Cheating

In 2002, consumer advocate and current presidential candidate Ralph Nader quickly criticized the NBA referees who worked the Lakers' controversial Game 6 Western Conference finals victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Brian France has his share of critics, but it was hard to dispute NASCAR's chairman when he once observed that cheating in stock car racing has "been going on forever. It will go on forever." Even though France and other NASCAR officials have tried to stamp out cheating with tougher penalties -- especially with the Car of Tomorrow now being driven in the top-tier Sprint Cup Series -- the rules violations just keep on coming. The latest: the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota driven by Brian Vickers.

All 4,000 Air Force cadets will be confined to campus this weekend following a scandal in which 28 freshmen are suspected of cheating on a test, school officials said. The entire corps will remain on school grounds to reflect on the Air Force Academy's honor code, which forbids lying, cheating, stealing or tolerating those who violate it. The alleged cheating was reported Feb. 2 on a basic-knowledge test required for first-year cadets.

NASCAR's cheating scandal ballooned Wednesday when the Nextel Cup team owned by Michael Waltrip, the driver leading Toyota's entry into American stock car racing, drew a record penalty for doctoring his engine in advance of the season-opening Daytona 500. After finding that Waltrip's team had tried to use a performance-enhancing engine additive on his No.

The Air Force Academy said that 24 freshman cadets had now admitted cheating on a test, and that 12 others were under investigation but denied wrongdoing. Two-thirds of the cases involve athletes, Air Force Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker told the Gazette of Colorado Springs. Cadets obtained answers to an upcoming test and forwarded them through an Internet social group and private computer messages.

A chastened Michael Waltrip apologized Thursday for cheating violations by his Nextel Cup team that drew a record penalty from NASCAR and embarrassed his carmaker, Toyota, preparing for its first Daytona 500. But Waltrip nonetheless qualified for Sunday's race after he was allowed to drive a backup car in a qualifying heat Thursday.

Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the other Nextel Cup stars preparing for Sunday's Daytona 500 have been upstaged this week by a grim-looking man in a sports jacket who is little known outside the world of stock car racing. He is Robin Pemberton, 50, a New York native who once was a top crew chief and now is leading NASCAR's crackdown on cheating.

For generations it has been one of the great American axioms, accepted truth on diamonds, courts and gridirons everywhere: Sports builds character, instilling the values of teamwork and good sportsmanship. But amid fresh headlines of alleged cheating in auto racing, continuing controversies over steroid use in baseball, track and cycling and ugly brawls among basketball players comes a nationwide survey suggesting a decidedly darker vision of sports.

Chinese officials who have mistresses, fail to financially support their parents or abuse and abandon their families could be out of a job, according to a new set of ethics rules released by the central government. The regulations, set to take effect June 1, cover a variety of other misdeeds, including corruption, beating up or illegally detaining citizens, using drugs, having sex with a prostitute and organizing "superstitious gatherings."

Fifteen cadets were expelled from the Air Force Academy in a cheating scandal and three others resigned, school commanders said. Thirteen others were placed on probation. The cadets, all freshmen, either confessed or were found guilty by an honor board of sharing answers to a test of knowledge about the Air Force. Officials at the academy near Colorado Springs said the cadets forwarded answers through an Internet social group and private computer messages.