I read today a good column by Carl Cannon in Politics Daily about how George W. Bush was right, for sure, on one thing---coming out strongly, even in a State of the Union message in 2004, against steroids and urging the federal ban of their use. Cannon points out, which I knew but had forgotten, that W. was once a serious contender to be Commissioner of Baseball. With his love of the game, he would have been ideal for that job, which is not something I can say about his most recent job.
All of which leads me to my main point: the hypocrisy inherent in the management structure of our major sports. Baseball knew about---and ignored---the steroids scandal until it came back to bite them after Federal law pushed them into doing something about it. A record book to be filled with asterisks is hardly to be desired. Cannon notes that 1000 less home runs were hit this year than in the prime of the steroid days. Duh, I wonder why...
How about that paragon of moral; virtue, the N.F.L.? In all their ads and films they emphasize the power of explosive hitting: the sound effects of those Steve Sobol films of pads smashing into each other with gladiator violence. Now they backtrack and are offering guidelines for uncontrolled helmet butting and stiff fines for flagrant abuse. Duh, about time?
Boxing, horse racing, swimming, bicycle races all have their share of abuse scandals to the point that they have been severely tarnished by drugs and sometimes viewed as "fixed".
Betting scandals abound in many sports: point shaving in basketball, as well as abuse problems; tennis even has a betting scandal.
One of the "cleanest" sports, in terms of scandal is golf, excluding the Tiger Woods scandal (which is the problem of an individual and not the sport). Why is golf relatively squeaky clean? Because they have had hard and fast rules of conduct and behaviour for many years which they assiduously maintain.
Consistency, rules, codes of conduct are permanent virtues which need to be maintained in all sports and not subject to the whims and greed of owners or participants. I know sports is big business, but, for God's sake, it's still a game. And you play games by the rules.
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