Sports, Summer, and Scandal

Published September 10, 2007

By Mac Smith

For those of you who haven’t been following professional sports recently, here’s a recap of some of this summer’s most outrageous scandals.

On July 26th, Atlanta Falcons star quarterback Michael Vick was indicted along with three others on charges of competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls, and conducting enterprise across state lines. The operation, known as “Bad Newz Kennels,” took place at Vick’s 15-acre estate. Vick was specifically blamed for financing the operation and handling thousands of dollars in gambling revenues.

On August 24th, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely without pay. The suspension also allowed the Falcons to reclaim the quarterback’s 22 million dollar signing bonus. Many companies have also terminated or suspended endorsement deals with him. Days after his suspension, Vick submitted a guilty plea. He is expected to be sentenced on December 10th. He could face a maximum of five years in prison.

On July 9th, NBA referee Tim Donaghy resigned prior to the surfacing of a damning report by the FBI. The report states that Donaghy is responsible for betting on the games that he officiated during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons, and for making calls that affected the point spread (the number of points a given team is projected to win by) of certain games. On August 15th, Donaghy pled guilty to two federal charges, and at risk of facing more charges at the state level.

NBA commissioner David Stern denied knowing anything about the referee’s outrageous gambling activities and assured the press that it was an isolated case.

As if dogfighting and gambling weren’t enough, the Major League Baseball illegal steroids-scandal was reinvigorated on August 7th, when Barry Bonds hit his 756th career homerun, passing Hank Aaron for the most in the history of baseball. Bonds has been wrapped up in steroid allegations since 2000, when his trainer was indicted for supplying his athletes with illegal anabolic steroids. MLB commissioner Bud Selig was conveniently not present at AT&T Ballpark when the record was broken, but made a phone call congratulating Bonds on his historic feat. The repercussions of this summer’s events will undoubtedly affect professional sports negatively, but only time will tell for how long.

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