Somewhere in the suburbs of Atlanta, a father struggles to explain to his son why his favorite football player has been suspended from the National Football League. Upon learning of these repulsive violations, the son dejectedly folds the black, number 7 Falcons jersey he received last Christmas and shelves it in the attic. In Wisconsin, a commissioner debates whether to personally attend and honor the breaking of one of baseball’s most hallowed records because the player doing so is the focus of a scandal for which the sport itself is partially responsible. In Manhattan, another commissioner, one who has proudly presided over his sport for a quarter-century, in glum and dejected fashion explains to fans and media why he’s currently mired in what he calls “the worst situation” of his tenure.
At no time in the history of our nation have we as fans been as collectively disillusioned about the state of professional sports. Never before have television networks opened their broadcasts with three consecutive stories detailing the current catastrophes facing each of its commissioners. Never before have polls been taken asking fans which commissioner they would least like to be. And never before have there been three simultaneous federal probes and investigations to determine the extent to which ethics in sports have been violated and to which we as fans have been cheated.
This is a sad state of affairs for the average sports fan and an even worse predicament for the respective leagues. While ticket prices for professional sporting events continue to rise, the product fans pay to witness dwindles. Within the last twenty years, we have been treated to work stoppages in all four major sports leagues: the NBA, NHL, NFL and Major League Baseball. The NHL cancelled its entire 2004-2005 NHL season. In 1994, they called off the World Series. Major League Baseball is still trying to usher back those it alienated as fans were left wondering how millionaire players, owners, mediators, agents and litigators were somehow unable to fairly divide a multi-million dollar pie.
Professional sports are no longer a microcosm of society. The court of public opinion has already condemned the indicted, and perhaps rightfully so. The boy can only cry wolf for so long.
Perhaps I’m naïve. Scandals in sports are nothing new. In 1919, the Chicago White Sox were charged with throwing the World Series. In 1951, the City College of New York and other college basketball programs were implicated in gambling scandals. In 1963, Alex Karras was suspended from the NFL for gambling on professional sports. In the 1980s and 90s, Steve Howe was suspended for illicit drug use on seven, separate occasions. Yet as a sports fan these days, it is becoming more and more difficult to give so much, emotionally and monetarily, without getting anything in return.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting perfection. I understand how suddenly earning millions of dollars can affect a person’s core values. But I fail to see how this justifies players firing handguns in public, driving recklessly and under the influence, inciting riots at basketball games, abusing animals, spitting on fans, publicly claiming to not make enough to support a family, openly criticizing players of other races, creeds or sexual orientations, gambling on or affecting the very game that is your bread and butter, being expelled from your league for repeated drug violations… in essence, tarnishing the very thing Americans, and athletes once, held dear.
With the recent Donaghy scandal in the NBA, what’s to assure us that the very game we watch is genuine and as Commissioner Stern put it, “decided on its merits?” Why should I continue to cheer for a Cincinnati Bengals team that experienced over ten arrests last season? Why should I recognize Barry Bonds’ achievements when it is alleged he took performance enhancing drugs to attain them? Yet why should I crucify him alone when he never failed a drug test and it is purported that half the league did the same at a time when baseball turned a blind eye?
We are the fans. We are those to whom these sports cater and we should be recognized and appreciated as such. Right now, it is evident that professional sports have no respect for you. Why should you continue to offer undying love and adulation in return?
For those who desire to see or experience true competition and sport, I suggest you go to your local youth league or YMCA and either attend a game or volunteer to coach tomorrow’s future. It is at that point in a child’s lifetime when what is good and true about sports is instilled, long before it becomes corrupted with money, power or unethical behavior. As far as professional sports goes, why bother?
dayum....this should be BOTD for the next 30 days. I was wondering how the heck you could possibly argue against BGL, and by God, you did. With eloquence and pure passion. Chris...this was just outstanding...you had me in the first paragraph.
