As we close another decade in the sporting world, there seems to be an intertwining theme from athlete to athlete and from sport to sport. Over the past ten years, our favorite sports have been inundated with the specter of illegitimacy, lies, cheating, and other transgressions that shake the very foundational pillars of integrity among teams and players.
Across the wide gulf of the sports landscape, one need not look far to find examples of the sort of behavior from athletes that threaten what makes sports so enjoyable to watch and pleasurable to cover as a profession.
In American sports which pride themselves on honesty, integrity, and fair play, a plethora of bad press involving athletes plastered the headlines of both sports magazines and mainstream publications.
The BALCO doping affair in San Francisco which led to the demise of Marion Jones also shed negative light on the accomplishments of legendary slugger Barry Bonds, who broke records for single-season and career home runs under a cloud of controversy.
Bonds proved to be just one high-profile athlete whose name was connected with drug use. Stories became commonplace during the decade of additional baseball players allegedly using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in a storm of negative publicity for America’s Pastime. Well-known stars such as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, and Alex Rodriguez each at one time either admitted to or was alleged to have used performance enhancements to bolster their statistics or prolong their careers.
The National Basketball Association was rocked to its core when it was revealed that one of its own officials, Tim Donaghy, was entangled in a gambling ring and used his inside access for personal gain. The move cost Donaghy his freedom before his release from jail earlier this fall. The Association’s brightest star, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was involved in a court case when he was accused of and ultimately acquitted of sexual assault in Eagle, Colorado in 2003.
Even the National Football League has had to deal with off-the-field issues such as the Michael Vick dogfighting ring and the Plaxico Burress gun saga which brought a black eye to a league that puts great value upon its public image.
The decade ended with perhaps its most surprising character blow when Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer on the planet, drove his image deep into the woods when he was enveloped in a car accident on Thanksgiving night that bizarrely unraveled into a web of alleged multiple infidelities and marital strife.
Character compromise was not restricted to solely professional sports over the last decade. Marion Jones, who at the top of her game was a multiple gold medal winner in track and field at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, ended the decade in disgrace as allegations of doping were denied by Jones but later found to be accurate. The perjury cost Jones both her freedom for a time and her medals, which were stripped by the International Olympic Committee.
In 2002 another shot to the integrity of the Olympic Games, was fired. The 2002 bribery scandal and judging controversy in figure skating at Salt Lake City turned the Winter Games into a circus that eventually led to a new scoring system as well as a duplicate set of gold medals for Canadian pairs skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
The Little League World Series was not immune to the problem. Phenom pitcher Danny Almonte led his Bronx team to third place in the 2001 Little League World Series. For weeks rumors abounded that he was in fact much older than the required 12 years old. With a command of the mound well beyond his years and a blistering 70 miles per hour fastball, everyone everywhere was astounded by his ability, until it was revealed following private investigation that Almonte was actually 14 years old.
For all the stories of strife and blows to the integrity of sports through this past decade, there have thankfully been stories of triumph and character depth that instill hope that all has not been lost.
One of my favorite incidences from the past decade did not involve a Super Bowl player or a high-profile athlete. Instead it was the story of a girl who hit a home run but couldn’t run around the bases.
Western Oregon University softball player Sara Tucholsky hit her first home run during a college postseason game in 2008, but collapsed with shredded knee ligaments while tagging first base. If Tucholsky was unable to make it around the bases, she would be ruled out. If she was substituted, the hit would have only counted for a single, and receiving any physical assistance from teammates was against the rules.
Members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned their home crowd in Ellensburg by carrying Tucholsky around the bases so the three-run homer would count - an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.
Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky. The umpire said there was no rule against it.
So Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky's legs, and she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the base paths, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her good leg. "It was the right thing to do," Holtman said in an interview later. "She'd hit it over the fence. She deserved the home run."
"It's kind of a big blur at the moment," Tucholsky said. "I didn't really realize what was going on until I actually had time to reflect on it. The only thing I remember is that Mallory asked me which leg was the one that hurt. I told her it was my right leg and she said, `OK, we're going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg,' and I said `OK, thank you very much.' "
"In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much," Holtman said. "It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run."
This kind of story restores my hope that character is not lost in the games and sports we enjoy. My hope is that over the next ten years the inspiring and positive stories of character will far outweigh the scandals and negative indiscretions.
