I agree the potential to do the most damage has to be Donaghy. I mean if Vick did the dogfighting thing…there are plenty of people out there who do that kind of stuff, he just happens to be a famous guy who did it and got nailed for it. It has nothing to do with football or nothing to do with the NFL; simply that Mike Vick liked dogfighting. Now if there were 50 Pacman’s running around then the NFL would have a problem. The steroids thing also can’t do much more damage to Major League Baseball because there was a point in time when steroids were an accepted part of the baseball culture. But a ref altering games and the Mafia having an affect on the NBA? If more facts come out it definitely damage the integrity of the game.
It’s just that those facts haven’t come out yet, so people need to calm down.
I’m really glad you brought up the home run record. I personnally find it sad that people are not celebrating what Barry Bonds is about to achieve. He is about to cement himself as the greatest home-run hitter in the history of baseball. Steroids (which hasn’t been proven) be damned. I could see the vantage point of a so called “baseball traditionalist” arguing that they don’t like seeing this record broken because of Hank Aaron’s having to go through the racism and overcoming the Babe. That I could digest. I can’t digest this steroids nonsense and this “traditionalist” approach. Records are made to be broken. What Hank Aaron did will remain untouched until the end of time. That can never be duplicated, he may not be the record holder but his story and legacy will remain intact. In baseball, if you do a certain amount of things in your career you can get into the Hall of Fame purely based on numbers. And sadly if you don’t have the numbers, you will not get in. Baseball is a stat freaks dream.
The integrity of the game? Please. If baseball players could find a way to get an advantage and cheat they would take it. Pine tar? Corked bats? Pitchers using different substances? Steroids? We have seen it all in the history of the game. Steroids doesn’t give you the talent where one has a specific zone that if a ball is in it is a home run. Guaranteed. I applaud Barry Bonds and cannot wait until he breaks the records.
Image problems in leagues…I would say the league that had the worst image was the NBA in the late 70s. I remember I was reading about it and just hearing stories from my dad it was bad news. The fighting, the drug use, the games were ugly and mainstream America was afraid of the angry black men in the league. Magic and Bird were able to clean that up and it will never be as bad as that ever. I don’t think any sports league could touch that era. A crooked ref isn’t going to give the league an image problem (granted it was only one) it will just give the integrity of the game a shake.
Speaking of hoops…Coup I know you probably didn’t catch the Team USA scrimmage. Man. It made me feel like a little kid. It was 10x better than the All-Star game. There is no way this team loses in the Olympics next year. The team has everything…Kobe Bryant and his alpha dog attitude…Jason Kidd at the point. Let me say this, watching Jason Kidd play with great players is the most fun thing to watch on this earth. I remember on a fast break it was him with LeBron on the wing and he made a bounce pass that I had no idea he would even try and make. It had no business going through but of course it did. Did it lead to anything? No. But still. You get my point. I would go on a limb and say if you replaced Steve Nash with Jason Kidd in that system….the Suns would have won a ring by now. Yes I said it. Jason Kidd is one of the all-time greatest point guards and no one is realizing it quite yet.
*Ahem*. Side-rant over with…that Durant is going to be something special. And how do we get Mike Miller on the Blazers? Could someone look into that? He’s underrated. I’m very high on his game right about now. I have a feeling Hinrich and Redick are going to get cut and Mike Miller is going to be the affirmative action rep. The other feeling I get from this Team USA…is just the competiveness. It reminded me of the practices I saw in the original Dream Team VHS. I like this team a lot…probably the most I have liked a Team USA since…uh…the Dream Team?
Ya I didn’t like Dream Team 2 with Penny and Steve Smith…it just wasn’t really my dream. At all.