Angry and annoyed. Bewildered and betrayed. Confused and cynical.
I could easily continue through the alphabet, with two words for each letter, to describe how we’re feeling now, after this stench from the Snitchell Report. Let me skip to W, though, as in: WHAT THE HELL?
I’m kicking myself for wasting time and space for decades, praising baseball players for their athleticism, their home runs, their Cy Young Awards.
Some of the very chaps I advised readers to admire, and my sons to applaud, are now exposed as cheaters, steroid users, law-breakers.
It reeks.
I suspect, however, that the masses will forgive and forget soon. I imagine the Hall of Fame chances of the disgraced players won’t even be diminished. I sense Major League turnstiles clicking at the usual pace next season.
Sports fans, even in these dark days, tend to be soothed by promises that sanity, and sanitization, will prevail. Heck, a referee cheated last season — affected NBA outcomes for gambling purposes — yet seats aren’t any emptier this season.
Fans want diversions and demigods from their big-league sports, not scandals and stinks.
•The New York Post is hilarious.
Like most sports sections in the United States, the Post lists point spreads for the weekend’s NFL games. Next to the New England Patriots, there’s an asterisk.
“Caught cheating,” it explains.
•The Pats, incidentally, are 23.5-point favourites over the New York Jets Sunday. No team in NFL history has been favoured by more. Oddsmakers suspect the Pats will be out to hammer the Jets for exposing them early this season for violating video-taping rules … Bob Petrino, who quit on the Atlanta Falcons this week, has burned bridges for head coaches wishing to jump to the NFL from U.S. college football. Like Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier before him, Petrino proved successful college coaches can be useless in the NFL … And it looks like Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will marry Jessica Simpson, despite her declared intention to appear nude in a movie.
•In the CFL, Jacques Chapdelaine will rejoin the B.C. Lions’ coaching staff, making Greg Marshall the top candidate to become the Montreal Alouettes’ head coach. Marshall has excelled as a CFL defensive co-ordinator, most recently with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers … The Toronto Argonauts seem headed for a new practice facility in Oakville, Ont. Ground broke there this week for a state-of-the-art, 32-acre, multi-sport venue that will involve a partnership consisting of sports entrepreneur Neil Jamieson, Nike and Manchester United … And, for hockey stuff, check out my latest NHL Report, only at www.metronews.ca.
In three-plus decades as a columnist and broadcaster, Marty York has built a network of solid contacts and a renowned reputation for his hard-hitting, groundbreaking style. The tradition continues in Metro Sports.
