The 'Yellow Floyd' Sports Scandal

Here we go again. Another Tour de France in the books, and another round of steroid allegations. Once again the french are claiming that the winner, who happens to be an American for the 8th straight year, tested positive for steroids. Well, not exactly. He only tested positive for an abnormally high level of testosterone after the race, but lets not get technical about little details like that. After all, its only a bicycle race.
If he did in fact use an illegal substance that effected his performance in that now famous 17th stage, then he should certainy be stripped of his title and banned from competition forever. If he did not use anything to alter his performance, than he simply put on a miraculous display of athleticism, determination, and... ok, he simple pedaled faster than everyone else that day.
I am not really trying to poke fun at the sport of cycling. The Tour de France is a brutal month long event where most of the time is spent going uphill. Its hell and I certainly would not be able to do it.
But this all becomes really silly when you consider this as another of the great scandals in sports history. But it does reflect a trend of big scandals erupting from insignificant sports.
The previous cycling scandal will rage for years. People will continue to debate whether or not Lance Armstrong cheated.
Figure skating has had more than its share of headline making scandals. The Tanya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan incident. The Olympic Scoring scandal. The Second Olympic Scoring scandal. The Johhny Wier sexuality controversy.
Track & Field is nothing but scandals involving doping accusations. Ben Johnson alone accounts for more than most other sports ever see.
Golf has controversy and scandal. Women golfers competing in men's events. Women and minorities being barred from certain courses.
Soccer is filled with scandal. This year's World Cup had many drug related issues, with entire teams and their coaching staffs coming under fire. Italy won the world cup despite the fact that over half the team was under investigation for match fixing back in thier home country. The Zidane headbutt has found a home in pop-culture now.
Chess has seen a few scandals over the years, although its hard to imagine what could possibly happen during a chess match. Competitors are now tested for drugs prior to international competition for some silly reason.
Why do these silly little sports seem to have so many scandals? Because the contestants are desperate to get their 15 minutes of fame. Even if they are the best in their sport, they will never be a household name.. until they are involved in a scandal. If Landis had not been accused of doping, his name would already be out of the headlines. Nobody would remember Tanya Harding if she had not hired a hitman to injur her rival.
The heads of these sports organizations claim they hate scandals. I am sure they never want to see cheating in thier sport. But they secretly love it because it gives people a reason to talk about a sport that they would otherwise ignore. And lets admit the truth here: We never pay attention to these events until there is a controversy.
These controversies do not help these sports enter the mainstream or become more popular. Viewership increases after such things happen, just like more people look at the side of a road when there is a wreck. Its a freak show and we just watch and hope all hell breaks loose on live television.
These things will never rank with the true historical sports scandals. Floyd Landis will never be compared to the Chicago 'black sox' who threw the world series. He will never be compared to Barry Bonds and his steroid scandal. His situation will not be compared to the Mike Tyson rape conviction or the Kobe Bryant rape allegations. He will never be remembered in the same light as OJ Simpson. His scandal does not shake the world like the Magic Johnson HIV announcement did. Big sports, big scandals, big story. The Floyd Landis story is just the result of a slow news week in sports.
History remembers the real scandal and all the details. The public barely remembers the name of the people involved in these scandals in minor sports.
If you want to look at a real sports scandal, then consider the Charlie Brown/Lucy situation. For decades Lucy has deliberalty pulled the footall off the tee just prior to the kick, causing her teammate to miss the kick and land painfully on his back. Where is the investigation into this?

Not The Frederick Douglass of Sports

Texas Longhorns running back Ramonce Taylor said Tuesday he will transfer to another college. Taylor has recently had legal problems resulting from a marijuana arrest. He was forced to miss spring practice due to poor grades.
While he remained in the shadows of QB Vince Young all season last year, Taylor still played a major role on the team. He scored 15 touchdowns and served to draw coverage away from recievers and Young. He enabled the team to open up the offense a lot.
So he has a drug problem and he can't keep his grades up, but he figures he can just walk away from his college and go play somewhere else this season? Remeber when college sports used to make people sit out a full season after they transfered to a new school? In recent years we have seen the NCAA make more and more exceptions made for star players, effectively killing that particular rule.
So whats the big deal? Well, first consider what it does to college sports. This is not the NFL, where players can pack up and move to a new team whenever they are not getting their way. This is college, where student athelets go to get an education. Part of that education sometimes involve learning how to cope with a situation they might not particularly like.
But there is a much bigger problem here. An individual like this should not find it so easy to relocate to a new school and be welcome with open arms. He is not the ideal student athlete. Nor is he the ideal citizen. He has legal problems and academic problems, and he shows no sense of commitment. This means we must question his judgement, his commitment to the sport or teammates, his moral values, and quite possibly his basic intelligence. In other words, he has displayed that he is immature, irresponsible, undependable, and either stupid or lazy depending on how you interpet his grades.
Taylor made the following statement with his announcement: "Frederick Douglass once said, 'No struggle, no progress.' I've had my share of struggles and now it's time for progress." Somehow I do not think Frederick Douglass was referring to anything as trivial as a football player switching schools. And I certainly do not think Frederick Douglass meant that you should simply pack your bags and leave town when the going gets tough. History tells us that Douglass stuck to his guns, stayed loyal to his people, and continued to fight.
If an athlete is going to quote a historical figure like this, they should at least open a history book and learn something about the person they are quoting. Following their example would not hurt much either.

Week In Review

A quick recap of the past 7 days in the world of sports....
American Floyd Landis won the Tour De France. This makes 8 years in a row that an American has won the race. And this time the French do not have Lance Armstrong to accuse of doping.
Ricky Williams broke his arm in a CFL game. The Toronto Argonauts say he will be out at least 4 weeks. They better keep a close eye on him, since we all know what Ricky does to relax in his free time.
Tiger Woods won the British Open. I still insist that Golf is not a sport, so it should not even be a news item.
Some 21 year old won the World Series of Poker. That is definately not a sport, so I will not even name the guy.
Tye Law has signed a 5 year deal with the Chiefs. Its amazing that someone with that much unused talent is unable to hold a job.
A San Fransisco Grand Jury has decided to not indict Barry Bonds on a variety of charges. Instead they ended thier term and will simply pass the problem on to the next Grand Jury. Kinda like taking time out to change pitchers before letting him walk.
Bengals DT Matthias Askew was arrested after a parking violation and altercation which resulted in police using a taser on him. Askew is the 4th Bengals player arrested in as many months. Oh, the jokes are just too easy now, so I will not even bother. Just add your own punchline.
Yeah.. it was a pretty slow week.