There has been a regrettable trend in sports lately, politicians using athletics to push their own agendas because no other microphone will be put in front of them otherwise. From the ridiculous acts of the U.S. Senate to hold actual hearings on steriods to the introduction of bills that would make colleges pay college athletes is beyond ludicrous. However, the main point of this article will be to address the derisive comments made by U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

First of all, the fact that the U.S. Senate believes that dealing with steroids is more important than spending the public's time, money and collective interest on an issue that shouldn't even be debated is beyond comprehension. I can personally think of about 100 other issues facing the U.S. both globally and domestically that are more important than steroids in sports. The fact of the matter is that the respective Commissioners and Union Reps. knew that all of the respective sports needed to be cleaned up. Athletics are marketed to the world as one of the last pure vestiges of human perfection and clearly that idyllic notion has been irrevoquably shattered after the recent incidents in all of the major sports. Not too mention the never ending violations in track and field including what I perceived as the single worst violation of all time at the 2004 Athens Olympic games. The two Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou who tried to dodge their doping tests by faking a motorcycle accident and then were subsequently kicked out of the games. The first Olympiad in Greece in over 100 years, and the nation's two biggest stars are done before the final torch is even lit. Myh sympathies to the Greek people.

Secondly, the notion that college athletes need to get paid is ridiculous. There is nothing more valuable in this world than a college education. Nothing. That is the greatest form of payment any person can receive. The disturbing fact that most athletes do not go to school to learn but to use their play as a vehicle to the pros is sad. The fact is that for every Carmelo Anthony there are tens of Kwame Brown's or Chris Washburn's or Ndubi Ebi's. Players who believe all their hype leave school early (or don't attend at all) and fail miserably in the NBA with nothing to fall back on. The antithesis is none other than Paul Shirley. The 6'10'' journeyman is making a good living for himself because of his journalism skills while trying to reignite his basketball career. While I understand there are some athletes who cannot even afford the most basic of things at school that is an entirely separate issue as a large percentage of athletes can afford even the most basic necessities. A suggestion I would make if this unfortunate movement continues would be to make the athletes graduate. This does not mean that they would impose an age limit as many athletes such as shaq have finished school well after they have left it. But rather make it mandatory that the student athletes, should they choose to leave early, finish their respective degrees in X amount of years. At least then if they can't cut it in the pros they have something to fall back on and we can then see less stories about athletes such as Curtis Enis, a former Bears first round pick, working third shift in an Ohio shoe factory.

The last and ironically most important point I would like to make is regarding the recent comments made by U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart. If any of you haven't seen them here they are, "I hope that the Cuban players will use this opportunity to escape totalitarianism and reach freedom in the U.S.," This was ridiculous there should never have been an issue. Cuba is at the moment the best baseball team in the world "officially" as they won the gold medal in the last Olympics. Any tournemant without them would have been a joke. Moreover, the fact that Diaz-Balart is urging players to defect immediately is not only out of line it's an immoral attempt at self-aggrandizement. The whole point of this is not only to show that world that it made a mistake when it took baseball away from the Olympics but it is also a celebration of the sport and not politics. Obviously what's going on in Cuba is regrettable to say the absolute least, but if the only way you can get your name in the paper is by calling for actions that would denigrate an already shaky global tournament is pathetic and out of line. International athletic tournaments such as the World Baseball Classic are about nations coming to together and shedding all political biases to celebrate the purity and grace of the sport, not the unnecessary political undertones of each pitch. 

Throughout my many years of schooling, I have always been reminded that the United States was a revolutionary republic in that it declared a separation of Church and State. It's about time that our nation lived up to its billing and separated State and Sport.