The Idea Exchange

The last several weeks have brought a wave of turmoil to the world of sports.  From Michael Vick’s dogfighting indictment, to NBA referee Tim Donaghy’s gambling issue, to Bud Selig’s decision to follow Barry Bonds in his pursuit of the home run record, the three commissioners of their respective professional sports leagues have tough times ahead of them.  Even the Tour de France itself has become a full blown scandal with multiple riders being dismissed for failed drug tests and doping suspicions.  The major authorities in sports like ESPN and Sports Illustrated, as well as CBS News, have published articles describing how negatively these issues can affect sports.

However, if you look past the short-term consequences and the so-called bad publicity that these issues have produced, the long-term results will actually be quite positive.

Are you kidding me?  How can dogfighting and doping be good for anyone?  I know, I know, at first glance my allegation seems pretty ridiculous, but let’s dig a little bit deeper to see how these issues should play out.

1. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick’s brought to trial on allegations of his involvement in dogfighting on his property.

Answer this question:  How aware were you of the “sport” of dogfighting before you heard about this case?  Better yet, even if you knew of its existence, how much did you care that it actually went on?  I’m guessing not many people were very passionate about doing anything to stop dogfighting before this issue because it wasn’t mainstream.  Now Michael Vick has brought it mainstream, and all of a sudden, everyone is appalled of dogfighting, and some are even willing to protest at Falcons camp.  Well you know what? Dogfighting is terrible.  There should be a lot of people passionate about stopping this and willing to take action against it.  It shouldn’t take a sports celebrity being brought to trial to motivate people to stop something that is morally wrong and downright repulsive.  But now this trial has motivated people to act and will continue to do so.  It will place fear into those involved in dogfighting. If a national figure like Michael Vick can get caught, then so can they, and they won’t receive any kind of “celebrity” treatment like Vick may.  This trial may not completely squash dogfighting in the US, but it will at least slow it considerably, and that is an outstanding result.  As far as the NFL goes, it may look bad on the league, but is it really going to stop people from watching the games?  This may spark even more interest in Falcons games to see how they can cope without Vick, and there is no way it can turn loyal fans away that just love the sport of football.

2. NBA referee Tim Donaghy being investigated by federal agents for his involvement in gambling on games that he officiated and possibly fixing games to win money.

This issue is quite different from the Vick scandal.  Tim Donaghy has literally compromised the integrity of the NBA.  The referee is supposed to be the trusted, neutral figure in each game, and we now realize that he was certainly not to be trusted.  In the short-run it may turn some fans away from the NBA because they will decide that the league is just a fixed entertainment scam much like the WWE.  This is bad for the NBA as a business, but its not like the NBA has a huge viewer base for regular season games anyway.  For the few fans that it will turn away from watching those games, the NBA will gain in new viewers who are intrigued to see if they personally can see if any other referees are fixing games.  The playoffs will be under some scrutiny because teams and fans will demand that only the best refs work the games for their teams, and this scrutiny and publicity should actually draw some new viewers and, hopefully, new fans.  The NBA will also become a better officiated league because they now have to revamp their background checks and training processes to ensure everyone that only the best referees will be hired.  This should lead to better games and more uniform calls if the standards are improved.  This should also serve as a warning sign to other referees that they should never engage in any kind of similar activity because, with the heightened scrutiny, they will get caught, they will lose their jobs, and they will be prosecuted.

3. Bud Selig has had to make the decision of whether to be in attendance when Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s longstanding home run record amid allegations of Bonds’ steroid use.

Although this is a major event, it is really just a small piece of the huge steroids puzzle in baseball.  Selig has made the right decision to follow Bonds until he breaks the record, but it is his obligation as commissioner to acknowledge outstanding accomplishments in his sport.  Whether or not Bonds is legitimate, the record is an amazing feat, and at the very least, the commissioner of his sport should acknowledge it.  It would be a different story if Bonds had admitted to steroids or if enough evidence surfaced that proved he did.  In that case, action should be taken against Bonds, and an asterisk should be placed next to his imminent record.  With no legal evidence, Bonds is innocent until proven guilty, and the commissioner cannot risk shunning one of the sports’ greatest players.  The real issue here is the use of steroids.  It has been well documented that baseball went through a period in the last several years where home runs and power numbers have been astronomical, and several athletes have admitted to or been caught with steroid use.  The positive outcome from this is again the heightened scrutiny and the improved processes that have been put in place that basically require any player that wants to amount to anything in his career will not dare try steroids.  He will get caught, and he will be put to shame with his career likely over.  With testing in the past being relatively lax and players always looking to gain an edge, it was bound to happen at some point.  Now, the issue has gotten so big and so mainstream that it will prevent widespread future use.  The new procedures cannot wipe out steroids completely, but they definitely put fear into the players thinking about using them.

4. Several Tour de France riders were ejected from the race including race leader Michael Rasmussen on the basis of using illegal performance enhancing drugs.

This issue has lead some to completely disregard the Tour de France altogether, and I admit, this should force the tour to lose some of its fans because of the recurring nature of these problems.  Cycling was nowhere near popular until Lance Armstrong captivated fans with his 7 straight victories.  He gave Americans a reason to care and to follow the Tour.  Even last year, when Armstrong retired, Floyd Landis was able to draw some attention because he was a fellow American from Armstrong’s former team, and he made things interesting by taking the lead, nearly falling out of contention completely, and then miraculously charging back in the late stages to take the lead and eventually win (and then it didn’t help much that he was stripped of his title by a positive drug test after the race ended.)  But this year, I heard that the Tour de France started and was mildly surprised because I had no idea that it was about to begin.  I consider myself pretty current on sports knowledge as I watch Sportscenter almost daily and read espn.com just as often, but after I heard about the Tour starting, I did not hear a single story about anything for over a week.  I had no idea what was happening, and I could not have named a single rider involved.  In the last several days, however, the big news broke out that Alexandre Vinokourov and race leader Michael Rasmussen among others were kicked out of the race.  Rasmussen was even kicked out by his own team without an actual positive drug test.  I realize that the Landis situation last year and the ongoing problems with doping in cycling should have convinced riders to stop, but it doesn’t seem to have worked that way.  The least that these doping scandals can do is to generate some buzz about the sport and get some people to care, which in my case, it has done.

Overall, these scandals may seem like a black eye to their respective sports, but if you look at it in the long-run, the sport itself will be made better because of it.  Just like Michael Vick’s dogfighting incident, a scandal may even motivate a national cause to improve our country, something that reaches beyond the realm of a professional sports league in a very positive way.