Betting Biting Booing Bonding Bookies

[janine]

You know the whole world of Western sports is in an uproar when the kerfluffle reaches the ear of sport-o-phobes like me.

Have you thought much about these most recent sports "scandals"?

... Disclosure of the NBA inquiry... and that the FBI is investigating whether veteran NBA referee Tim Donaghy wagered on an undisclosed number of league games during the past two seasons, including games he officiated, the NBA acknowledged Friday...

... comes at a volatile time in professional and college sports, when major figures are at the center of criminal investigations.

Earlier this week, the federal government announced the indictment of four men, including Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, based on allegations that they staged illegal dogfighting exhibitions and were involved in the brutal treatment of dogs.

San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, in the midst of his pursuit of baseball's coveted home-run record, remains under federal investigation involving his statements to a grand jury about steroid use.

The University of Toledo football team also is at the center of a federal investigation into alleged point shaving involving at least one player...

I put the "sarcasm quotes" or "scare quotes" on that word scandal, because I think the word's getting somewhat cheapened.  Not every stupid thing someone does is a scandal -- sometimes it's just a stupid thing.  Humans do that stuff, you know.

But perhaps these several recent stories do cross from "sad, regrettable, stupid" into "illegal" and "immoral" -- and in some instances past that to "degrading" and "evil".

What are you hearing, reading?  What are people saying at the water cooler and the bus stop?

[Bon Voyage]

Harming dogs is in my book the most heinous.

Shaving points in your own game is next.

Steroids?  Are we going to go after large segments of baseball and football players?

[marc]

1,3,4,2, but all of them are bad.

What Vick did comes last because it had nothing to do with the game itself.

A ref betraying trust is possibly the worst thing that can happen.  Bonds' misdeeds are horrid because of the permanence of the results.  Point-shaving is also awful, but the results of this are the most limited of the three.

[janine]

I fail to see how steroid use will do too much to the home run hitting abilities -- when so much depends upon finesse, hand-eye coordination, the shape of the facility even...

Seems like anyone's record on any aspect of any sport needs an asterisk, and an explanation re: this guy had a shorter season than that guy, this guy had X number of games to do it in, that guy came back from an injury to do it, and so on.

The Toledo thing is crummy, sure, but it seems like only a slightly worse spot developed in the middle of a bad sore called Alumni Gone Wild.

I think Donaghy betrayed almost a sacred trust.  Thinking in a sports context, his is the awfullest mess to create.

But of course, if the allegations are even somewhat true -- I figure there's a special place in Hell, with especially dog-like demons, waiting for Vick.

And not because I have a problem with breeding pit bulldogs.  I have done so myself before and may again someday if I ever get an especially fine dog and the opportunity.  (My current pit is a real doofus.  I love him and he's a beautiful specimen, but he has some bad habits that seem to be at least partially inherited traits and I'll not pass that on.)

And my problem is not even primarily with the mere, sheer idea, the concept, of staging fights with those dogs.

That's illegal, it's stupid, it should never be done -- but just the concept of a few idiots wanting to see whether Ol' Lightning or Baby Jaws would win in a fight... it's stupid, but I can sort of grasp the concept mentally.

Just as I can grasp the concept, mentally, of people wanting and having illicit sexual intercourse.  Fornication, adultery, even some aspects of homosexuality -- I may think them sinful, I may never do them myself, but I can get my mind around the concepts involved, to think about the matter, to discuss it.  So can I with the concept of allowing two dogs to follow their natural doggish behavior to a bad end.

What I cannot at all get my mind around -- what makes me want to grab a stick and start beating some people -- is the systematic cruelty and stupidity and wastefulness of what those idiots who are into dogfighting do, and call it "training".

What I cannot get my mind around -- what makes me want to turn the methods they use back on the evil-sick people who do this stuff -- is the tortures they supposedly put some of the dogs through.

If even some of it -- if even part of it -- is true, then God help them.  He is surely the only one who will want to.

Lord have mercy.  Any idiot breeding any sort of animals knows better than to do such hurtful things.  Even if you don't have any tender feelings toward the animals, you should treat the critters better if only because it's a simple matter of economics and taking the best possible care of this broodstock, this stud line, this living flesh that you own.

And let's not even set foot into territory where people go overboard and treat animals better than they do people and seemingly value animals more -- I'm not going there.  I love my animals but they are animals, and I have them for what I consider normal working beneficial-to-me purposes.  People come first.

[marc]

Besides basic muscle development, which makes the ball go farther when you hit it, steroids also allow you to recover quickly from extreme exertion and injury.  Compare Bonds from 2000 on with Griffey over the same period.  Also look at how quickly McGwire's career came to an end when he put down the syringe.

[don has a plan]

1, 4, 3, 2

They're all awful, but looking at it from a sports fan's pov, the ones that deal with cheating, curving scores, etc. are the worst to me.

I am in agreement with Sen. Robert Byrd regarding Michael Vick.

[janine]

If I try to google up what Byrd said, will I see it?  I mean, has he made one main statement about Vick lately?  If not, can you link to a good place to read what he said?

[saved]

the gambling issues are bigger concerns because they are an indictment of the sport.

where as the other issues are an indictment of society.

vick is a punk.

bond is a punk.

they could kick my tail, so that would make me punked.

but nevertheless, they are still punks.

[Twisted Fate]

#2 My dog is sitting next to me begging for my chicken.