The sports world is a mess...

[PlayaGroom]

It's been said way too many times: professional sports are not sport, they're businesses. Until the pocketbooks of the owners/leagues start getting hit by fans not paying for tickets or merchandise, or until the general public really starts to express their disinterest in the drug ridden, law breaking, immoral bad seed athletes, nothing is going to change. Why wasn't action taken until now: Major league baseball needed help in the 90's, players start juicing, records start to be approached/broken, people start to tune in again and buy tickets; Biking - was the tour, or any other race for that matter, even televised before the doping allegedly became the 'norm' in racing in the late 80's?? Riders start to dope, interest rises dramatically, television deals roll in, the sport grows.

It's going to take the general public showing they won't take it anymore to get any ball rolling in the right direction, and finally, it's starting to happen:

People protesting outside the Falcons' headquarters, instant attention and action by the league.

Fans throwing back historic home run balls and booing, the league wakes up and starts to realize they have a more than serious situation on their hands.

People detonating roadside bombs at the Tour de France and teams protesting and delaying the start of the stages (see msn . com about the latest 'anonymous' doping rider discovered yesterday). Quite optimistic that changes in regulations are on the horizon for the sport.

[MWC]

We were up that way this weekend on other business, so we stopped by the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY. Naturally, lots and lots of boys there. It struck me how much they spent their time and attention on the more historical baseball stuff -- Babe Ruth, the records, the older players -- than on the more modern stuff (except for the team lockers). It floored me when a kid about 12 yelled to his dad about finding the exhibit for "The Shot heard 'Round the World." How many decades ago was that?

And nobody spent more than a second looking at Barry Bonds' picture in the records area.

[ryberg]

Personally in many ways I don't think there's much different now in sports than we've seen over the past few decades, at least. I mean, doping for example is hardly new -- who doesn't remember the quadri-annual (???) conflicts at the Olympics with the East Germans, of perhaps more surprisingly that of Canadian 100-meters man Ben Jonson in 88, for example? Steroids in baseball (or the NFL or the WWF, for that matter) is just the same thing in a different venue. Barely different is what now seems quaint, like the old tricks with bats and cork or superballs, or more vicious, like Tonya paying off her boyfriend or whoever to attack Nancy.

Money corrupting the quality of the sports has also been around a long time. Free agency began to ruin baseball 30+ years ago, and it was only the big business, collusion type of approach that brought other major US sports to their senses in time to keep it from ruining them in similar fashion (and which, happily, seems to be responsible for MLS not folding like other attempts to present soccer to the American audience in the past). As pointed out, the NBA referee gamling thing was "pulling a Pete Rose" and in between those two were notable cases in the college ranks and at least a couple involving Isaiah Thomas and even reaching to Michael Jordan. And again, it's all over: French club Olympique de Marseille and their owner Bernie... Tapis? something like that, lost their club title due to a match-fixing scandal way bad in the early 90s, at some point.

Then you got your idiot factor, where Vick comes in. Barkley was much more likable, but remember him as the bully, elbowing that poor guy from whatever much-weaker-at-basketball country in the Olympics, under the goal, after dunking on him? Less aggressive examples also abound. How about the self-destruction, athletically speaking, at least, of the highly touted Brian Bosworth? And who knows how many more throughout the decades involved with drugs and falling off the wagon, getting suspended, and so forth.

Personally I agree that it's bad but don't think it's worse than it has been, just variations on the same thing.

Steve

[cpfstich]

Originally Posted by Banzoomba

Sunday will be a great day in sports

Agreed Zoom!!! It's too bad that Ken Griffey Jr. has had all the injury problems in his career, otherwise he would be legitimately chasing Aaron's record. There's never been a hint of roid use by Griffey Jr.