Major League Baseball (MLB) has instituted new rules to "prevent" drug issues such as not announcing in advance when testers are coming and logging in packages received by the club house. While this is well and good, does it go to the root of the problem? People want to cheat and they will cheat if they can get away from it.
If they were serious, they should have penalties built into the collective bargaining agreement that players have to repay their salaries (this will never happen since the union is too strong). Or we could have an honor system similar that I had in law school. If there was a disincentive to cheat it would be that others would be harmed. Players would turn in cheats if there would be a penalty for others. Thus, a system could be established where a percentage of team salaries are put into an escrow account. If someone cheats and the others do not turn them in, then the money is forfeited. However, if others turn in a colleague then their salary is safe. This works well with grades (i.e. if someone cheats you are motivated to turn them in since if they do well that means based on a strict grading curve that your grade decreases). Maybe it could work in sports?
What do you think?
Gil-
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This is an interesting proposal. Putting profesional athletes on an honor system that holds their salary over their head could be a worth while approach. We all know it is very difficult to get any collective bargaining done with the players union. The MLB has the strongest players union in all of sports. The MLB should keep making everything public information. This is still one of the biggest deterents and one way to get the players union to budge.
In the NCAA when you are caught cheating, playing with ineligible players, your wins are taken away, championships, etc. What if when a player is caught taking steriods, essentially cheating, every game they have played in should be forfeited. It is extreme but it seems people react better when a punishment will not just be an individual punishment but will effect his or her peers.
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