Sports Facing Tough Test

So, as commissioner, which problem would you prefer? The face of your league being an alleged dog-fighting kingpin? The guy who holds one and is about to break another of the most hallowed records in your sport is a jerk and is accused of cheating via steroids? Or maybe you’d prefer an offical of your game being suspected of fixing games so he and his mafia-connected friends could pocket some extra cash. It’s a good day to be the commissioner of a professional sports league, huh?

Care To Get Nice?

Let’s say, for a day, you’re Bud Selig. You’ve been in charge of baseball through one of it’s toughest challenges (the strike) and seen your baby come out on the other side stronger than ever (the ‘98 season where McGwire and Sosa revitalized our national pasttime in their tag-team chase for Maris’ record). Then, a player that, before his shady recent history, was regarded as a sure-fire 1st ballot HOFer, breaks the single-season HR record and is on the brink of breaking the all-time HR record. And it’s under such a cloud of suspicion that you aren’t making a commitment to even be there when the record is broken. In fact, to many onlookers, it almost appears you are waiting / hoping that some concrete evidence comes out against said player so you can strike him from the record books before the record in question is broken. It’s a tough day to be Bud Selig.

You think you’d rather have Roger Goodell’s job, do you? Fair enough. You’ve just taken over a league that has a good balance of aging superstars and youngbloods. The best team in the league finally won it’s Superbowl. And you’ve got one player most know as ‘the most electrifying player in all of sports.” And then one day that moniker means so much more. The player who was, for all intents and purposes, the face of your entire league is indicted on charges of being involved, at every level, in dogfighting. And as a side note- we at Brahsome.com don’t condone dogfighting or anyone involved in it AT ALL. However, to play devil’s advocate, we’ll say that we can see that some people could appreciate the barbaric nature of the ’sport’ as it’s similar to the old days and times of gladiators, etc. If you can accept that position, then we can see how, if there’s a market for a product, the product will exist. Further, if you are a businessman, you want your product to be the best, so we can understand the traning facilities and processes. And, though it’s disgusting, if you have a product that’s not up to your company’s standards, you would want to remove it from the market. So, we can sort of understand how, if a dog didn’t perform to standards, it would be euthanized. All of that was a long-winded way of saying we don’t agree with, appreciate, or condone dog-fighting or anything associated with it, but we can see how it could all go down. What we absolutely, positively, without reservation can NOT see or understand are the allegations that Vick ‘euthanized’ these underperforming dogs via electrocution, drowning, shooting, hanging, and even throwing one dog to the ground until it was dead. That’s a whole new world. That’s Jeffrey Dahmer. That’s Richard Ramirez. That’s Son of Sam. That’s how those guys all got started. That’s not what the face of the NFL is supposed to be in too. Protesters are already organizing outside of NFL headquarters and outside of the Falcons traning camp to protest anything and everything having to do with Vick, and it appears the league and the team are going to promote the idea with Vick that it’s his, and their, best to take a paid leave. It’s a tough day to be Roger Goodell.

So maybe the grass is greenest with David Stern? Sure the West is completely dominating the league right now, and we’re coming off the lowest rated finals series of all time. But King James is marketing gold, and with Durant and Oden coming into a league already rife with young superstars, there are plenty faces American’s youth can embrace. Ohh, but wait. You’ve got an official that’s being investigated for betting on games, some of which he called. Fixing games. That’s probably the worst thing in sports. And at a time when people already question calls, from fans to players to coaches, with striking regularity, this just serves to confirm people’s suspicions further. Even if this ref is found not guilty of these acts (which we may never know, as he’ll probably be wearing cement slippers by this time next week, assuming his mafia connections regarding the gambling are real), the NBA is now, and will for a while be, tainted. This coming at a time when many already assume that the league rigs drafts to get big time players in big time markets and focuses all it’s energy on marketing the game instead of making the game better doesn’t help either. It’s a tough day to be Dave Stern.

You thought this was just applicable in the Big 3 sports? Think again. MLS is a huge yoke, and David Beckham, the guy brought in by the Galaxy, only played as an injury sub in his highly publicized debut. $50 million a year for that guy. Jeez. Golf, the purest of all sports, apparently isn’t so pure anymore, as former great Gary Player said, “Whether it’s HGH, whether it’s Creatine or whether it’s steroids, I know for a fact that some golfers are doing it.” So golf’s got that going for it. Even in college we’ve got issues ranging from Reggie Bush’s family having money and cars while Bush was still in school to Rhett Bomar and JD Quinn getting paid huge dollars to sit around a car dealer for a few hours a week.

We wonder if the faces of these sports being in trouble is the result of more ‘bad guys’ being involved in sports now than ever before, or if it’s the result of a more story-hungry media who does more digging than in the past? Either way, we’ve living simultaneously in one of the great era’s in sports (with dynasties in NFL, NBA, and NCAA football all going on with records being broken every year) and in one of the most tainted eras. Maybe that’s just it, though- you can’t have your cake and eat it too. This is the world’s way of evening things out with sports- it’s great to watch these days, if you can get past the cheating, drugs, and extracurricular activites that plague those involved when they’re not on the field or court. Luckily, we’ve got almost no short term memory thanks to the 4-6 years we spent in college. And that’s why Jif peanut butter is better than Skippy.

-Stamos-