In this summer of 2007, there are three major professional sports that have scandals developing while over at the Tour De France, the leader was just disqualified for lying and probable drug use. The nature of the scandals in the sports of baseball and basketball threaten the integrity of each respective game. Lets review the actions of the individuals which have created the problems this summer in sports. Lets look at the four horsemen of a potential sports apocalypse.In baseball, Barry Bonds has broken Henry Aaron’s home run record of 755. However, the commissioner of baseball Bud Selig will continue to keep his distance from Bonds despite this record home run achievement because any day Bonds may be indicted in the BALCO case. The sad fact is that Bonds has achieved the record under false pretenses since he used steroids for at least five years to enhance his strength to hit many of those home runs. (See Article: Barry Bonds and Major League Baseball’s Home Run Record also on EzineArticles) Baseball is about to get involved in a public relations disaster. Baseball has a home run record achieved through the use of steroids followed by a possible indictment of its cheating star slugger.In football, quarterback Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons has been told to stay away from training camp until his matter is settled. Vick is charged with violating Federal laws against competitive dog fighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting and conducting this enterprise across state lines. It appears that Vick operated the animal fighting venture out of his home in Smithfield Virginia under the name of “bad newz kennels”. The kennel’s name is certainly appropriate for the allegations of dog killing, testing, fighting and torture.
(It does not matter if you own a dog or not, the detailed description of the dog abuse allegations are truly shocking and very disturbing.)In professional basketball, referee Tim Donaghy was involved in a point shaving scandal involving thousands of dollars made on games between 2005 and 2007. The FBI focus on Donaghy is to determine if calls he made as a referee affected the point spread on games he placed bets for organized “entities” over the last two seasons. Apparently, Donaghy will turn himself in over the next two weeks and has promised to name others in the scandal to protect himself. The “others’ named by Donaghy may involve both NBA players and other league referees.In the Tour de France, Denmark’s Michael Rasmussen who had led the tour for more than a week was just fired for lying about the location of his training. Rasmussen had been under scrutiny since last week when it was revealed that he had been removed from the national team for several violations of protocol involving drug monitoring paperwork.The dark cloud hovering over sports is a result of these developing scandals which involve gambling, point shaving, performance enhancing drugs, abuse of dogs, cheating, potential violations of federal law, and lying, The integrity of competitive professional sports is at risk in the next several months because of the actions of these four men. The four horsemen of a potential sports apocalypse.