As I said in BGL's post, I am not a huge pro sports fan-college sports is more pure, more innocent, less jaded. The college players play for the love of the game, one shining moment, and of course, eventual pro status.
Sadly, my perception of pro sports hasn't changed...I knew there were some really rotten things going on from personal experience as well as just watching the game in general.
Carson Palmer convinced Matt Leinert to stay at USC because he said pro wasn't any fun...it's just another business and you are a paid employee.
Hmm... I'm wondering how this one is he said she said. Because I agree totally with both of you. I think you both took your arguments on the right tangents to make it right on both sides.
This is great stuff Rev. Maybe some of the best you have ever written. I enjoyed it tremendously. And Lisa is right in saying BOTD material. I love nothing better than reading something that takes me down a memory trip, and then challenges my thoughts at the same time. This is PRIME TIME stuff my man. VERY WELL DONE. I am definitely looking forward to more He Said She Said material. This blog world needs more of this kind of stuff.
I've got draft day tomorrow for the dime shacks ff on yahoo...they moved the draft up...I should start drinking heavily right now. I wonder if Vick can be bought cheap?
Excellent, Rev. For the record, I gave up on the first love of my life, MLB, after their last strike in '94. If you are interested, you can read all about it in my "This Used To Be My Playground" post from last summer.
I admit, it's getting more and more difficult to watch pro sports. Unfortunately, I also find it harder and harder to watch collegiate sports. Things like the joke of a three point line (though they're moving it back, finally), the quick exit to the pros, and the BCS fiasco-don't even get me started-have turned me off as well.
You know what REALLY pissed me off, Rev? When the NCAA changed the College World Series away from a true double-elimination format in '97 or so. I know, the "ping" turns a lot of people off, but at least they don't go on strike. Anyway, the DE format had been in place for, oh I don't know, forty years? But TV money changed all that.
Ok I haven't seen the movie but really ricko you haven't seen an episode either. You should watch it. Even though it's messed up and funny, it brings good points across.
Rev you go and change that to SHE SAID right this minute!! lol
BTW, if you read my blog, you will see lisa agreed with me. I do agree this is another excellent piece!!
Did that father explain to his son how many pro players are really great human beings giving of their time and to various charities and show respect to the game they love? Did he tell the little boy the good actually outnumber the bad but sports networks tend to report only negative news? Did he share the memories he has of going to games with his father or screaming for his team in front of the television? If not, he and his son will miss out on the very best sports has to offer and some unforgettable memories. Tell him to throw away that #7 jersey and go buy his son a # 18 Colts jersey. Tell him to show his support for the majority who are good and never let the "evil-doers" (I still crack up at that term) win.
0-4 Rev...I am going to have to let you win one soon just so you can save face....or ####!! ;)
Last edited by bluegrassLady on July 28th at 12:51 AM.
Rev, this is by far one of the best blogs I've ever read on here. I hardly ever get a chance to come back and read anything, but I'm glad I did on this day.
Many people are content with sitting on there couch and complaining about the state of sports. Get out and do something about it. If you don't want adults acting like children, teach them the right way. Show them the difference between right and wrong. Teach them the game is more than about them and that they should respect it.
Dropping "She's Wrong" is hilarious. It was a well-written post with that line providing comedic genius. Rev, you won the Pete Rose post as far as I'm concerned.
But to this point, I had a great feeling when baseball was back in 1995 and had no bitterness with the strike as a 12 year old. Only problem I had was the game had changed into a power game.
Am I pissed as a fan of sports right now? Yes. Are people getting away with scandal? Yes. Can I control it? No, but I love sports which is why I still watch and follow.
Although I agree with some of what you say...I am not in total agreement. I still love going to high school football games and watching the Little League WOrld Series. But you know what? The last few years I've noticed that even the Little League World series has grown into a great big commercial gimmick. If a dollar can be made, someone will be there to corrupt it. We went through the scandal of the 15 year old pitcher passing himself off as 12. We have college players driving Hummers and Oklahoma getting squashed by the NCAA trying to police their own. If we love sports, we just have to keep pushing for keeping the games clean.
