Sport Scandles mean nothing to fans?

[mavenu]

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<a class='bbc_url' href='http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080729.wsptbrunt29/TPStory/Sports/columnists'>Total Story here from the globe and mail</a>



Cuts below, edited for flow for the quotes from the original article (have PDF if it goes down, just ask)

Consider for a moment what Tim Donaghy did, what caused him to lose his job as an NBA official, and yesterday what landed him in jail for 15 months. From a position imbued with trust and authority, he used his insider knowledge while wagering on games, and also sold that information to a professional gambler. ... That doesn't quite add up to the Black Sox scandal ? when the championship of the only truly big-league professional team sport at the time was revealed to be fixed. ...



If the games aren't on the up-and-up, presumably the fans would lose faith and lose interest. That was the pretense behind all of the phony U.S. congressional grandstanding over performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, and the New England Patriots videotaping opponents' coaching signals during games ? that it was a matter of public policy because it really mattered to real people. ...



<em class='bbc'>But where's the evidence of that?</em>



There is every indication that basketball fans still believe, that those consumers remain steadfast in their allegiances, that the NBA will emerge from all of this a bit bruised, but hardly bowed, that by the time the next season tips off, it will be business as usual.



Sportswriters and broadcasters can opine about the dark shadow that hung over the NBA final this past spring, but the TV ratings suggest most devotees seemed happy to watch the sport's two great glamour franchises, the Lakers and Celtics, do battle once more, without an inordinate amount of dread. ...



At this stage in history, it would seem the appetite for the spectacle, the diversion, the belief system that has made spectator sport a bigger deal than at any other point in the history of the human race, outweighs even the question of legitimacy. ...



Those in charge of professional wrestling understood long ago that you could sell the show without maintaining the obvious lie that it was on the level.



The evidence: The NBA appears to have sailed right through the biggest scandal in its history (though there remains the possibility that Donaghy might have more to say during and after his prison stay, which would at least keep the story alive). The NFL wasn't derailed by Michael Vick or Pacman Jones or Rae Carruth, or other players of dubious character. MLB enjoyed a renaissance during the steroid years, was boffo when Barry Bonds was still allowed to do his thing. The NHL skirted right past the relatively minor Rick Tocchet/Janet Gretzky brouhaha.

Will you watch less [insert your professional sport leagues in your country, like the premiership league in england if you're in europe, or MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL] because of Donaghy or the other things that were listed in the evidence? Does it matter, as this author is claiming? Have we become like the ancient Romans, where the spectacle is paramount and everything really doesn't matter in sports?



For me, I've switched more towards the junior leagues of hockey (CHL). Price was the primary factor, and the local team sucked when i was younger... I jumped around the tocchet hockey incident, admittly. I'd pay less attention to the NHL if the sports radio station didn't keep yakking about Mats Sundin 24/7...

[Guest]

The point is, one event doesn't matter. If tehre are a couple of scandals in a row, running for years, then it's getting tricky. Cycling, for example, is going through a tough time due to doping events, especially when the structural use of doping in many teams came to light somewhere in the late nineties. But even then, for quite a few sports, fans want to see the spectacle and couldn't care less how it is achieved. Game rigging by referees and players is a more serious matter, because it degrades sports to a theatre show...with bad acting. As long as the audience keeps the confidence that the rigging are accidental cases, and that the majority of the games are fair, then it will not suffer credibility.Btw, I don't see the issue with videotaping coaching signals. If you give signals, they are bound to be seen; figuring out the opponents mode of play is one of the aspects of the game in my opinion...

[Polkstreet]

Count me among those who lost interest in a number of sports due to scandal. The biggest example for me is the NFL, who lost me when off-field matters began to overshadow the game. When Sunday's roster is determined by the current court docket, then you've got a problem.

[j delight1361849785]

I quit watching all but one kind of sport per year (this year it's baseball, go cubs) for myself and my sanity. I stayed away from many of those sports because of the scandals and the ridiculous pompousassedness of some players.Still... I love the games themselves.

[Fudgie]

I am a mad keen supporter of Australian Rules Football. I can't explain it - it's got 4 goal posts, played on a cricket oval and has men in very tight shorts. It's riddled with scandals (at the moment, players with over active partying lifestyles), however, it doesn't ruin the beauty of the game for me. I watch for the sport, not the scandals.

[Guest]

Well, there are scandals and scandals. Partying players doesn't affect the sports. Game fixing by referees, corrupt jury, doping and such do. The latter things are bad. The first won't do much.