A couple of days ago, I posed a proposition bet setting the over/under time at 60 days until some Congressthing would call for an investigation of the NBA. I took UNDER; it seems to have happened already. Congressman Rush from Illinois is the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. In that capacity, he has formally requested that David Stern come to DC to meet with him to discuss the NBA’s operations, procedures and security. I do not doubt that this could be a prelude to some hearings down the road and I find it mildly amusing that one of the things this subcommittee seeks to enhance is “Consumer Protection”. I wonder if they feel a need to protect the bettor who is getting down on NBA games with the local bookie. Is that the consumer who needs protection here – - or is it the bookie?
Mark Cuban thinks that publicity and notoriety is good for the league. He said so when Kobe Bryant was on trial; that event would get people talking about the NBA and might get some folks interested enough to tune in and check out the product. That was far-fetched back then but I wonder if he thinks all the attention being give to the Tim Donaghy situation is good for the league. It is not.
It took me until I had seen the 973rd replay of David Stern’s news conference last week to realize something about his statement. David Stern is a lawyer; he is certainly not a dolt, and he is extremely savvy in the ways of public relations. Given all of those things, he referred to Tim Donaghy as a “rogue isolated criminal”. For a lawyer to jump to that characterization of someone who had not yet been arrested let alone indicted or tried is really surprising. If anyone should be sensitive to “due process”, it ought to be David Stern.
Congressman Waxman of California obviously does not want to be overshadowed by Congressman Rush when it comes to investigations into “sporting matters”. Congressman Waxman has asked for the records of the WWE related to that organization’s steroid testing programs and policies. I certainly hope he will not feign surprise to learn that some of the folks in pro wrestling take steroids…
ESPN had a NASCAR race on this weekend. Brent Musberger called the race and Suzy Kolber was the studio anchor for the pre-race coverage. I did not watch all of the pre-race show and I tuned into the race only briefly, but I thought Suzy Kolber acquitted herself very well as the studio anchor while Musberger’s “contrived dramatics” style of broadcasting just didn’t work for me in terms of an auto race. ESPN will have five or six more races and then ABC will pick up ESPN for the “Chase for the Cup” races later in the year. Since Musberger will normally have college football duties at that time of year, I wonder if he’ll stay with NASCAR or if he’ll go back to college football.
In case you are itching for the NFL season to start and just cannot wait to get down some action on NFL football, you can wager now on the upcoming Super Bowl in February 2008. The line at the moment is AFC Champ – 7.5 over NFC Champ. Oh, and the over/under for the game is 47.5.
Nike, Rebok and the NFL have all taken steps to halt sales of any Michael Vick “stuff”. This is similar to what happened in the “Don Imus affair” last spring; sponsors decided they didn’t want to be associated with him and began to jump ship; that’s when Don Imus had his program canceled. Someone who is advising Michael Vick might want to walk him through what happened there; Vick’s net worth is about to take a major drop.
There is a real lesson for folks wrapped up in the Michael Vick situation and it seems clear that some folks need to learn from it. Michael Vick is indeed innocent until proven guilty; that is his Constitutional right; it must not be abridged. The US Government is required to take its evidence to a Federal Court and to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Michael Vick is guilty of the charges they have brought against him. Only if they are successful in that endeavor can Michael Vick properly be called a felon. How-evah … [/Stephen A. Smith]
In the much informal “court of public opinion” there is no need to have evidence convince the public to nearly that strict a standard for said “court of public opinion” to render a verdict. It seems to be doing just that at this moment; and in so doing, it violates exactly NONE of Michael Vick’s Constitutional rights. He has a Constitutional right to a speedy trial and a fair trial and all that stuff; he has exactly no Constitutional right to endorse athletic gear or to profit from such endorsements. He has no Constitutional right to play pro football. Those are privileges he earned by his talents. Privileges are earned and can be revoked; rights are “inalienable” and devolve to people because the rights are “endowed by their Creator.” That’s a stunningly big distinction that some folks just don’t seem to get.
Very soon after last year’s NFL season was over, Jim Mora Jr. was fired as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. That had to be a less than wonderful time in his life. But I wonder if he looks back on those dark days from the perspective of July 2007 and says to himself, “Maybe it wasn’t all that bad to get out of town back there in January…”
The NFL Network is developing a college football show that reportedly will air daily. That’s a natural thing for the NFL Network to put on the air; it relates very well to the NFL product. What is a bit discomforting to learn is that the NFL is looking to add content to its line-up and is considering adding more high school football games to their programming mix. They already do a high school All-Star football game; now they want to see if they can strike a deal with some Texas high school football teams to televise some of their games. I know High School football is very big in Texas – and other parts of the southeastern US – but somehow I can’t bring myself to think that this is a completely good thing to have happen.
Finally, here’s Greg Cote of the Miami Herald summarizing the state of sports in late July 2007:
“Just woke up from the weirdest dream. [Michael] Vick, [Barry] Bonds and defrocked NBA ref Tim Donaghy were furiously pedaling up the Alps in the Tour de France.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…