Red Sox sign-stealing scandal shows cheating in sports is always worth it

The only cheaters in MLB history who have been vilified are the most notorious alleged juicers of the Steroid Era, but even public sentiment against them has softened in recent years. Barry Bonds, for example, garnered 59.1 percent of the Hall of Fame vote last year, and Clemens received 59.5 percent. They are inching closer to Cooperstown.

But considering it is illegal to take anabolic steroids without a valid prescription, missing out on the Hall of Fame isn’t the worst price to pay. The scorn of sportswriters is preferable to legal consequences.

Clemens was cleared of perjury and Bonds was convicted of just one count of obstruction of justice — and all of his perjury charges were dropped. Cheating in sports is ambiguous. As the Patriots displayed during their Deflategate offense — hello, “Wells Report in Context” — it is difficult to prove.