Maybe Sports Should Investigate Politics

Lloyd Garver Reflects On How Scandals In Sports Shock Us; Scandals In Politics Don't

(CBS)  As of this writing, there are three major sports scandals going on. For those of you who aren't into sports, your reaction is probably, "Who cares? It's just sports." But if that were so, these three cases wouldn't have been recently on the front page of the newspaper, pushing Iraq and the presidential campaign to lesser parts of the paper. If sports weren't so important, Congress wouldn't be constantly investigating it. Americans care about sports. Maybe too much. But we care.

The three cases involve the perennial home run hitter, Barry Bonds and his perennial steroids and tax problems; the Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and the allegations that he participated in some brutal dog fighting; and finally the charge that basketball referee Tim Donaghy bet on pro basketball games and may have helped "his" teams win.

Sports fans are more naïve than they should be. Despite all the previous scandals, we're still capable of being shocked or disappointed by a player's (or a ref's) behavior. Unfortunately, like most Americans, we don't feel that way about politics. We may be outraged by the behavior of political figures when they transgress, but we are so used to all the dishonesty and corruption that we're rarely shocked.

Some people say that the age of innocence in politics ended with the Kennedy assassination or with Watergate. Whenever it came, it came. I doubt that today's schoolchildren even react when they hear about a local official who took bribes, a presidential candidate who bent the truth, or an elected official who's off to jail. But ask those kids how they feel about a ballplayer who may have cheated or a ref who might have "fixed" games, and you'll get a reaction from them.

I always read the sports section of the newspaper first, and when I'm finished I'm disappointed that it didn't take me longer. That's because once I've read it, that means I have to turn to the pages about the real world. That's what sports are for many of us — a vacation from all the difficult or terrible things in the real world.

The role that sports has played in this country and the irrational worship of sports heroes was exemplified by the apocryphal moment during the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919. A player who appeared to represent baseball at its best and most ingenuous — "Shoeless" Joe Jackson — was allegedly involved in the scandal. As Joe came out of the courthouse, a young boy supposedly rushed up to him, pleadingly crying, "Say it ain't so, Joe."

But Joe couldn't say it wasn't so. Maybe our belief that sports are played and run by people who care more about The Game than anything else should have ended right then. But it didn't.

Intellectually, we know that sports are big business. Billions are involved, so there's bound to be greed as well as bad behavior by some who are suddenly wealthier than they ever dreamed of. But when we take our kids to their first baseball game, or when we settle down in front of the TV after a hard day's work, we don't think about sports as a business filled with temptation. We think of sports as the games we played and watched when we were kids.

From time to time, we may be shocked or disappointed by the behavior of some who play (or ref) the games. But we keep forgiving The Game itself. We may turn a blind eye to obvious cheating, or characterize a miscreant as "just one bad apple." We have a strong belief in sport, maybe because we need it so much. Without it, what would we use as an escape from the real world? The famous cry of "Wait till next year" doesn't just have to apply to the hope that our team will do better next year. It can also reflect our eternal hope that The Game might be better — more honest, more pure — next year. So many of us have lost the ability to hope for this in politics.

And that's sad. Wouldn't it be nice if we had at least as much hope about our political system as we do about sports? Wouldn't it be nice if somehow we got back to feeling that a corrupt politician was a "rotten apple" instead of the norm? Wouldn't it be nice if someday, a kid were so shocked and so disappointed by something in the government that he felt compelled to plea, "Say it ain't so, Mr. President?"

---

Lloyd Garver has written for many television shows, ranging from "Sesame Street" to "Family Ties" to "Frasier." He has also read many books, some of them written by honest people.

[lochlan-2009]

It seems to me the criminal element (the mob) is really starting to get back into manipulating sports again.

[kaffers-2009]

Can someone please tell me why Congress even investigates sports in the first place? I still can't figure out why they got involved in the MBL steroid scandal. It sure seems hard to get them to investigate politicians, though.

[roger3815]

It would be interesting to see what our society would be like people became as knowledgeable about politics as they are about sports. Though I have to say if they became as passionate about politics as they are about sports, we have a civil war on our hands. I'm not sure if that would be an improvement or not.

[red164]

Posted by perception5 at 08:29 AM : Jul 25, 2007

Rasmussen Reports is a right wing hack wall street owned scam

Patrick Buchanan, among the most conservative pundits and presidential candidates in the republic's history, found that he could not identify any allegedly liberal bias against him during his presidential candidacies. "I've gotten balanced coverage, and broad coverage, all we could have asked. For heaven sakes, we kid about the 'liberal media,' but every Republican on earth does that.

And even William Kristol, without a doubt the most influential Republican/neoconservative publicist in America, has come clean on this issue. "I admit it," he told a reporter. "The liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures

[ubrew12]

guysdigdirt said: "That really made me sound like a "tax the rich" Democrat didn't it!!!"

No.

It means you ARE one. Join the club...

[honestabe8]

Why should ballplayers split their salaries with teachers?

[guysdigdirt]

That really made me sound like a "tax the rich" Democrat didn't it!!!

[guysdigdirt]

I think it is time to make each professional ball player split their income with a school or school district. Figure it out so the teachers and the athlete make the same income at the end of the day. The athletes get to play for a living, why not make it a tax that they pay for educating the nations youth.

[tejasdemo]

Excellent article again ! I would add that the media plays a huge role in how things are perceived anymore.

It always cracks me up when "journalists" report what policitians say as basically fact. Of course, until they decide to write a book about it. Then, all bets are off and they are suddenly "candid" about their experiences.

Dont the American people deserve this candidness on the front end ?

[shoujoboy-2009]

It never shocks me so much from politics or sports so much as dissapoints and enrages me when when all is said and done what kind of punishment gets handed out. Arthur Blank wanted to suspend Michael Vick for 4 games but Roger Goddell wants a further investigation to determine if a longer suspension is necessary. Honestly if Vick is found guilty of all charges it seems like he is going to get a slap on the wrist and an Adam Jones like suspension. Same with politics. You'll have someone do something and then apologize for it or lean on their belief in God or hell even get commuted by the president and that's it.

It's not shock of the transgression just dissapointment in the lack of accountability that the rest of us are held up against.

[perception5]

Proof- From Rasmussen Reports, the American people have spoken and this is what they agree on:


"Sunday, July 22, 2007

In the final poll of a series measuring perceptions of media bias, the Associated Press, local television stations, MSNBC, and CNBC are all perceived as tilting to the left when reporting the news.

Earlier releases showed that Americans tend to believe the major broadcast networks (CBS,NBC,ABC) CNN, and NPR have a liberal bias. Fox News is seen as having a bias in the other direction. In print, the New York Times, Washington Post, and local newspapers were also seen as having a liberal bias."

.....SO......when? is our liberal MSM wolfpack going to implement "affirmative action" programs that include NOT EXCLUDE "moderates" and "conservative".

And we wonder why our corrupt liberal MSM wolfpack press hasn't had "big stories" reporting these opinions from the American public.

Gee.........I wonder why.

Maybe sports should investigate our "free left-wing press".