Sports Rant

A-Block at Sing Sing Prison

What on earth is happening in the world of sports? We have steroids involved in just about every branch of sports, even in bicycling as evidenced in the Tour de France. The Olympics have been tainted with use of illegal drugs - even tampering with the sexes (as in the paperwork says female but the test says male!).

Now we have several dead wrestlers, and in one instance, family members; the NBA has a referee with possible Mafia ties accused of throwing games and gambling; Hank Aaron's home run record may be broken by Barry Bonds who may not be entitled to receive the honor; and an NFL player who has "allegedly" committed the evil horror of running a dog-fighting ring.

I'm not a sports fan but I'm not using this to jack-up sports. In fact, if anything, I mourn the passage of sports as they used to be. I remember my dad taking the family to the Yankee-Angel game for my brother. My dad could've cared less but my brother was a fan so to my dad, it became a big deal! Those were the days of the big guys: Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Joe Pepitone, Whitey Ford and Jim Bouten, to name a few. They weren't perfect but they kept their public persona clean enough that my dad could bring my brother to a double-header and not be ashamed of the players! I remember walking down to the player's area with a ball my for brother to have signed. He managed to get Joe Pepitone to sign it. They were nice guys, polite and friendly. They knew that these kids looked up to them - AND IT MATTERED.

I know enough of sports history to realize that all was not rosy. Babe Ruth was not a family man and Ty Cobb was a less than nice guy. But they weren't cheaters. It used to matter that you played by the rules. It doesn't seem to matter any more. A man's word counted for something. And these guys sure didn't play for multi-million dollar contracts!

I've had it with the gangsters, the thugs, the riff-raff, the gamblers, the cheats - those that denigrate their sport. Our kids are learning a lot. They're learning the exact opposite of what sports originally taught them. Watched "Sand Lot" lately?

I hope the team owners get hold of the situation and fast. All of you sports enthusiasts need to let the franchises know that you will not support a team who condones, by their silence, a man who finds sport in the fighting of dogs to the death and then viciously and cruelly executes the losers. He doesn't deserve the opportunity and honor of earning $40,000,000 (I believe that's correct) over a certain number of years. Someone much more deserving should be chosen to take his place, vile piece of scum that he is!