Biggest cheaters in sports history, the New England Patriots will pay some steep penalties for violating the NFL’s rules that ban videotaping on the sidelines. Coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team $250,000 for what the NFL deemed was stealing signals using video taping equipment. In addition, the Patriots will lose a 2008 first-round draft pick if they make the playoffs this season. So, does this make the Patriots the biggest cheater in sports history?

The editors at the Miami Herald came up with their list of the biggest cheaters in sports history. I agree with most of the entries on their list, with one exception: the Chicago "Black" Sox, who were charged, acquitted, and subsequently banned from Major League Baseball for throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. It seems to me that cheaters are trying to gain a competitive advantage. They’re trying to win games. The Black Sox weren’t trying to do either. So while they may not have played fair and square, I can’t really count them among the biggest cheaters in sports history.

I also think the Herald’s list is missing one important name: Pete Rose. Surely a lifetime ban from baseball for betting on his own team’s games makes him one of the world’s biggest cheaters.

Mark Mcgwire admits to using steroids

Mark Mcgwire admits to using steroids. Former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire admitted that he used steroids for several years, including the season in which he hit a record 70 home runs.
McGwire issued a statement saying, "I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize."

McGwire left baseball in 2001 after hitting 583 home runs over a 16-season career. In 1998, he broke Roger Maris's single-season home run record of 61 set in 1961 when he hit 70 home runs. He added 65 homers the following season.

He denied using illegal performance-enhancing drugs after he left the game and he refused to answer questions on steroid use during an under-oath appearance before a congressional committee.

The Cardinals have hired McGwire to be their hitting coach in 2010.

In the statement, McGwire said he tried steroids "briefly" in the 1989-90 offseason and after he was injured in 1993.

"I used them on occasion through the '90s, including during the 1998 season," McGwire said. "I wish I never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era."

McGwire refused to say whether steroids had helped him set the record.

"I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids," he said. "I had good years when I didn't take any and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry."

Source:womanseyeonsports