There has been an ongoing investigation on steroid use by baseball players which includes some of the biggest names in that game.

We have a professional football quarterback accused of running a dog-fighting ring, a professional basketball referee accused of fixing games which he officiated and now the Tour de France bicycle sport has had to remove two teams and four leaders of the current Tour de France for various reasons, most having to do with doping.

Chaos and disgrace enveloped the Tour de France early Thursday after the event’s overall leader, Michael Rasmussen, was removed from the race by his Rabobank team for lying about where he was training.

The announcement came hours after Rasmussen, who had already been riding under suspicion of doping, won the 16th stage Wednesday and appeared to be in position to claim the championship of cycling’s most prestigious event on Sunday in Paris. The news came shortly after the withdrawal of a second team in two days from the Tour amid the ever-widening doping scandal that has rocked the sport since last year’s champion, Floyd Landis, was found to have failed a drug test on his way to the title.

This year’s Tour has lost at least two teams, the winners of four stages and the overall leader. But organizers have so far said the event would not be canceled. Doing so, said Patrice Clerc, the president of the company that organizes the Tour, would mean victory for the riders who violate the rules.

At the rate the Tour de France is going they’ll be down to a ten year old vying for the title with an eleven year old because the adults want to win so much they’ll do anything to do it.

What has happened to fair play and playing to the best of your ability? And the best of your ability should mean without the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.

How many basketball games will people attend now while wondering if the game is fixed whenever they see what they think is a bad call by the referees?

How many young high school and college athletes will die because they are following the pros by taking performance-enhancing drugs so they, too, can have a shot at being a pro?

I have a ten year old grandson who plays little league football, and from what I hear, he is good at it. If he’s good enough when he goes to college I don’t want him to take drugs to enhance his natural abilities, thereby putting his life at risk, all for the sake of a game.

The basketball referee in question is suspected of dealing with the Gambino crime family to fix the games in order to settle his gambling debts. Now we have the mob involved in basketball, and the referee is afraid for his life.

Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law in this country, but if it turns out the football quarterback is guilty of dog-fighting he needs to be put away for a long time.

He won’t be though, because a dog is considered property. Oh, he’ll probably lose his football career but how many dogs will that bring back who were brutally killed for his wallet? Besides, with the money he earns at a sport—a game he can afford the best legal representation money can buy.

What are we teaching our kids with this behavior? That it’s OK to cheat as long as you don’t get caught.

If that’s what it comes down to then I hope my grandchildren play sports for fun and when it comes time to go to college decide they want to focus on a career that will last longer than their bodies will last under the effects of drugs.