If you’re a major league sports fan, it’s four stikes and you’re out.
Black Tuesday fell upon the sports world today.
From the Tour de France, where (surprise!) yet another stage winner pulled out of the race following doping allegations. This time Alex Vinokourov, who was very likely competing in the last TdF he’d ever participate in, decided to up his odds by pumping himself with someone else’s red blood cells. It’s called homologous blood transfusion. It’s against the rules. So, another rider falls by the wayside of the Alps because, clearly, the only way to win the Tour is to cheat. Heck all the pro riders do it, so it’s not really cheating, it’s just breaking the official rules in order to level the playing field.
The TdF fiasco may completely take down the sport of pro bike racing, which when you stack spectators side by side, it’s really small potatoes when compared to what’s happening in the NBA. Today, NBA commish, David Stern, blamed what he described as a “rogue, isolated criminal” for a betting scandal that is giving the league headlines during its off season and questioning the credibility of every referee. Stern says he’s betrayed by former referee Tim Donaghy, who is now the target of an FBI investigation for allegedly betting on games, including some he officiated. The ref will likely take a plea to make this all go away. Kobe who?
And in the NFL, the news only gets more interesting. Michael Vick, quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, obviously has too much money and time on his hands since he’s been charged on numerous counts involving a dog fighting ring that he was leading. Falcon’s team owner Arthur Blank, who initially planned to suspend Vick for four games (until the feds suggested the NFL take no action until the investigation is finished), said he planned to ask Vick to put his career on hold while the case is pending.
Lastly, Barry Bonds, working for the San Francisco Giants, continues his try to beat Hank Aaron’s home run record which, when accomplished, will be tarnished due to the obvious steroids abused by Bonds to increase upper body strength. Apparently, the increase in upper body strength resulted in a decrease in overall brain power once held by Bonds.
So sports fans, how about cracking open a book, renting a DVD, doing some summer yard work or hey, here’s an idea – go participate in a sport instead of watching these embarrassing members of society who take drugs and have clear mental issues, pretend they’re professionals.
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