Article in the Denver Post discusses cheating in sports.  Interesting paradox in that sports fans complain about steroids, and  pitchers  greasing the ball.  However fans pour into the parks like no tomorrow.

The story isn’t so much that sports figures
cheat - they have, they do, and, given the big bucks involved, they
will continue to - but rather that fans are flocking to the ballpark,
arena or superspeedway in record numbers anyway. And if they’re not in
the stands, they’re in front of their big screens generating television
ratings that provide the money that makes the sports world go around…

Question is, why? Given the media scrutiny,
sports fans know all about the cheating. Yet they continue to show up
and pay dearly for the privilege. Case in point: Barry Bonds, the
poster boy for Major League Baseball’s steroids era…

Given the gaudy attendance figures and TV
ratings, there’s no denying fans tolerate cheating. They love this
stuff, needles and all. Now for the ultimate deep-thought question: Are
they attracted to it despite all the cheating or, in part, because of it?

The Nation opines because people don’t condemn cheating.  In so many ways people cheat, b end the rules, manipulate the rules, and generally do what they want.  Cheating is tolerating and even rationalized.

"It’s very interesting and a little confusing," said Nova Lanktree, the vice president of marketing services for the Chicago-based Coordinated Sports Management Group. "You go ‘duh’ a little bit. Maybe after you read a story Monday about Barry Bonds doing something wrong, you forget about it when you get to the game with your dad and the hot dogs and beer arrive. It’s like our pleasure trumps our disdain."

Athletes use steroids or HGH to become bigger, faster and stronger, and when it comes to watching games people play, bigger, faster and stronger is better entertainment. Case in point: Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa matching home run for home run in the summer of 1998, a passion play that most observers credit with re-energizing baseball fans after the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. Seven years after hitting his then-record 70th home run, McGwire told Congress that he didn’t want to talk about his bulging biceps. At least he responded to the questions. Sosa, when pressed for answers on whether he used steroids, claimed he didn’t speak English.

Fans and reporters may clamor for consequences of the steroid and anabolic use, however ratings are at a high, TVs tune in to games, and the bank accounts get larger.  Why should MLB change?  Integrity?

Major-league owners and commissioner Bud Selig have been roundly criticized for not taking action in the midst of widespread allegations that many of the game’s biggest stars have pharmaceutically padded their stats. But the impact of the steroids era on the industry’s bottom line has been nothing short of revolutionary, running step for step with

an attendance and TV ratings explosion that has tripled the game’s gross revenues in little more than a decade.

Why? There’s only one logical conclusion. Fans are willing to overlook all the allegations of cheating as long as they are being entertained. Chicks dig the long ball, as the saying goes, and apparently so do their dates.

"It’s exciting to see a 480-foot home run," Ayervais said. "In that instant, we’re being gratified, we’re being entertained."

Experts seem to agree.  Cheating is rampant in American (and other) society.  Cheating then becomes acceptable in society’s sports and entertainment.

University of Colorado psychology professor Gary McClelland once saw Sosa hit three home runs at Wrigley Field. While he was disappointed to hear of Sosa’s alleged involvement with steroids, he was hardly surprised. It’s a societal thing, he said. We live in a culture in which people speed on the highway, fudge on taxes and overcharge clients. Is it any wonder they’re able to shrug off the notion of athletes trying to get an edge?

"Most people think it’s no worse in sports than anywhere else, and it’s probably better in sports," McClelland said. "You’ve got corporations cooking the books. Within the context of that, tweaking a carburetor doesn’t seem like a bad thing. It might not be quite so strong as to say we rationalize cheating, but we expect and aren’t surprised by cheating.

Dale Murphy feels the same way:

That acceptance doesn’t sit well with Dale Murphy, a former two-time National League MVP who ended his career with the Rockies. He is so concerned about wayward athletes’ impact on the younger generation he has launched a foundation called I Won’t Cheat.

"I get frustrated when I hear fans echo the phrase, ‘If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying,’ " Murphy said. "It’s just the nature of our society and where we put sports and entertainment. People like to be entertained. I don’t think they come because they think guys are cheating. But when they hear about guys cheating, they’re not surprised.

"It’s like everything else on the front page. We’ve got corruption, shady business stuff, Enron, government scandals. The theory is, if you want to cheat, you can do it."

Are there morals,  beyond the self-flaggelation and postureing we do in the media?

"It’s very tough to explain and still have any kind of principles," Brennan said. "If you have to cheat to win, people look the other way. It’s not a pretty picture morally. There are a lot of moral contradictions in sports. You see it every day. But nobody cares."

A moral dilemma for fans? McClelland won’t go that far. Nor will Ayervais.

"It’s only a moral dilemma if you care," Ayervais said.

Apparently not enough people care about integrity.