Sports becoming a vast wasteland

Like most men, I am an avid sports fan. Every season of the year provides me a sport that I can live vicariously through.

Now that summer is arriving, most of my focus will be on baseball, but it was also fun recently watching the Boston Celtics reclaim their place at the top of professional basketball royalty.

And, of course, this part of the country is deeply passionate about football on just about all levels. Even though the weather is hot, it does not take much effort to start up an intense football discussion.

Despite all the enjoyment sports provide, there has been a growing dark side to the games people play. All major sports have been tainted by serious scandals in recent years.

In the just completed professional basketball season, there was a lot of gnashing of teeth regarding the claims of former NBA referee Tim Donaghy that a playoff game was fixed.

Donaghy was the referee who got in trouble with the law for gambling on NBA games and made his allegation as part of his attempts to receive a light sentence. NBA Commissioner David Stern dismissed his allegation as a desperate attempt by a felon to avoid jail.

Stern has a point, but after all the other scandals we've seen, a sports fan can't help but be a little suspicious.

A few weeks ago the National Football League saw another dust up in the controversy involving the New England Patriots and questions about their videoing other teams in violation of league rules.

Last year, the team and its head coach received hefty fines from the league for their wrong doings. However, a former team employee was recently questioned about other possible videos the team made, but at this point, it has not resulted in more punishment.

The only result from this recent incident is that it caused more negative publicity for the league because it reminded everybody that the NFL's premiere team of this decade may have achieved its titles by cheating.

And, let's not forget about baseball. Of all the sports tainted by scandal, professional baseball is the leader of the pack.

The sport is currently exiting what will go down in record books as the "steroids era." This scandal reached a new low in recent months when legendary pitcher Roger Clemens testified before Congress regarding his alleged steroids usage.

If that isn't enough scandal, then get ready for the Summer Olympics. If track and field were more popular, then the drug scandals in that sport would have gotten much more publicity than it has.

Track star Marion Jones, who won multiple medals in the 2000 Olympics in Australia, now sits in jail because she confessed to lying to investigators when they asked about drugs in her sport.

Track and field has been infested with performance enhancing drugs for years, and this may be part of the reason the Olympics have lost some of its luster.

So what does this all mean? As an adult, I can understand that the mistakes of these people show that they are human like the rest of us. It doesn't matter how rich or famous or successful a person is, they are vulnerable to making bad decisions like the rest of us.

My main concern is for young people who are watching all this happen. Our cynical society impacts them in ways I never had to deal with when I was growing up.

Now, they have to watch their sports heroes get reduced to rubble.

It must be difficult.