Stop the Scandals
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Lies, cheating, scandal. What sells better than that? So it must be completely satisfying for both the networks and viewers to have nothing but that, all day everyday. Covering the internet and television are the faces of Tim Donaghy, Michael Vick, Barry Bonds, and well, every professional cyclist it seems. So everybody’s got to be happy right? It’s become more engaging for “fans” to root against athletes in sport than it is for them. Everybody wants to see failure. And I’m not sure when this happened, but the public has become judge and jury in regards to athletes and if kept up, it’s going to completely suck everything that’s good out of sports. The more we feed the media our fevered lust for scandal, the more we’re going to get it. And sure it’s interesting to see public figures go down in flames, but wasn’t it better when you were young and just watched them in awe?
Note: Before I get ahead of myself, I’m not advocating dogfighting, steroid abuse, or referee’s betting, I’m just in favor of letting the situations play out (although I’m not touching the Donaghy situation with a 10 foot pole because the Phoenix Suns homer will come out in me) before we crucify them.
Let’s start with Mr. Bonds. The biggest reason NOT to like him is because he’s an asshole. Regardless of whether or not he’s taken performance enhancing drugs, he’s never been caught doing it. End of story. And yes, I’m aware he’s gotten bigger and been in business with some real shady characters, but for once I’d like people to realize that before these allegations began, he still was one of (if not THE) best player(s) of all time. From 1990 on, he has hit less than 25 home runs in a season ONCE, and that was in an injury shortened season in 2005. He hit 30 or more in 13 straight seasons? And his stats didn’t skyrocket magically for an extended period of time, and instead just one magical 73 home run season (the only time he’s hit more than 46). But who cares? No one, really. The fact is that even if he is, was (whatever) on steroids, it’s not like he wasn’t playing on a level playing field with everyone else (it’s not like he would be the ONLY one, and as a matter of fact, other idiots have been caught and he still hasn’t). And because he’s an asshole, no one’s going to give him the benefit of the doubt like Mark McGwire got, and they’re going to give merit to the day he hits 756 instead of completely ignoring and boycotting it.
While Michael Vick, at least at this point, appears guilty, the most annoying part of the situation is we’ve got to watch it 24 hours a day. Between PETA asking the NFL to ban or suspend him (perhaps prematurely) and his court appearance, real sports everywhere are being ignored. But people are just eating it up instead. Apparently, this is all they WANT to see. Public figures fall. The most ironic thing about this, is Michael Vick has NEVER been a symbol of good things since he beat the Packers in Lambeau. He’s been a mediocre quarterback who doesn’t even warrant this kind of circus.
Then the Tour leader Rasmussen gets fired by his team for lying about his whereabouts in June and was removed from the tour after leading the whole damn thing and winning stage 16. Doping again? These guys on bikes must be losing oxygen to their brains from wearing their bike helmets too damn tight...or their riding outfits...whatever. Regardless of that, have none of them learned that they’re going to get caught? Or maybe everyone’s doing it and there’s that many cyclists NOT being caught. But you know what? Who cares? Stop watching it and they’ll stop cheating. They won’t have a choice but to clean it up. The bottom line will scream out sooner or later.
Has anyone caught on to the running theme here yet? Just stop. Stop paying attention to all the crap that’s out there. Separate the players from the sport and ignore them. Entirely. Because if we’re still going to give these kinds of people the headlines day after day, they’re going to stay in our brain and take up our valuable space. People are going to remember Vick more than LaDainian Tomlinson. They’re going to remember the steroid users more than the athletes who got it done cleanly. They’re going to be so jaded that they’ll question every player who ever performs at a high level again, and it’s going to ruin it all.
So a final message...to every leading official of every sport and every team in the world. Clean up your sports. Now. Test everybody once, twice, three times a month. Randomly, at their house. Hire people to follow the players who can’t keep themselves out of trouble. And to the media, stop giving the cheating assholes every second of air time and focus on anything...even David Beckham (or Posh) mania. I don’t care anymore. And I know I’m not the only one who’s disgusted by the NFL Network’s top 10 pass rushers show getting interrupted six different times to show us the exact same shot and the exact same sound bytes of Michael Vick’s court extravaganza...or let us hear every Curt Schilling interview where he plays judge and jury again and sits on his high horse. Show us some highlights. Show us the game, and we’ll be here to watch it.
