round.)

All of this was enough to overshadow a major gambling scandal in which cheating took place. was The NFL has suspended Atlanta Falcons receiver Calvin Ridley for one year for betting $1,500 on the Falcons to win. his salary is $11 million.

Smaller competitions, once regulated by self-regulation, are now attracting the attention of television cameras and sponsors, motivating competitors to gain an edge. Edge: The War against Cheating and Corruption in the Cutthroat World of Elite Sports, claiming cheating as an inherently human trait. His Pielke, professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado, said: “Mix in the competitive core governance and it’s a pretty fertile petri dish for everything you list. It’s quite the list.”

Cheating is not part of the competition. It’s the back side of the coin. Elite sports in particular have long been premised on gamesmanship, the idea of ​​how far competitors can bend the rules. It’s the spirit of innovation.And while the best contenders are expected to cross the line occasionally, it’s strange that so many are picked this year to do it.

A soccer player catches the ball and another player jumps near him
Calvin Ridley (left) has been suspended for gambling. Photo: Mark Lomoglio/AP

But consider the money at stake. Global sports is an estimated $500 billion industry, with even the ostensibly minor leagues dangling big trophies. His master of teenage chess, Niemann, was playing on a payday of $350,000. Ace Cornhole his player can earn $250,000 a year. Expensive trucks and boats are common prizes in the world of professional fishing. Last season, Runyan and Cominsky split his competition earnings of over $300,000. Top team honors would have earned a $29,000 bonus in 2022. These scandals,” says Bartlett.

In addition, there are fewer taboos around profits. College amateurs are now free to make money from their names, images and likenesses. The arena’s naming rights deal with FTX was a major liability. Sport, once staunchly anti-gambling, not only promotes sportsbooks with gambling and games, and game.

A 2018 Supreme Court ruling paved the way for states to legalize sports betting, so the NFL signed multi-year deals with DraftKings, FanDuel, and Caesars that together are worth just under $1 billion. Last year, Washington, DC’s Capital One Arena, home to the NBA’s Wizards and NHL’s Capitals, became the first major U.S. track and field venue to feature a sportsbook. “I work at a university where he signed one of the first contracts with a gambling company,” he says. “You can argue it both ways. ?Sport is not a carved place, it has its own rules, which are a good reflection of the pros and cons of everything we do.”


aAll this drips. When the purpose of competition is all to be elite, it changes the game for young players. It puts an incredible amount of pressure on them when the focus used to be on having fun and cultivating a lifelong hobby. It was nurturing, but now it’s the parents who invest thousands of dollars in elite club teams in hopes of giving their children sports scholarships and professional careers. can be the driving force behind cheating later in life.

For others, sport is a useful political tool. For example, consider the case of swimmer Leah Thomas. Initially competing in the men’s race, Thomas underwent more than three years of hormone therapy treatment before she joined the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s swim team. While she excelled in her pool and won her NCAA title, becoming the first transgender athlete to do so, she was publicly branded as a fraudster. Bartlett says:

Most ironically, the same people accusing Thomas couldn’t be bothered to throw the book at an actual rule-breaking competitor. Although removed, they are still competing in live matches after Chess.com’s 72-page report. Turns out the teen probably cheated With over 100 online games. (Niemann, who has sued his rival Carlsen and others for his $100 million to clear his name, has admitted cheating in his previous matches online to boost streaming numbers. .)

The cornhole bean bag controversy was ruled unintentional.The poker scandal did not require an investigation. The chairman of the Irish dance corps at the center of its cheating scandal survived a recent vote of no confidence. “We spent four years with unconfirmed results,” says Bartlett, alluding to President Trump. “Sport is at the pinnacle of power and privilege. If incentives remain so great and punishments so small, what will stop it?”


Professional fishing is bound by the Code of Honor, as prizes are derived primarily from entry fees. Fishermen have laws to help them because their game is regulated by the state.

Jacob Runian (left) and Chase Kominski will be arraigned in a Cleveland court in October. Photo: Mark Gillispie/AP

Runyan and Cominsky should have known better than anything else. At the same event in 2021, two were disqualified because one of them failed the polygraph. This is an integrity failsafe that shows how seriously the fishermen take their sport.

Even if Runyan and Cominsky were to lose their licenses and never fish again, it would still be a footnote to an era when vices became virtues and cheaters reigned supreme. This is simply the world we live in now. At best, parents weary of the cheater culture that pervades sports can spend money on alternative entertainment for their families. But what if the child still wants to play? seeks to encourage a more holistic view in order to change the mindset: sports are meant to help children become better human beings. If so, that’s a big leap.”

Considerable efforts have been made over the decades to curb all forms of cheating, from random drug tests to computer-assisted judges. Ultimately, however, authorities are still chasing motivated individuals for an edge their rivals will never see. For Runyan and Cominsky, the alleged fraud was as simple as stuffing fish inside other fish.

Unless fans can curb their anticipation for historic races, thrilling games, and other awe-inspiring feats, the urge to cheat will be overwhelmed and the stunts will become increasingly daring. No more suspending disbelief just being part of the spectacle. “I’m kind of a realist,” he says Pielke. “You can enjoy the competition and at the same time recognize that it is an imperfect human system.”



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/26/cheating-sports-2022 Chess, Fishing and Cornhole: Why Cheating Scandals Will Haunt Sports in 2022? | | US Sports

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