July is supposed to be the driest, most boring month in sports. The summer in general is supposed to be boring but July is often the worst. There is usually nothing going on other than elite baseball teams separating themselves from the pack. That’s it. But what a summer we have had so far. Everything was kicked off with the Kobe and Garnett mega stories. Then you had the NBA draft followed by the chase of Hank Aaron’s record by Barry Bonds, which is nearing its finale. Throw in the Beckham “Coming to America” frenzy. Following that you have Vick’s dog fighting indictment and now the NBA has been jolted by arguably the worst thing that can happen to a sports league.
Each commissioner of the three major sports has a major situation or dilemma on his hands. This kind of pressure on all three commissioners of the three major sports at the SAME time is unprecedented. This sort of stuff doesn’t happen to three commissioners within a span of even four years, let alone four weeks. All this leads me to the question of which commissioner currently has it worst?
Bud Selig without a doubt has it the easiest. His big dilemma, for the past year, has been should he go or not go to Bonds’ final games before he breaks the record. I never thought this should be a dilemma to begin with. Of course he should be there. He was the commissioner during the steroid era. He let things happen on his watch. Now he should have to sit there and watch the most decorated record in baseball be broken. He should go out there, shake the hand of the man he used to get baseball popular again and then turned his back on. He was hoping even a week ago that Bonds would somehow get indicted for that perjury charge so that the record could stay intact and Bonds would be off of his hands. (I’m going to stop myself before I go off on Selig for the next 45 minutes, because I really could go off on him for that long). So as I was saying, Selig just has to make the simple decision, which he already has made as of yesterday evening; to be at the games as Bonds approaches and sets the new record.
Roger Goodell has a far more complicated issue at hand. I’m not going to divulge into all the details because anyone who has a TV or access to a newspaper knows everything there is to know about what is going on with Vick. Goodell’s dilemma is one that he SOMEWHAT brought on himself. He came into the league with the badass sheriff mentality. He wanted to clean up the game and get rid of the repeat offenders. He made an example out of the three most known ones, Pacman Jones, Chris Henry and Tank Johnson. Those were easy. Those guys are idiots. I still think that a player shouldn’t be suspended until he is convicted in the court of law but hey, it’s his league, he makes the rules and the laws. I’m fine with that. But now look at the situation HE himself has put himself into. (You’re thinking, “No, Vick put Goodell in this situation.” Wrong.)
A few years ago, Ray Lewis was facing charges of murder. Murder. Not dogfighting. Murder. Paul Tagliabue handled that differently. He let the law take its course and it turned out, Lewis wasn’t guilty of anything major and he got to play in the following season. Jamal Lewis, another Raven ironically, was charged with drug trafficking. Tagliabue, again let the law take its course. Lewis was found guilty and served time in prison. When he was done serving his sentence, Tagliabue suspended him for a couple of games and that was that. I don’t even know what Goodell would do if he was commissioner at the time of Ray Lewis’ charge. He would have probably tried to deport Lewis to Tajikistan or something.
Goodell wanted to clean up the league’s image. Well, Tagliabue faced an alleged murderer and drug trafficker, yet the NFL’s image was fine. Now you tell me, is the whole media circus that we’re facing about whether to suspend or not suspend Vick helping the NFL’s image? Even if he is suspended a year, or cut by the Falcons, is the league’s image going to be better off? This is why I don’t think you should ever come into any new surrounding, new job, new whatever, and try to make too big of an impact TOO early. Suspending players left and right has come back to bite Goodell in the ass. And the NFL’s image, I can tell you for a fact, is going to take a bigger hit so far under Goodell’s reign than it did in the past 10 years of Tagliabue’s.
I can bet you anything that David Stern would love to switch shoes with Goodell right now. Dog fighting, homerun record, those are NOTHING compared to the sacred sanctity of a sport being thrown into jeopardy. Rumor has it that Tim Donaghy is now in plea negotiations with the feds in which he would name more referees and players who were involved in the whole point shaving or fixing of games. I don’t know how the NBA would recover in the near future from something like that happening. This is bad enough. Now, as I wrote earlier, any shady call will be cause for suspicion. In the NBA’s entire history, I cannot name off the top of my head an event or situation that could be more, potentially, devastating for the league. If you can, feel free to let me know but I can’t think of one right now.
Stern is a powerful leader. Whether you like his decisions or don’t like his decisions, you can’t argue the fact that he is one powerful leader. He makes his decisions and he can give a crap less about what the media thinks about it. The dress code targeting a genre or sector of players? He didn’t care if that upset you. Amare Stoudemire being suspended for taking a few steps past a line to help his teammate out? He didn’t care how you felt about that. David Stern makes his decisions and he sticks with them, period. If you ask him a dumb question, or even a good question that makes him feel that you are questioning HIS league or HIS practices, he will put you in your place. Ask Dan Patrick. David Stern is a leader and a commander and that is what they do.
But never had I seen David Stern look as dejected and defeated as he did yesterday during the press conference. I mean, that guy was beat. His voice was tired and his body language showed uncertainty and utter confusion. “If he’s such a good leader, why is he getting timid when things are hitting the fan? A real leader would step up.”
David Stern is getting timid and scared because he knows how big this thing is. He knows how much is at stake. There is nothing more sacred in sports than having the faith and trust that the outcome of the game was not predetermined or biased in any shape, way or form. It is comparable to how the most sacred thing in a marriage is the confidence between the two partners; the confidence that neither one will cheat on the other. But games being fixed or points being shaven is cheating. Now the whole marriage between the fans and the NBA is thrown for a loop. David Stern looked like the husband who found out his wife was cheating on him. He really, really did. Stern has the biggest problem on his hands right now by far. He has to gain back the trust of fans and the media. Anyone who knows anything understands that the hardest thing to earn in life is the trust of someone, once you’ve lost it. This applies in all relationships. Friends, marriages, teams, offices, anywhere. Once you’ve lost someone’s trust, it’s very hard to gain it back.
Selig’s problem will be over in a few days, maybe a couple of weeks. Goodell will eventually suspend Vick for the season and the problem will go away once the NFL season kicks off, at least temporarily. But David Stern is going to face years of trying to gain back the trust of the fans and the trust of the public. This is, by the way, considering that only one referee is involved. God help David Stern if more names come out of this mess because then you’re past the point of marriage counseling; you’re facing a divorce.
(So I’m guessing Sternie will now be against the idea of having a new team in Vegas)
