Professional sports in the month of October. At no other pointin the year can a sports fan truly appreciate our nation’spast times at its best — or maybe its worst.
Once again, the NFL is in full stride as fans already have beenexposed to record-breaking feats, pot-smoking quitters and AtlantaFalcon’s quarterback Michael Vick proving his”that’s not in the playbook, but it should be”theory.
In the world of baseball, Boston fans have been given a secondopportunity to knock off the hated Yankees in the American LeagueChampionship Series — which doesn’t appear likely asthe Yankees have sprung out to a 3-0 lead in the best-of-sevenseries.
And in the NBA, preseason basketball finally is underway.
Yet despite October’s wealth of professional sports, Ican’t find myself truly appreciating it.
Let me begin with the NFL. Granted, it has been exciting to seethe New England Patriots earn their 19th straight victory. AndI’ve been pleased with the fan support seen across the leaguefor the late Pat Tillman. I’m afraid, though, that positivethings have been outshadowed by the negative side of professionalfootball.
Following Jamal Lewis’ involvement with a cocaine deal in2000, the star running back pleaded guilty and received a reducedsentence. Lewis has been given the ability to simply postpone jailtime in order for him to finish out the season. I’m unable tocope with the fact that, while Lewis should be sporting an orangejumpsuit with a number on the back, he’s busy earning hismillions as a running back for the Baltimore Ravens.
The issue of Ricky Williams has served as a major embarrassmentfor the NFL this season. Up to his knees in failed drug tests,Williams suddenly dropped the game of football to … travel theworld? Well, I can understand what’s going on if, bytraveling the world Williams truly means dodging a hefty fine andsmoking a lot of pot; now he wants back in. Words can not evendescribe what I think about this, so I’ll move on tobaseball.
Major League Baseball has a similar situation, the fact thatAtlanta Braves shortstop Rafael Furcal also was able to postponejail time for a drunken driving sentence is not my biggestproblem.
The fact that, once again, the absence of a salary cap haspushed the highest paid teams into the playoffs is what bothersme.
Eight teams in the playoffs, and just one team, the MinnesotaTwins, had a payroll of less than $55 million. And how many winsdid the small-market Twins produce in this season’s playoffs?One.
Meanwhile, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and hisfat wallet have bought another division series and possibly anothertrip to the World Series.
Yet I can’t even bring myself to root for theYankees’ rival, the Boston Red Sox, as they havebaseball’s second-highest payroll at $127 million.
And finally, I’ll move on to America’s most corruptleague, the NBA.
Surprisingly, with nearly a week of preseason basketball alreadyunderway, there is nothing new to report just yet. But KobeBryant’s legal troubles from last year still are lingering,despite his being acquitted of all the charges.
With Shaquille O’Neal on to Miami, the trash talk hasstarted between the former teammates, with Bryant accusingO’Neal of paying women to keep quiet after receiving sexualfavors. And as of recently, former Laker head coach Phil Jacksonhas told of his his ‘psychological war’ with Bryantduring their years together.
Basketball is a game I truly enjoy, just not accompanied by asoap opera. Yet my interest in the NBA will continue to dwindle asplayers will soon be more concentrated on getting around the lawthan working on free throws.
All this combined makes the professional sports in the month ofOctober no longer pleasing for me. Rather than appreciating ourcountry’s best athletes, I’ve been forced to see thedark side of the game. I’ve been forced to recognize only thefaults in these athletes. I’ve been forced to no longerappreciate that oh-so-holy month of October.