I Go Away for Two Weeks.....

Sheesh, I go camping for two weeks and the whole damn sports world goes to hell. OK, granted that's nothing new. One sport or another tends to hit the lower levels of Hades on a yearly basis these days, but never have I seen so many serious problems pop up in so many different sports in such a short amount of time. Barroid Bonds get the home run record, Jason Giamboid comes clean and only gets slap on the wrist, Mike Vicks so-called friends bail en masse and start coughing up information, Rick Tochett gets four years of probation for his part in a gambling scheme and now Tim Donaghy is reportedly getting ready to name as many as 20 other NBA officials involved in gambling, both legal and illegal. I could spend a month on just those alone, but I'll spare you and just roll it up into one giant bitch session.


Let's start with the juicers. Bonds hit 756, Guess what? Nobody outside of the Bay gives a crap. There's your record Barry, put down your ever enlarging helmet and unnecessarily massive elbow pad and go away. I'm glad I don't have children because I'd hate for them to look up to you. And now Jason Giambi has come clean and explained all those needle marks on his ass. So what does he get? What does the new and improved Bud Selig do? Nothing. Jack squat. All Giamboid had to do was talk to a hand-picked politician(and former member and MLBs Board of Governors) and fork out less then 1% of his yearly contract to some local youth charities and that makes everything hunky-dory again. What a great message to send. We'll hit minor leaguers and marginal big leaguers with 50 or 100 game suspension, but the former MVP only has to open his wallet. I wish I could hit the heights of hypocrisy that Selig does, the view must be spectacular.

And then good old Vick gets to watch his so-called buddies go crawling to the Feds and start giving up the goods. No sooner then that, and the Feds are waving a deal under Vicks nose and hinting if he doesn't take it they'll really hit him hard. No sooner does he turn it down then Abracadabra!! up pop the reports that not only was Vick betting tens of thousands on the dog fighting matches but he also on hand and participated in the killing of dogs that lost. I don't know if these reports are true, but one thing is certain, even if he takes a deal now, he'll never play in the NFL again. Herpes, water bottle, dog killing. What are three things Micheal Vick will be remembered for.

To go along with Vicks increasing troubles on Friday, Rick Tochett plead guilty to several counts involving an illegal gambling ring that included a New Jersey police officer and several members of a Philadelphia crime family. Tochett received a total of four years probation as part of his plea agreement and has been suspended indefinitely from his job as Assistant Coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. There has been no word on whether or not Tochett will be fired or permanently banned from the NHL, but frankly it should be the latter. Bettman needs to do some good during his tenure, and ensuring that hockey will never have a Pete Rose in it's ranks will go a long way to ensuring the integrity of the sport. The fact that Tochett is so closely linked with Wayne Gretzky makes it all the more important to show that no one is above the law in the NHL.

So now we come at last to what everyone has been waiting for. Tim Donaghy is apparently ready to start naming names, a lot of them. MSNBC and ESPN are reporting that the disgraced official is in talks with prosecutors to name as many as 20 other officials who are involved with gambling at some level, both legal and illegal. That would account for roughly one third of the NBAs referees. It would also cast a serious cloud over the legitimacy of countless regular season and playoff games over the past few years. Yeah Stern, that was just one "rogue, isolated criminal" in your ranks. If you thought the post-game shows over the last few years were bad, just wait until the other shoe drops and a few more whistle boys end up in the slammer. If I wasn't such a big Chris Bosh and Steve Nash fan I wouldn't even watch next season. In fact, outside of Raptors and Suns games, I won't. Man, what I wouldn't give for a good Little League parents brawl right now.