The Olympic Games in Rio are over and the stories of the ridiculous and the sublime will now fade into the background. Our fascination with swimmers and gymnasts and the many and varied stories of obstacles that are overcome will give way to the sports that occupy the American fan on a regular basis. We can welcome Ryan Lochte back to the best bathrooms in Volusia County and Central Florida, and we can wish Matt Lauer the best when he returns to the broadcast school to take an refresher course in interviews.
So we return to the dominant sports of the United States. We know that the college football season is approaching (in fact it's already underway) because of the increasing number of student athlete arrest reports on the grid. In the last days and weeks, arrests were made involving players from a pack of "major programs."
One of the first leaders in the top ten race is Notre Dame, where six players in two separate incidents were involved in simple misdemeanors and possible felony charges. Brian Kelly expressed anger and embarrassment by suspending one player and firing another player.
On Friday, an Auburn player was arrested when, after a traffic stop, he fled the scene leaving an unlicensed gun in his car. Four other Auburn players were arrested in the offseason for possession of marijuana.
Further west, a player from Washington State was arrested in a Domino's Pizza for an assault charge. The player became agitated and abusive because his pizza order was taking too long. At some point, this led to an altercation with another client who left the facility with a broken nose. The report did not indicate if the player had gotten his pizza, but apparently the pizzas were not damaged in the fight. This is the second assault incident in WSU in recent months.
In early August, at Baylor, an offensive lineman was arrested on a stalking charge. Baylor, of course, was in the news for a major scandal that led to the dismissal of the Head Football Coach, the Athletic Director and the President of the University. Another arrest for assault took place at Texas A & M about a week ago.
And to update it, last night the strength and conditioning trainer at Florida State University was arrested for DUI. They found him asleep at the wheel of his car at a traffic light and they tested him well above the legal limit for blood alcohol. He had made his intake in his office and that is a violation of the regulations of the University.
College football seems to be almost in the middle of the season.
We know that the NFL season is also about to begin. Draft Kings and Fan Duel are preparing for the opening week of the season by launching their brand change campaign. ESPN, which appears to be the non-official media center of the NFL, is analyzing teams, predicting playoff teams, discussing which coach will be the first to be fired and, in general, an overdose of minutiae in the NFL. I suppose, if it has not happened yet, ESPN will launch its first simulation of 2017 with Mel Kiper's elections for the first and second rounds sometime soon. (Actually, the simulation of the Mel 2017 project has been out since May). Of course, this will cause hours of debate among the 7,000 ESPN NFL analysts. This coming season has already been dissected so much that it looks like the playoffs will start next week.
We also know that the NFL season is getting closer because Roger Goodell continues to make news for all the wrong reasons. Goodell's search for NFL players mentioned in an incomplete report as PED users by Al-Jazeera America is a perfect opportunity to show players that he has too much power and will use and abuse him. This is also an easy public relations movement to show how opposed the Commissioner is to the PEDs in the NFL and how vigilant he is in these matters. Goodell is almost as vigilant on this issue as he is on the issue of overinflated balloons, while he is far less alert than in the enforcement of his domestic violence policy.
Meanwhile, on the concussion front, the "Heads Up" program funded and backed by the NFL seems to be less than it claimed to be. The New York Times reported that a recent study of the results of the program does not support affirmations of concussion reduction. The NFL remains in many ways a league in denial.
The NFL is not alone. Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the National Hockey League, recently wrote to a Congressional Committee denying the connection between concussions and CTE: "the relationship between concussions and the clinically confirmed symptoms of CTE remains unknown." Internal NHL documents filed in a current lawsuit show that the NHL and Bettman were fully aware of the connections between hockey and brain trauma since 2011. (If you want to have a clear idea of what it is like to experience a concussion). I would recommend an article by Gabriel Landeskog in the August 2 issue of The Player's Tribune.)
Meanwhile, baseball is starting to race towards the finish line. If August is the cruelest month, then September is the most exciting and painful month. At this point, many teams remain in contention, at least for one of the wild card slots. The American League of the East and the National League of the West are still extremely tight. In the West, the Dodgers have shot up despite losing Clayton Kershaw to injuries and sending Yasiel Puig to the minors. Simultaneously, the Giants have gone from the best to the worst in the West of the National League. The American League East remains in a log jam at the top with the usual suspects in or near the contest.
The best story in baseball is still the Chicago Cubs. They have great talent in the lineup and on the bench, manipulated by baseball teacher Joe Maddon. They have a very good approach in Aroldis Chapman and an excellent pitching release with ERA in a career lower than any other team in baseball.
There are only two weak points. First, the middle relief remains erratic. Second, it's the puppies. The Cubs Of Chicago. The lovable losers of baseball. A franchise married to failure, often dramatically. It has been, as they say in Chicago, a very hard century, without a World Championship since 1908.
Will that change? And if he does, Chicago and the world will survive the euphoria and / or will hell freeze?
In Sport and Society, Dick Crepeau reminds you that you do not have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
Copyright 2016 by Richard C. Crepeau
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