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An athletically incorrect
viewpoint
Posted: Wed Aug 5, 1998
Today we're going to do something a little different. With
three current sports controversies, I'm going to supply the
ugly, contrarian view on each. Be warned, this will
probably be very upsetting, because the thinking is
completely crass and
athletically incorrect. But as you listen to me, don't just retch.
Think: "You know, it's terrible, but he may be
right."
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The biting attitude Tyson continued to display at his hearing is what boxing's
all about.
(AP/Jack Smith)
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OK. First,
Mike
Tyson. At a hearing last week to find out if he was cool enough
to be reinstated to box, Tyson lost all his cool and spewed
out a vulgarity, then admitted he was so angry that he
couldn't speak anymore. Obviously, this is precisely what
should continue to
disqualify him. Right?
The contrarian view says, Are you kidding? Let Tyson box.
By losing control Tyson illustrated he's just what boxing
needs at the box office. Any pug who agrees to fight Iron
Mike enters the ring with two good ears and millions of
dollars. At the worst,
he'll come out with millions of dollars. Hey, boxing ain't
ladies day golf. You've got a mean, raging
bully—that's what boxing is for.
Next. Because of the NBA lockout,
the stars won't play for the United States in the world
championships in
Greece. Instead, a ragtag group of minor leaguers has been thrown
together. Isn't this a wonderful Cinderella story, what
America is all
about?
Ridiculous, says the contrarian view. Once the stars nixed
the nation, we should have pulled out of the championships.
Hey, nobody goes to see basketball games anymore. All
anybody really wants to see is hotdog superstars taking six
steps and slam
dunking. If the United States can't send a bunch of famous
spoiled-rotten jerks to represent us on the court, then
forfeit. Nobody around the world wants to see a team of
struggling Americans who are trying hard. No, American
athletes stand now for idle
glitz.
Third. Two of America's best track athletes have been
suspended for failing drug tests, and the entire Tour de
France was almost called off because so many cyclists were
caught
doping. Isn't drugs a threat to
sports?
Wise up, says the contrarian. When is the holier-than-thou
sports establishment going to do what's sensible and
legalize drugs? Hey, the whole idea of modern athletics is
to win, to be the best—and history tells us that every
time restrictions are
placed on that goal, it doesn't work. The do-gooders couldn't
stop professionalism. They couldn't stop athletes from
using whatever devices improve performance. Really, what
difference does it make if a pole vaulter uses a new
plexiglas pole to go
higher...or uses
steroids?
Drugs are just another athletic advance, like Ace bandages
or videotape or Gatorade. Besides, let's face it, drugs are
so sophisticated now that the cheats know how to mask them.
Legalizing drugs would give everybody a fair chance. Hey,
isn't that what
sport is all
about?
Now, just for the record, myself—I definitely support
the contrarian view about Tyson, and in the matter of our
Cinderella basketball team, it probably would have been
best to forfeit. As for the contrarian view about
drugs—as shocking and extreme as it
may sound, there is no doubt in my mind that sports will,
in the future, relax drug restrictions more and more.
Already, there is the growing sense of
helplessness.
These commentaries, which appear each Wednesday on National
Public Radio's Morning Edition, are posted weekly by
CNN/SI.
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