Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic EvolutionSM
|
Welcome to the Sports Zoo! |
|
 |
Have you ever been watching a game and had that deep-down, gut-instinct-feeling
that something is really wrong with sports? Ever wondered why you've wasted so
much time watching a bunch of overpaid, under worked "athletes" engaged in a meaningless
entertainment scheme that does nothing more than take your money, waste your time and
demean your intelligence?
Sure, watching sports teaches us to be "team players" (servants and "yes-men") in addition
to giving us heroes (never mind that real heroes fight for their country, save children
from burning houses, and arrest bad guys) and releasing our tensions
and aggressions. However, there's much more to the story! I'll post here, as time permits, various stories and
informational pieces to illustrate how corrupt and wasteful the world of organized sport actually is. Stay-tuned, bookmark this page, and send me your suggestions... Golden, Colorado - July 27, 2007 |
"Football is a game for trained apes. That, in fact, is what most of the players are - retarded gorillas wearing helmets and uniforms. The only thing more debased is the surrounding mob of drunken monkeys howling the gorillas on."
- Edward Abbey, from his book,
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
"I remember very well in high school having a sudden kind of Erlebnis, you know, a sudden insight, and asking myself, why do I care if my high school football team wins? I don't know anybody on the team. They don't know me. I wouldn't know what to say to them if I met them. Why do I care? Why do I get all excited if the football team wins and all downcast if it loses?"
- Noam Chomsky in Understanding Power
You still don't believe professional sports are fixed??
|
"This isn't a free market, it's a company. Major league baseball is not 30 companies competing against each other. It's one company with 30 franchises and their product is entertainment." "And no, drop any notion that this is a free market exercise, it isn't. It's a company called 'Major League Baseball' with 30 franchises. The Yankees may want to beat the Red Socks but they don't want to drive the Red Socks out of business. If we're talking about some other industry, a couple of telecommunications companies - telecommunications company A does want to drive telecommunications company B out of business. But if the Yankees throw the Red Socks out of business there will be nobody to play."
KOA 850, January 27, 2009, 11:35 am |
|
Coaches, Crooks, and BIG salaries! Fox News - April 02, 2009 by Joshua Rhett Miller |
Cash Strapped States Pay Millions for Basketball Coaches"When Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear announced in February that his state was taking nearly $3 billion in federal stimulus cash, he described the decision as necessary to save jobs, preserve 'quality of life' and a 'strategic investment ... to position Kentucky for the future.'"
"Little did Beshear know that two months later, as teachers, police and other municipal workers breathed a collective sigh of relief that their jobs had been saved - at least for now - the state's primary institution for higher learning would 'invest' $32 million in a well-traveled but highly successful basketball coach.
"'We do not use state appropriation or university funding to pay our coaches,' [Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart] Barnhart explained. 'Except for his base salary of $400,000, the bulk of this compensation is derived from our multimedia rights contract that includes radio and television agreements, other sponsors and conference revenue sharing.'"
"But at a time when President Obama declares that 'everyone's got to have some skin in the game,' the game of big-time college sports appears immune."
"At the same time states across the country are facing huge budget shortfalls, job cuts and reductions of programs and services, basketball and football coaches at top taxpayer-funded universities are pulling down Wall Street CEO salaries."
"During a postgame press conference in February, following an easy win over South Florida, a political activist asked Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, who makes $1.6 million a year] Calhoun about his salary."
"'Coach, considering that you're the highest-paid state employee and there's a $2 billion budget deficit ... do you think ...?' Ken Krayeske reportedly said."
"'Not a dime back,' Calhoun replied. 'I'd like to be able to retire someday. I'm getting tired.'"
Multimillionaire coach Rick Pitino:
"The new deal increases Pitino's annual salary from $1.65 million to $2.25 million beginning next season, and will pay him $2.5 million a year if he stays until the end of the contract. The contract also boosted a loyalty bonus due Pitino on July 1 from $1 million to $1.75 million. He'll receive loyalty bonuses of $3.6 million in 2010 and 2013 if he remains with the school.""He's worth every penny of it, probably double it," said Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich."
ESPN.com "Insider DraftAnalyzer" - May 4, 2007
 Coach Rick Pitino |
"The woman accused of trying to extort Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino approached him in a restaurant six years ago, and the two had sex later that night, the coach told police. Two weeks after they met, the married father of five gave her $3,000 after she said she needed an abortion and didn't have health insurance."
