So I got home from Rome Friday night and went online to find two sports riddled in scandal...the NFL/Michael Vick dog scandal and the NBA officiating scandal. There's a nice welcome home present.
First, the Michael Vick story. We live in a society that has laws stating innocent until proven guilty, so I am hesitant to hand out an indictment towards Vick. However, judging from the fact that this story has been developing for months (I first heard it on ESPN back in May, if my memory serves correctly) and from the large amounts of evidence that seems to point to Vick, my view of Vick has further been lowered from where it was, which wasn't very high to begin with. I own a dog and cannot fathom having it for the sole purpose of fighting for cash. To see dogs chewing each other to pieces and viewing it as an acceptable means to make money and have entertainment is disgusting. Yet, if by some miracle Vick is proven innocent, then the press and the public in general will have accused him of something our courts system did not find him taking part of. With that in mind, I am hesitant to hand out a condemnation, despite the evidence that currently says he was very involved with the illegal dogfighting operation.
As for the NBA officiating, I don't find it all that surprising. For starters, the NBA has had image problems for years and this just adds onto the huge pile of bad images relating to the NBA. Second, as Bill Simmons of the ESPN.com Page 2 blog has pointed out, this particular official refereed Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series, quite possibly the worst playoff series I've ever seen because of all the bad calls. I cannot even imagine the wrath Suns fans will have for this referee when he comes to town...assuming he ever does again. Since details are still leaking out from this scandal, I also cannot give a condemnation here either. However, if he did indeed fix games, may he never referee another game, pro, college, or amateur, again.
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