I am a newspaper reader and always have been. Even as a kid I read newspapers, probably because my parents were avid readers and often discussed what was in the paper each day after reading it. Still today I have a ritual about reading my morning newspaper. That is, I first read the front page and then the sports section. Every day it's the same, because the front page is the serious part of a paper, the problems of the world encapsulated, and he sports section is the fun part, the innocent and playful microcosm of the world. At least it used to be that way.....
What newspaper people call the "toy department" is no longer so much fun. Instead the sports section today is filled with stories of cheating, strife, abuse, law suits and criminality. The age of innocence in sports is dead. We can't even escape the harsh realty of life anymore by slipping into the once simple world of sports. But I guess it isn't so hard to fathom, even entertainment news today is filled with the same depravity as today's sports pages are. Need proof that sports now is just like any other endeavor in this troubled world ?
Ok, how about these examples of what one finds on sports pages today.
* Referee fixes- Even sports referees are dirty now. Recently an NBA official was caught betting on games he officiated and making calls based on how he bet. In 2005 the Bundesliga match fixing scandal in German soccer made fans wonder if the game was genuine. One year later Brazilian soccer was disgraced when several referees were caught fixing games. But wait! That's not all. In 2006 the Serie A scandal showed how corrupt Italian soccer is.
* Steroids- They are everywhere in sports. Cycling has been ruined by the rampant abuse of performance enhancing drugs. It's so bad that this year's Tour De France race was almost canceled because of lack of participants, given that practically all the riders are thought to be drug users. More than half the entrants to the Tour De France this hear were declared banned from the competition for positive drug tests, and even more stayed away in fear of being caught. Most pro cyclists say that anyone at "the front of the pack" is dirty, that it is impossible to win a race without cheating by using blood doping or using performance enhancing drugs. Name a sport and you will find drug cheaters today, often because sports administrators make too much money to try to clean their events. The number of player deaths attributed to steroids is appalling and, instead of the score of the game, steroid allegations or admissions are more often the lead story in the sports section. Believe it or not, a participant in an international chess tournament was disqualified this year because he used steroids to help him in the competition. Chess players needing steroids????????????? UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
* Olympics- Cheating by Olympians is so bad now that there is fear the games may become obsolete. Interest in the Olympic events is in a free fall as fans have lost faith that the competitors are competing fairly. With countries paying their athletes big dollars to win, cheating is rampant. This past summer Olympic Games most of the female Chinese swimming team were replaced at the last second because they were so inflated with drugs passing a drug test at the games was impossible. Other nations and individuals also withdrew from events in fear that they would be caught. And in addition to drug problems with the Games the fact of cheating in scoring (Ever watch any Olympic Figure Skating or boxing events? Those are clinics on the way judges cheat) is almost accepted. In any event that is "judged" there is a high probability that the winner got assistance from judges, not from athletic prowess.
* Bad behavior- Pro athletes today have too much money and too much time on their hands. As a result they get involved in scandals of all sorts- consorting with hookers, cheating on spouses, drug abuse, players assaulting fans or other players, drunk driving and more.
Ahhhhhhhhh Enough....I could go on for weeks about the dirty state of sports. Even high school and grade school kids are affected and participating in the ruination of sports. Sure, this is a reflection of the ills of the world itself. If there are Paris Hiltons and Lindsay Lohans in the entertainment world, I suppose finding that type in sports is not a shock. The fan can only boycott the events and athletes to protest, but it is as unlikely that would happen as that sports management will clean the sport itself. So I guess we just have little choice but to keep watching and keep taking it all with a grain of salt....or perhaps a dose of those drugs the athletes use might numb us enough to make it all palatable enough.
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