"Pitino told police he had been drinking at the restaurant and had consensual sex with Karen Sypher in August 2003 at a table near the bar. The police report said the 56-year-old coach denied Sypher's allegations that he raped her after the restaurant closed and at another time somewhere else. "The university's president expressed surprise at new details in the scandal surrounding the coach, whose contract includes dishonesty and 'moral depravity' as grounds for firing. |
"The coach met Sypher when she approached him and asked him call her sons with words of encouragement, and the coach obliged, he said. Later that night, the upscale restaurant called Porcini cleared out, and the owner left the coach his keys. That's when they had sex."She claimed Pitino forced himself on her, while the coach said she came onto him.
"The two apparently weren't alone, though: The police documents, first reported by The Courier-Journal of Louisville, says a Pitino assistant was there during the encounter and heard what sounded like consensual sex."
NewsDay.com - August 12, 2009 by AP
| In the News: |
Report: Baseball steroid use widespread CNN.com Thursday, 12-13-2007 |
Baseball faces up to steroids Rocky Mountain News - March 18, 2005 |
|
"Illegal steroids have been widely used in Major League Baseball for more than a decade, former Sen. George Mitchell said in releasing a report today. 'Those who have illegally used these substances range from players whose major league careers were brief to potential members of the Baseball Hall of Fame,' Mitchell said." | Taking up nearly ALL of that edition, on their front page, the Rocky Mountain News went on to quote Mark McGwire, and others involved in baseball, how they either used drugs, refuse to talk about their use of drugs, how something needs to be done, or how they would never do such a thing, etc - all while fans and spectators continue paying these "sports heroes" more for doing even less!!! |
Baseball old-timers swing away at steroids issue
CNN.com Saturday, 03-29-2008
"As Major League Baseball opens a new season in the shadow of revelations of drug use by some of its biggest stars, opinions vary among players from what is now called the "clean era" of baseball -- before steroids and human growth hormone entered the game's lexicon.""Baseball fan John Miller, sipping beer in the stands with three buddies under the Florida sun, remembers that era and its top players, particularly Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles."
"'I grew up on him and saw the game played the way he played it. That's my memories of baseball,' Miller said. 'Just watching him play, that was the thrill of the game. You can't take that away.'"
"Robinson, a Hall of Fame third baseman nicknamed the Human Vacuum Cleaner for his amazing fielding ability, is saddened and a bit angry that steroids have affected the game."
"'I think it's terrible. It's cheating. That's as simple as you can put it," Robinson said."
"'I think the Mitchell Report was great,' he added."
"A report by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell named dozens of current and former Major League Baseball players who allegedly used anabolic steroids or HGH to enhance their performance."
"Big names like Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield and Andy Pettitte were included. A handful of players, including Clemens, testified before Congress."
"Talk of the scandal was unavoidable when baseball old-timers gathered recently for a game to benefit Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida."
"'We used to think these guys spent seven days a week in the gym, pumping iron,' Robinson said. 'We know different now.'" Warren Cromartie was an outfielder with the Montreal Expos who was called "the Messiah" when he signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Tokyo, Japan, in 1983. Cromartie's reputation was all about hard work. He uses words like "integrity" and "perseverance" and "old school." He says big money puts added pressure on today's players. "'We weren't about the money then,' he said. 'We didn't make the money they make now. We went out and played ball and got dirty, so that means something. That's something that we're going to hang onto.'"
"Cromartie's values began at home."
"'I've got a father [Leroy Cromartie] who taught me, who played in the Negro leagues,' he said. 'We went out and played. We practiced. We practiced, practiced, practiced, we got good. So either you had it or you didn't, so we didn't think about putting anything but vitamins in our bodies at the time.'"
|
Steroids Shocker (As seen on the main web page of FoxNews 02-08-2009) |
"NEW YORK - Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in his MVP season of 2003, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.""The New York Yankees star tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources told Sports Illustrated in a story posted Saturday on its Web site."
"His name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a 2003 baseball survey, the magazine said. He reportedly tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone while playing for the Texas Rangers.
"Rodriguez declined to discuss the tests when approached by SI on Thursday at a gym in Miami, where he lives in the offseason.
"'You'll have to talk to the union,' he told a reporter. Calls from SI to union head Donald Fehr were not returned."
