***The State of Professional Sports in America in 2007 and Beyond***

[Blitzburgh]

Ok, its been a year of Bengals getting arrested. Its been now a few months of hearing about dog fighting, and now its every hour of every sports show. Its been years of Baseball players who are juiced, or balls that are loaded, pitchers cheating in some way or another, or players breaking records using corked bats, and the newest to hit the news, in basketball, a ref is accused of shaving points and betting on games he reffed.

I know that from year to year, or decade to decade there have always been the controversal stories and accusations of someone did this, or that. Hell, players have been involved with some of the most nasty of crimes known to man, (and still play linebacker.)

Im starting this thread to see what you people think about the state of athletics today, and what you think the future holds, because as a person who loves to watch/play football, basketball, and baseball, I am truely embarrassed for the state of professional sports in our country today.

 

[Bounty13]

Nothing sums it up better than... money trumps all. The players bring in so much money from marketing and advertising that the people with power and people in ownership are willing to look the other way. And this has happened since the beginning. Only recently have these players over-stepped their leniency from the people with the power. You can only be accused in a shooting so many times, you can only do drugs so many times, you can only have so many DUIs. And up until the last few years the public has let it side, but now they are tired of seeing players make millions of dollars, commit a crime, and get away with it when they realize if they committed the same crime they would be in jail or be fined. It is a work in progress to clean up all the bad apples, I think Goodell is going a great job suspending players. But steroids are still a major issue in all sports, and now with the Gambling accusations with the NBA officials it will continue to be a bleak picture for professional sports.

 

[scrappy]

well the sad thing is, that once most people end up with the huge contracts and the endorsements, they feel as though they are above the law because they are usually treated above the law.

but the other sad thing, is that if it was Joe Blow that got busted running a dog fighting ring out of his house, it would be about 2 inches of news in a tiny column in the middle of the paper and not something that is splashed all over the net for months on end.

its widely known that people aren't perfect, we shouldn' think that people in sports are perfect either and they make mistakes too. the difference between the mistakes we make and the ones they do, is ours aren't all over the paper and internet.