Badminton Scandal: Is Trying to Lose Cheating? [VIDEO]

We are in the thick of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. And there have been some seriously exciting moments. As Chad said, "We needed that." What we don't need is for world-class athletes to misbehave in competition.

Fortunately, none of the athletes involved in the Olympic "badminton scandal" were from the U.S. Unfortunately, these women still were in positions to be role models and failed miserably at the task.

Now, here's my thing:

I understand why these athletes were ousted from competition. I'm just trying to figure out why they were trying to lose and why that's considered cheating.

The charges against teams from China, Indonesia, and South Korea were "not using one's best efforts to win a match" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport."

Apparently, they were committing glaring mistakes during play--so much so, that spectators were booing--in order to throw the games so they can get better draws on down the line. This is the part that doesn't make any sense.

First, I don't claim to understand the technicalities of the sport of badminton, but it just seems to me that if you LOSE, you WON'T get a better draw on down the line because you will be ELIMINATED!

So, I'm totally confused. I loved playing badminton in the backyard when I was a kid and the biggest scandal I ever committed was hitting the birdie onto the roof of the shed.

Well, hopefully, we can all put this behind us and continue to enjoy some awesome displays of athletic prowess as these Olympics continue.

But there's one thing that will never change; we now have a new term we never thought we'd ever hear in our lifetimes:

BADMINTON SCANDAL!!!