Cheating has long been a part of anything competitive I guess. But recently, it seems it is getting a bit out of hand. The two big cheating scandals at the moment are not in events you might think of as involving cheating. Chess and fishing.
With the cheating involved in fishing, there was some big money up for grabs, so maybe it is a little understandable that someone might want to fudge the result a bit. There was about $39,000 Cdn. involved as prize money, which could tempt a lot of people. And while many people involved in fishing could probably be said to exaggerate a bit from time to time, this seemed a bit over the top.
When your fish is about the same size as another person’s fish, but weighs twice as much, questions may be asked. And when they cut open said fish and find it stuffed with lead weights and fillets from other fish, even more questions will be asked. The investigation is still ongoing, but it’s hard to believe the fish ate those weights themselves. So something isn’t right.
And in chess… well, that’s just getting crazy. One chess master has accused another of cheating. I’m not sure exactly how this all was supposed to work, and I’m not sure I want to know. There are many stories online.
But there always seems to be those who feel they need to gain an advantage, even if that advantage is a bit against the rules. There have been examples in major sports over the years. From under inflated footballs to beating trash cans in baseball, amoung other things.
I’m one of those who likes to play things as straight up as possible. If you succeed, great. If you don’t, hopefully you learn something for the next time around.
And there is always the fear of getting caught. Which, to be honest, is what kept my eyes on my own paper during school exams.
But it seems to be something that is happening more often and in the most unlikely of places.
Now, it’s Fat Bear Week. If I find out one of those bears has been sneaking off to secretly gorge on chocolate and bacon, I’m going to be upset.
