The Sun Comes Up In The Morning

Like every other sports column in America, the scandals that are rocking the NFL and the NBA must be commented on. But this particular column takes pride in focusing on the greatness of sports and that those who do good things will prevail when bad things happen. And we are going to keep in that way.
Michael Vick was the first in line to get the controversy going this summer when his Virginia residence was found to be the home of a dog fighting operation. He has since been indicted by the Federal Government along with two other men and is now facing up to six years in prison. By the way, the federal prosecutors have a 95% conviction rate.
That’s pretty good odds if you’re wanting to place a bet. Just don’t place that bet on a game refereed by the NBA’s Tim Donaghy. Apparently the man got mixed up with the local mobsters. You know the guys who swindle money, break people’s fingers; stuff like that. Anyway, the story seems to be saying that he bet thousands of dollars on games, included ones in which he officaiated, over the past two seasons including the playoffs.
Now what are these two leagues to do? Actually, their doesn’t seem to be a lot they can do. Everything seems to be in the hands of federal prosecutors and the FBI. All they can say is that they will handle the situation “the best we can” and do as much damage control as possible.
For the NFL, damage control means keep fans interested if one of their most recognizable and marketable faces goes to prison. And the fan’s respect for Vick is damaged as well. The black community of Atlanta is feeling they have been betrayed by their savior. And everybody else is losing their patience. He was involved in that STD scandal and the water bottle at the airport. His comment to the media about “people will always like Michael Vick” probably struck a few nerves as well. But thankfully, no one man is bigger than the team, or the league is this case.
The same goes for the NBA. One man will not bring down the whole operation. Ref’s betting on games will down definitely be in the back of people’s minds if wasn’t already since everybody seemed to be saying they knew it was probably happening after the story broke. The big difference here is that betting actually affects the games while dogfighting doesn’t. We could always find another crook and here we go again. But if we go months then years without another incident, how big a deal will it stay in this ADD society of current events. We are always jumping on the next big story.
Vick will find himself in the situation to either change his attitude or lose a career. Sports figures with cocky, can’t do any wrong attitudes have a tendency to get into trouble, make the fans hate them and find themselves without any love or a job. The NBA has two many big faces to be worrying forever about some ref. We are witnessing a dynasty with the Spurs, the emergence of Lebron James as well enjoying watching Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Dirk do their thing.
We can be gloomy and depressed and act like the end is near. But these two possible home wreckers won’t the wreck the house of sports. You can only cry so long before you get tired and want to break out a smile. We will soon be seeing Reggie Bush runs circles around people and King James dunk on people. The good guys will remind us that there is still a game to be enjoyed. The darkness can only last so long before someone steals our hearts again with the next great performance. The sun does come up in the morning because like the bird in the cage, some feathers are just too bright to be locked up.