Sports Are Weird

Sports are unique in oh so many different ways from any other form of business. Where else in the world do the workers (the players) make more than the managers (the coaches and GM's)? And in what other line of work do the managers get fired when the workers don't perform? But with the NBA trade deadline now behind us I would like to examine another quirk of sports: in no other line of business can you get transferred and not have a say in where you move and if you move at all?

Now I realize that people get transferred in business all the time. This occurred recently to a family friend of mine when the business he worked for merged with a Canadian business and thus he and his family now live north of the border. The difference between this situation and sports though is there are no other options. If the Johnsons had wanted to stay in Greenville (where I'm from) they could have. Joe could have taken a job else where with another company doing a similar job. However he liked the company he was with so he stayed and in doing so left. In sports that's not an option. When Shawn Marion was traded to Toronto he couldn't say, "No thanks, I really like the weather here" and stay in Miami to play basketball elsewhere in south Florida. He simply had to pack his bags and head to Toronto.

I'm very torn on whether I'm ok with this or not. On one hand you have the other people involved in this, the players families. Its hard enough for the players to go out on the road and devote endless hours to be the top players in the world while still being a good dad (or mom) at home. In the NFL it's slightly easier because teams are home during the week and only have 8 road game per year. However in the NBA and MLB, players are on the road for 41 and 81 games a year respectively. Add in travel days and off days where the team is just on the road and that's a lot of days away from home. Then there's the aspect we're actually talking about here and that's the trade. If a team trades a player he typically doesn't have warning it's going to happen and if he does he still typically doesn't know where he'll wind up. He can't go and find a house in his new home city, he has to continue playing. Thus the family typically stays in the old city for the time being and the player is now constantly away from his family.

Although that doesn't sit well with me, I'm still OK with the entire trade process for one reason: money. Athletes say it all the time about sports: it's a business. Moves are made for on and off the court reasons and neither one takes in to the account how much nicer the weather is in Miami than Toronto. Professional athletes get paid insane amounts of money and they know when they sign up to make that money that they have to sacrifice a few things, including some family time and stability. And since they agree to that, the concept of a trade is ok with me.

Plain and simple: sports are weird. There is no other business that is operated more in the public eye or any other business that is more accountable to its customers. We as fans love our sports and in turn love our athletes. We just sometimes forget that they're people. People, myself included, say they hate athletes all the time, most of whom we've never met. So let's try to remember that these people are in fact people. And when they get traded they're not merely business objects, they are living, breathing human beings who now must adjust to a new work place, new co-workers, and a new way of doing things. So Shawn Marion, I gotcha. I realize you're human. Oh and if you decide to take a side trip to Montreal, tell the Johnsons I say "Hi."

Do I Really Wanna Do This?

A lot of people re-acted a lot of different ways to the Sports Illustrated report that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids. Some people had the "here we go again" approach, some people couldn't wait to see what the next development was, while others were disgusted. I was one of the disgusted ones, but not for the same reason as everybody else. Yes, espescially as a Yankees fan I'm dissappointed in Alex Rodriguez because he is supposed to be one of the good guys. He, along with Ken Griffey Jr, Derek Jeter, and others were supposed to be the clean Golden Boys of the steroid era. But no, I wasn't disgusted with Alex Rodriguez. I'm disgusted with Selena Roberts and Sports Illustrated. The test Rodriguez failed, which was in 2003, he only agreed to take (along with the rest of the MLB players who were randomly tested) under the agreement that it was anonymous and the results would never be revealed. The purpose of the test was NOT to find out who was taking steroids but how many people were taking steroids. The survey testing revealed that about 5%, or 104 players, tested positive, including A-rod. But the last part, including A-rod, should have never been known to anybody, and the way the testing was constructed it was very possible that it could have. However with the perjury case against Barry Bonds the names of the players and the codes on the samples were matched up. To me this also should not have happened outside of Bonds test but I am not in place to challenge our governments pursuit of Bonds in its destruction of Balco.

I am in a position however to question the ethics of the sports writers who wrote the report. Here is yet another case where I believe the media has outstepped its bounds. Considering I'm now on two TV shows and a radio show, I now would be kidding myself if I didn't consider myself part of the media, however a small of a part, and I can truly say that when I see something like this happen, a persons trust and more importantly rights greatly violated by reporters who obtain information from sealed court documents, I am ashamed of that. It also makes me think twice about wanting to become a bigger part of it. Now I know my parents read this and no, mom and dad, I'm not changing my major (again) and my career goals haven't changed but it makes me think about some of the bad press the press gets.

The media can do great things like re-unite families, but they can also divide them. The media can also give a person, deserved or not, they're 15 minutes of fame which can also be good or bad. However if you're already famous the media isn't typically going to be your friend. Ask A-Rod even before this when pictures of him with a woman who wasn't his wife (which may or may not have at all been significant) surfaced on the back pages of New York papers. Ok so maybe they don't like A-Rod. If say, you're an Olympic hero or something like that you'd be safe. Oh wait. No you're not. Michael Phelps was having a good time with friends at a college party, friends who are his age mind you, and someone took a picture while he had a bong in his face. This picture would have never surfaced if it wasn't for the immense amount of money the photographer was offered by a British tabloid. Something he thought was private became public.

I understand that athletes are public figures and thus must live their lives to a higher standard while in the public eye. And don't get me wrong, I'm dissappointed in Phelps and I'm dissapointed in A-Rod and since A-Rod is guilty he did the right thing as Phelps did and apologized, explained himself (and in A-Rod's case even elaborated) and begin the process of moving on with his life. However what is private should stay private and that used to be the case. What was said off the record stayed off the record. What was supposed to be anonymous stayed anonymous and what happened in a player's personal life we never found out about unless it somehow effected his play on the field. But this seems to have gone by the way-side. What SI should have said to whoever the mole is in this situation is no thanks, we have a respect for the players involved and we're turning you in because you've violated federal court orders. Now, instead we'll eventually find out all 104 names and Alex Rodriguez's career will be forever tainted. To me he's still a Hall of Famer but that's now at risk because of a snitch and reporters that gave him credibility. In a year where Ed Werder was just as responsible as TO, Jerry Jones, and Tony Romo for the circus in Dallas, America's favorite olympian got turned in for having fun in a private setting, and ESPN has played FBI on more than one occasion (Pacman even admitted they're good detectives) this is just another time that the media has outstepped its bounds.

I'm all for shows such as Dateline that catch criminals in conjunction with law enforcement but when the media decides to play law enforcement, or report on something that has been stolen from law enforcement such as sealed court documents they cross the ethical line. It's a cheap thrill. It's an easy commercial tease. Here: look what we found. Instead I have a suggestion: do some real reporting. Go document a basketball player going to a school for the NBA's Read to Achieve program. Show Michael Phelps when he visits kids around the country and helps them out in the pool. Show the NFL doing work with the United Way. Give me more Roberto Clemente and less Roger Clemens. I'm not saying don't tell us this stuff. If it comes out report on it. That's your job. You're supposed to report, not investigate. And thus I conclude with the wise words of the one and only Dr. Gregory House directed towards the national sports media: "Do your damn job."

Man that guys smart.