Do I have a breaking point? Sure. I guess I would turn the games off if they start ignoring the Pac Man's and the Donaghey's and the Rose's, etc...
Bluegrass, don't blame the media. They're just doing their job. Vick hosting a dog-fighting ring is bigger news and warrants more attention than NFL players helping out with the United Way, which by the way, also receives plenty of publicity.
And father-son memories? Which do you think the son will remember more fondly? Watching a ballgame or actually playing in one that his father attended?
I wouldn't have a problem with the Vick story be told OVE and OVER and OVER, IF they included the 100 untold stories of the good deeds pro athletes do. The fact is we wouldn't watch if they did. Very sad statement!
Would you give up on the Peyton Mannings, the Derek Jeters and the Tim Duncans? Just cast them aside because of the Bonds, the Vicks and Pacmans? I guess I se the glass as half full because I believe the Manning types are the majority. Yes, professional sports has to weed out the Vicks but I wouldn't throw in the towel because of his kind.
Presumably all the hacks taking graft, bribes and drugs today started in those very same youth leagues. The real question is how harsh a punishment is needed to quell the rise in such incidents?
bafongu is right...clean up should start early. Sports will never be perfect and we will always have scandals to keep us glued to ESPN.
How harsh? The league has a chance to set a bar....draw a line in the sand if you will. It is up to them. The ball is in their court or field or diamond....
Now I agree with you there Rev. Those are Federal offenses and they should get jail time if proven guilty. If players break the law they should be prosecuted. They are not above the law. That isn't what I was talking about.
For example...Bonds, we both agree the government should stay out of that and let MLB handle it.
Rev. Excellent post. We wonder how we come to this point in sports? In retrospect when we allow the cheats no matter how small or unintentional to pass without punishment, we are taking away from sport. When something becomes commonplace and acceptable, we as a society tend to become more tolerant. Whether this new immunity we develope is good for society as a whole is up to us to judge. Is it something we would like to PASS down to our OWN children. When I was a kid, my dad would take me to Fenway to watch the SAWX. Watching Dewy, Pudge, Yaz, Rice, Rico and the rest sent goosebumps through me. There were no talk of steriods. Just baseball. Can't say that today. And the sad truth is every sport is getting chipped away at. Football has it's arrest blogs. Basketball has it's point shaving. Hockey has it's fighting and assaults. Where does it stop.
Thanks, Soc. You bring up a good point. Right now professional sports is booming. We may not know the full effect of these events until the next generation matures. Are kids these days growing up as sports fans like you and I did?
No they are not. When you and I were growing up we did what are coaches told us to do or suffered. The kids of today think everyone owes them something. They show up and say what are you going to give me, and I'm thinking when are you going to show me that you earned it.
Good stuff my man. I've lived in a pro city and a college town. I enjoyed the college city much more because they encouraged drinking....seriously though, there is just something pure ( or we like to hope so ) about college sports. I'd do anything for U of M, can't say I would for the Lions, Tigers, Pistons or Wings though.
Hoit's appearance brings to mind another appropriate amateur versus professional analogy between the pure at heart, young Daniel LaRusso versus the corrupt Cobra Kai Sensei John Kreese.
Rev - very good post. It was interesting that all three of these "scandals" hit the news this week. What are the odds? Throw in the Tour de France, and it was a bad week for professional sports. Makes you wonder how college sports will try to keep up!
Turn-ons: Gator national championships ; Sushi; NBA Playoffs; A Tribe Called Quest; Women; Jack Daniels; Women who drink Jack Daniels; Women who drink Jack Daniels while eating sushi; Women who dream of more Gator national championships while eating sushi and drinking Jack Daniels during basketball season, The Red Zone Report
Turn-offs: Waking up early; The inevitable media coverage Bobby Bowden will get when he finally retires; Drama; Prejudice; Chicken liver; Work of any sort
