I was born in 1956 on the day that Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the World Series; a feat that hasn’t been duplicated since, and probably never will. Eight years later, I was just one of at least two hundred second graders just in our little suburban parish receiving our First Holy Communion. The Boston Globe, The Record American and the Boston Herald were all still independent newspapers with actual journalists reporting the news; being held to the same standard, The Fairness Doctrine, as were the radio and television stations. John F. Kennedy promised us we would get to the moon but before that, he instituted the Peace Corps, with the goal of helping out our fellow human beings here on earth while Doctor King was down South somewhere, preaching about his unlikely dream…
Being an avid and loyal member of Red Sox Nation since I was nine, the Impossible Dream season, I agonized with everyone else (except Mets fans) when that ball went through Bill Buckner’s legs and was overjoyed when the Idiots finally broke the Curse of the Bambino. We had Bobby Orr and Larry Bird and now we have the biggest spillith-over of cups in NFL history with The Greatest of All Time winning Super Bowls galore.
So, the question I have been asking myself all morning, shortly after someone asked me if I was going to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow; can I really consider professional sports (mostly the four major ones, but all of them as a complete entity) as one of the pillars of Western Civilization; right up there with Organized Religion, the Media as the Fourth Estate and the notion of Law and Order, as per our revered US Constitution. Are professional sports that much a part of our society? And if so, how far has the trust in these sports eroded? To the point where there will ALWAYS be a question as to whether or not the final outcomes are truly honest outcomes?
From Pete Rose betting on games while being the manager to Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and to who-knows-who-else taking performance-enhancing drugs; from Spy-Gate, Deflate-Gate to Alex Cora banging on trash cans, we don’t REALLY know if we are watching the TRUTH being played out. I wouldn’t bet on it. There have been several point-shaving scandals over the years in the college basketball tournaments and it only stands to reason that it has occurred at least once in the NBA. There are umpires and referees that can be just as easily (if not easier) to buy off and there are always new ways being invented to cheat…
I left the Church for good once I saw the depth and breadth of that scandal and millions of former Catholics just like me shall NEVER, EVER return. The lies were too thick and unbelievable, let alone hurtful to the victims. Sinclair Broadcasting bought up all of the local tv stations around here and the news readers are given a script every night to inform us of what Sinclair Broadcasting thinks we should know about. The New York Times owns the Boston Globe and Rupert Murdoch (the owner of Faux News) owns the Boston Herald, as well as the Wall Street Journal; just to put a finer point on it.
Well, I am fresh out of institutions to trust...good thing I got the United States Government to rely on.