Gaming the System

Detroit Tigers ace Kenny Rogers was caught with an illegal substance on the fingers of his pitching hand the other night. He had to wash it off and continued pitching eight shutout innings. The substance certainly helped Rogers grip the ball in the current cold weather, conferring upon him an unfair advantage over hitters. Baseball people say this kind of thing happens all the time and aren't making a big deal of it.

No doubt cheating is widespread in our society because the stakes are so high. And also because even when you get caught nothing much happens. Apparently results matter more than character. I guess we shouldn't complain about things like voter fraud, embezzlement, and other ways people game the system to their own advantage. If everybody does it, it must be all right. Right?