It would be nice to write a little baseball column all about how the pennant races are heating up and the Yankees are starting to look like the team we all thought they’d be in spring training. Maybe mention how strong the American League is, how good the Tigers look even without Joel Zumaya and how the Mets might not be as good as last year’s squad that barely missed the World Series.
Yes, it would be nice to write that column.
Instead, we’ve got a trio of scandals currently rocking the sports world, which must be addressed. In this corner is the old standby, Barry Bonds and the whole steroid debate. Until recently, many sources claimed that Commissioner Bud Selig will not be in attendance when Bonds breaks the hallowed mark, which strikes me as an indictment of the sport as much as it is an indictment of Bonds.
The most recent addition to the trio is the story coming out of the NBA that former official Tim Donaghy – whom Commisioner David Stern has called a “rogue, isolated criminal” – fixed and bet on games in which he was officiating. The NBA had investigated Donaghy in the past for his gambling habits as well as an unrelated dispute with a neighbor in Pennsylvania. However, Donaghy was deemed to be an improving official, so much so that he was rewarded with a second round assignment in this year’s NBA playoffs. One can only wonder what the non-playoff officials are up to in their spare time.
Then we have my personal favorite, the despicable Michael Vick and his dogfighting circus. Vick was indicted on charges that he was not only involved in the scene, he was somewhat of a ringleader. To top it all off, the indictment states that Vick killed several unfit-to-fight dogs “by various methods, including hanging, drowning and slamming at least one dog’s body to the ground.” Nice, Michael.
Folks, I’m not one to get all weepy about the past and say how much worse our society is today than years ago. After all, the past has seen the Black Sox scandal, Ty Cobb, Pete Rose, Kermit Washington, the BC point-shaving scandal and the shameful exclusion of blacks from professional baseball. So I am not, with this column, making the leap that we are somehow a more degenerate society today than we were 20, 30 or 40 years ago. But all this stuff happening at once is enough to make you a little ill.
In fact, the Donaghy and Vick incidents almost get Barry off the hook a bit. C’mon. Surly a superstar taking steroids doesn’t have the same kind of teeth that cavorting with mobsters and murdering animals do, right?
Maybe. If Bonds were a more likeable guy, he might have used this to his personal advantage. But he’s not, which is probably half the reason the commissioner doesn’t really want to be there when Hank Aaron’s record falls. Bonds has made the steroids issue so much worse with his arrogance. Remember how forgiving everybody seemed to be of Jason Giambi last year when he was ripping home runs all over the ball field? Giambi nearly resurrected himself from persona non grata status, until more injuries this season revealed him as nothing but a brittle home run hitter on the downside of his career. (There is simply no sympathy for an over-the-hill steroid user. But one who hits 40 jacks? That’s another story.)
For the record, I think Selig should be there when Bonds breaks the record because everybody knows that baseball has only been feigning ignorance on this issue; everybody knew and everybody loved it when 1998 rolled around and McGwire and Sosa were going mano-a-mano. When they couldn’t deny it anymore because public opinion had become so overwhelmingly negative, that’s when baseball got tough. Don’t be a hypocrite, Bud. A lot of guys used. Just because Bonds is a jerk doesn’t mean he’s the only offender. He is simply the most famous one.
But enough about Bonds. I am far more interested in these other two stories, particularly the Vick story. I’m not sure how it’s possible, but there seems to be a media consensus that the Donaghy story is the most damaging and worst of all the scandals. That may be true in a sports context, but in terms of humanity at-large, the Vick story takes the cake. Can you imagine what kind of sick, unfeeling person could not just kill a defenseless puppy, but do so in ways that are even frowned upon by fellow dogfighters (many of whom either try to find homes for non-aggressive dogs or, if they do kill them, will shoot the dogs in the back of the head). I know this will sound like a stretch, but if you have the capacity to destroy life as brutally as Vick allegedly has, you might be capable of something even worse. Vick obviously has no conscience and very little regard for living things. Couldn’t he take out his wrath on a person some day? It happened with O.J.
As for Donaghy, the NBA’s credibility is at stake here, but lives have not been lost (though Donaghy did receive death threats when reports surfaced that he would cooperate with the Feds). Yes, I know they are dogs’ lives and not humans’, but the cruelty emanates from the same place. Sports just doesn’t matter that much. It never, ever takes precedence over life, nor does it even illuminate much about life like the arts can. It is simply a good time. The credibility of a league or the tainted exploits of a slugger cannot compare with the blackness of Michael Vick’s heart.
It is a sad coincidence for sure that these three scandals are hogging up so much of the sports spotlight. We could be talking about so many wonderful things like the Tour de France – oops! Almost forgot. They’ve had a few doping scandals of their own. How about Padraig Harrington’s victory at golf’s British Open? Wait, Gary Player says there are steroids in golf, too.
Anybody up for a WNBA game?