"An e-mail from The Associated Press to Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras, was not immediately returned. The Yankees and Fehr had no comment."
"In a December 2007 interview with "60 Minutes," three days after George Mitchell's report on drugs in the sport was released, Rodriguez denied using peformance-enhancing drugs."
"'I've never felt overmatched on the baseball field. ... I felt that if I did my, my work as I've done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn't have a problem competing at any level,' he said."
FoxNews.com
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
"Former slugger Sammy Sosa reportedly tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003.""The New York Times reported the failed test Tuesday on its Web site, citing lawyers familiar with the case. The newspaper did not identify the drug."
"The newspaper reported Sosa is one of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a 2003 baseball survey."
INSIDE NASCAR
by Mark Beech, SportsIllustrated.cnn.com, May 10, 2009
|
Story Highlights:
|
 Fan Number 3! |
"Jeremy Mayfield is a prodigiously talented driver who has won five races since 1998 and who qualified for the Chase in 2004 and '05. He's also the chronic malcontent who's been run off of two teams in the last eight years and has just one top-20 finish in his last 39 starts."
"The reason for the indefinite suspension that NASCAR handed him yesterday might be a shocker -- Mayfield is the first Cup driver to be disciplined under the sport's new substance-abuse policies -- but the fact that he's at the center of controversy is hardly surprising." |
| Olympians |
|
 Beijing, 2008 |
"What a Dope" was the title of February 01, 2009 News of the World web page out of the UK where they had a large picture of Michael Phelps using a bong. The subtitle read; "14-times Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps caught with cannabis pipe"
That same day, on FoxNews.com, Phelps was quoted from an AP interview as saying, "I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again." |
Jones stripped of five Olympic medals, banned from Beijing Games
sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/ - Updated: December 12, 2007
 Sydney, 2000 |
"LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Don't look for Marion Jones' name in the Olympic record books any more. As far as the IOC is concerned, her five-medal performance at the 2000 Sydney Games never happened."
"Jones was erased from the Olympic records Wednesday when the IOC formally stripped her of her three gold and two bronze medals. Once the world's biggest track and field star, Jones is now just a disgraced drug cheat." "'She is disqualified and scrapped from the results,' IOC president Jacques Rogge said at the close of a three-day executive board meeting." "The International Olympic Committee also banned Jones from attending next year's Beijing Olympics in any capacity and said it could bar her from future games." "The IOC postponed a decision on redistributing her medals, including whether to strip her eight American relay teammates and whether to upgrade doping-tainted Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou to gold in the 100." |
Olympic Figure Skater and Methamphetamine
|
|
On July 6, 2009, Olympic figure skater Nicole Bobek was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. She was arraigned in Jersey City, New Jersey, on drug charges stemming from a case in New York. At the time of this entry, Bobek was facing up to ten years in prison if she is convicted - I'll update this entry when I learn more... |
|
|
Sadly, the Olympics have grown into a very large and corrupt business that has almost nothing to do with amateur sportsmanship anymore. In the past the Olympic Games only accepted amateur athletes. Now, of course, most participants are either outright professionals that are supported by their governments or stealth "trustees" that accumulate large bank accounts from all kinds of willing sponsors. |
Sports: Sex, Drugs, Drinking, Gambling, and Cruelty
In July of '07 I decided to update this page (a little) after it had been sitting around on another server for over five years. Sadly, the world of sports only worsened during that intervening half decade with all kinds of sex scandals, gambling, drugs, drinking, beatings, and a general feeling that sports elites, themselves (along with their handlers, coaches, and billionaire team owners), are better than the rest of us. Anyway, here's a small snapshot from the mid 2000s that should jog your memory a bit:
|
|
Do we really want our kids (and ourselves!) growing fat, stupid and broke watching sports cheats become rich off overpriced tickets, expensive stadium beers, and flimsy team hats and jerseys that even a medieval clown wouldn't wear??!! And, let's not forget how expensive the rest of our lives become when the price of toothpaste, cars, and groceries are raised in support of a team, new stadium (at taxpayer expense), or broadcasting contract. It's time for a change - the sports entertainment industry needs to be cleaned up - now!
