The sports world is in turmoil - will there be fallout?

[Mudcat]

Naw.

I don't think anything matters much any more. Some endorsements may shift from this player to that player but, as much as the media and some fans want to blow everything up and look for signs of armageddon, I'm convinced sports can move on from just about anything.

Nothing will change much.

Sure, if there's a close NBA game and someone goes to the foul line on a debatable call, there will be all kinds of self-appointed sophisticates claiming crooked refereeing. But anyone who hangs around posting forums knows that conspiracy theorists never needed Tim Donaghy to cry fix. There may be more cynicism and it will probably be more obnoxious, but I don't see it amounting to anything tangible.

Mike Vick will come back from his situation. Worst case, he does a little time but he's not old and he's got some talent. Someone will take a chance on him. People are freaked out now but there was a time people thought Kobe Bryant could never rehabilitate his reputation. Unless I'm mistaken, Kobe sold a lot of jerseys last year. If anyone was out there trying to organize a boycott of the Lakers on moral grounds, it did not succeed as far as I could see.

Barry Bonds record chase? Recent history has already proven that steroid-tainted records can be shrugged off by the sport.

What other scandals are in the news? Tour de France? Fanatics were still planning their lives around it this year - and that will continue. It's hard to imagine UFC fans taking a stand on principle because of recent positive drug tests in that sport. Steroids in golf? I'm not even sure if that was supposed to be a serious story or comic relief.

Some fans may be turned off by all the crapola; but some will be attracted to the controversy. My prediction is: business-as-usual all around.

I'm not saying that's how it should be. I'm saying that's how it will be.



I was inspired to write this by some talk radio I was just listening to where everyone seemed to think sports and athletes are teetering on the brink of something.

Nope.



That is all.

[The HG]

Of course it will be biz as usual, because none of this stuff is really that bad.

Bonds/steroids - I don't see what the big hue and cry is over all of it. People shouldn't take steroids, and sports should test for it, for the athletes' own good, not because it compromises the sport or is "cheating". In the future people will realize that and think the whole demonizing of Bonds was silly.

Vick - I haven't followed this story at all, but what did he do, have dog fights where dogs died? I think that's pretty sick, i would never want to watch anything like that, but I also think it's not that bad.

Donaghy - This is bad, but first of all I think people know that at least in the pros, refs being in cahoots with the mob to fix results is not a problem that is likely to repeat itself. And second of all, in basketball and football at least, people have always known that refs make biased calls, for a million reasons, and people accept it as part of the game, although I don't like it. But because of the nature of the calls, it would almost impossible for the refs not to be that way. The idea of a "home call" in basketball is such an accepted concept that it even has a name. Or refs calling more fouls on players or teams they want to "send a message" to, like Rasheed Wallace or whatever. Refs are always making calls at times that they wouldn't make at other times. The fact that Donaghy was doing it for this unique reason doesn't change the fact that refs are biased all the time for various reasons, and people accept it.

So I don't see any of this stuff as being as bad as people seem to feel it is.

[remmy358]

the media has a lot of influence...they'll make this as big as small as they want. baseball playoffs/ football / college sports start up, all this BS will calm down, these guys will actually have something else to talk about