Basketbrawl!
|
Here's yet another example of sports-out-of-control. This particular bit of sport's "history" took place on the evening of November 19th, 2004 in Auburn Hills, Michigan during a Pacers-Pistons game at "The Palace." The news of this brawl raced around the world, dominating sports talk and other broadcasts for the following week. Below are three short excerpts from a very long AP article on the subject: |
NBA Suspends 3 Pacers, 1 Piston for Brawl
By Chris Sheridan, AP Basketball Writer, November 20, 2004
"NEW YORK (AP) - Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson of Indiana and Ben Wallace of Detroit were suspended indefinitely by the NBA on Saturday for taking part in one of the ugliest brawls in U.S. sports history, a fight with fans that commissioner David Stern called 'shocking, repulsive and inexcusable.'""The brawl was both shocking and violent, with Artest and Jackson bolting into the stands near center court and throwing punches at fans after debris was tossed at the players. Later, fans who came onto the court were punched in the face by Artest and O'Neal."
"Kermit Washington of the Los Angeles Lakers drew a 60-day (26-game) suspension in 1977 for a punch that broke the jaw of the Houston Rockets' Rudy Tomjanovich during a game, while Dennis Rodman was suspended 11 games for kicking a courtside cameraman in the groin and six games for head-butting a referee."
|
Guns and basketball players got to be such a problem that the NBA included a
"zero tolerance" policy on firearms to the collective bargaining agreement in 2005.
Nevertheless, by January 2010 NBA players involved with guns were still a huge news story. Below are a few reminders of how bad guns and professional basketball have become: |
Rageful parents are poor sports
Kids' game marred by violence
By Anne Thompson, Associated Press, July 2000
"BOSTON - A father who doesn't like a call at his son's Little League game breaks the umpire's jaw. mother at a soccer game slaps a 14-year-old referee..."
"While pushy soccer moms and obnoxious Little League dads are old traditions is children's sports, a new parental rage has developed over the past five or 10 years, say sports psychologists and youth sports officials."
"To help parents who can't control themselves at games, some youth sports leagues - including those in Jupiter, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C. - have adopted a sportsmanship training program."
NFL, Giants Stadium in Hot Water for Breast-Baring Ritual Among Fans
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans
Fox News
"Giants Stadium management, the National Football League and the New York Jets are in the hot seat over a practice that has become a halftime ritual at Jets games: lewd, drunken male fans shouting at women to expose their breasts."The men whoop, whistle, chant and stomp for female fans to lift up their shirts and bras, often shouting obscenities in the process. Some women comply with the jeering requests.
"When the male spectators don't get their wish, they frequently grow nasty - booing, spitting and throwing beer bottles at the women they're targeting.
"The story, which was first reported Tuesday by The New York Times, has caused a public outcry and led the New York Jets to issue a statement about the behavior.
"'This type of conduct on one of the stadium spirals is outrageous and unacceptable,' said Jets senior vice president of business operations Matt Higgins. 'We have spoken with NJSEA [New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority] officials and demanded that they take steps immediately to ensure that it does not happen again.'
"The NJSEA, which runs operations at Giants Stadium and The Meadowlands complex where it's located, acknowledged that the bawdy ritual has been a problem and said security staff and New Jersey State Police are doing what they can to stop it.
"'This is not something new to us in terms of dealing with rowdy fan behavior,' NJSEA President and CEO George Zoffinger told FOXNews.com. 'Anybody who uses vulgar language or is intoxicated or acting in an improper manner is either ejected or arrested.'"
Sales Taxes to Build Stadiums?
|
The photo at left is of Denver's Invesco Field at Mile High as photographed from the air by Chris Long (with permission). Like countless other stadiums around the country this one was built with public funds for a private industry that has been granted monopoly power for its franchise sports system. Think about it for a moment - professional sports are not open to competition, they play one city against another for stadiums, and all the average citizen gets is overpriced tickets and increased sales taxes on just about anything we buy. What other industries, except maybe religion, get such huge tax payer subsidies? Well, it's an age-old system that started with the Romans when they decided bread a circuses could keep the masses preoccupied with handouts and petty amusements. Our "modern" infantilized populace is so defined by entertainment, instant self gratification, and personal pleasures that almost no one balks at a tax increase to support a sports team. |
Links:
|
Back to Roger J. Wendell's Home Page...
Abbey |
About |
Blog |
Contacting
Me |
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Donate |
Guest
Book |
Home |
Site
Index |
Solutions |
Terms,
Conditions
and
Fair
Use
Copyright
© 1955 -