Dollars & Sense: Recent Stories Teach Big Lessons

Great sports writers are able to make an athlete, a team, a situation become larger than life.  Fortunately for literate world, there are a lot of great sports writers.  Unfortunately, athletes can sometimes use their larger than life persona in spite of everyone else.

This is what we have seen with the recent and ongoing stories of Lance Armstrong, Manti Te’o, and Ray Lewis.  These athletes offer an interesting case study on sports media coverage.

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Lance Armstrong

Armstrong’s fall is one of the biggest falls from grace that we have ever seen in American sports possibly even the biggest.  He was on top of the world and could seemingly do no wrong.  Going out on top of his cycling career and starting one of the most successful cancer research foundations may not even overtake the accomplishment of inspiring so many to continue on through the battle of their lives. 

His story was one that nobody could ever pass up.  Cancer survivor.  Best cyclist on the planet for a sustained period of time.  A clean cyclist in a dirty sport.  Inspiration to many.  Raising money to help those he has inspired.  Basically, if you could make up one of the best sporting stories ever, you may not be able to top what Armstrong did.

Then it all came crashing down, as we know.  The lying.  The doping.  The intimidation.  The Oprah interview.  Amazingly enough, this may not even rock bottom.  There could be lawsuits and lots of money to be paid. 

Armstrong’s fall from grace is so interesting (to me personally at least) because even with all of the lies and cheating that are now known to be true, some people do not care.  Patients that were battling cancer during Armstrong’s inspiring run do not care.  They know him for what he was to them at the time of the battle.  He helped them and there is no taking it back. 

What could have changed this situation?  Hindsight is 20/20, but if you take the halo off of Armstrong during these times, then things begin to look a little different.  Writers and reporters have been writing stories based on this since October when he gave up his fight with the investigation.  Things seemed so perfect at the time because so much was ignored.  Even though we cannot turn back time, we can do something to change the future.  If something does not seem right, then maybe it is not. 

Manti Te’o

As details about this incident continue to come out and even the details that are out are a bit fuzzy, I am baffled.  I am baffled at the incident.  Sure everybody was caught off-guard with the findings that Te’o’s “girlfriend” was never real.  But was the media coverage of it not a bit excessive?

Opinion: I thought that the media coverage was excessive though you can argue either way.  There was something so wrong about the message on 6pm Sportscenter reading “BREAKING: Manti Te’o’s girlfriend did not exist.”  I don’t think it needed to be as big of a deal that it was.  Honestly, I feel like it was more the media outlets feeling sorry for themselves for publishing so many pro-Te’o is a god among mere mortals stories.

Of course writers like SportsIllustrated’s Pete Thamel did not have the thought to check on this and rightfully so.  Who would?  There has to be some sort of trust between athletes, the media, and the public.  If writers had to sit around and fact check whether or not girlfriends actually exist, then writers would be coming out with maybe two stories per year. 

The Te’o story should not discourage writers from writing about human-interest, off-field stories.  As dangerous as it may be, the public wants their athletes to be placed on the pedestal.  They want to worship these guys.  However, now we know what we get when we worship 21 year old athletes… Fake girlfriends and a good lesson on how to use apostrophes.

Ray Lewis

Lewis’s story is an interesting one because his falling out happened before his rise to greatness.  This gives Lewis’s media praise a unique spin: do I feel right openly rooting for a man that may be connected to a murder?

I understand that some of the public disdain for Lewis and his antics may be racially charged.  Regardless of race, I find it tough to read about the new and improved Ray Lewis now about a dozen years after the incident. 

This whole deal makes me think of the issue with steroids in baseball.  A guy like Alex Rodriguez cannot much without his past steroid use coming back to haunt him.  Oh, A-Rod is having a great season, so he must be back on the juice.  Oh, A-Rod is hurt again, so it must be those steroids finally catching up to him. 

But do something outside of the sport like Lewis and his alleged involvement in a murder, and see how quickly many people forget.  (I am generalizing here.  I was about 10 years old when Ray Lewis had his incident and I still remember it, so I’m sure many others do as well.).

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I liken it all to a relationship if the person you are/were with cheated on you.  You trusted them throughout the relationship (in theory at least), then without your knowledge they did something to hurt you.  Maybe they start to act differently, maybe the people around them start to act differently, but you don't notice because you blindly trust them.  Then it all either hits you one day or they confess.  You start to look back at it all and then in hindsight you realize all of the signs.  That is what we are all doing now on these three stories.  

These stories are stories that require a high duty of care and attention to detail.  They are not easy stories to cover and report on.  The best thing to do is to take the lessons learned from these stories and use them to make the future better.  Just because a writer was lied to (read: cheated on), does not mean that the writer should never write highly about an athlete again (read: fall in love).  But you can be damn sure that that writer will be extra cautious the next time.  Great sports writing makes athletes seem like more than humans, but it is important to always remember that athletes are in fact humans. 

Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.

Dollars & Sense - PED Trials

Today we are not putting the alleged users of performance enhancing drugs on trial.  We are putting the government itself, the federal prosecutors of these alleged monsters, on trial.  Yes, the same prosecutors that attempted to throw Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, and Roger Clemens in prison.  Between the three men there were three major investigations.  There were also three trials between the three, one for Bonds and two for Clemens (first ended in a mistrial). 

Experts estimate that the Barry Bonds investigation and trial totaled somewhere between $55 and $75 million.  Excuse me, how much?  Yes, upwards of $75 million.  Bonds stood trial for perjury and obstruction of justice.  After years of investigation and the long awaited trial, Bonds walked away guilty on only one count of obstruction of justice.  Perjury was the main charge that the prosecution was seeking and he walked away with a divided decision and no conviction on it. 

Lance Armstrong was under federal investigation for years for his alleged drug use.  Armstrong represents an interesting case in terms of the court of public opinion.  We all know about his fight with cancer, perhaps the most famous single testicle in the world, and the 7 Tour de France victories.  His campaigns, such as “Livestrong”, to raise money for cancer research are among the most successful in history.  Because of his past and his charitable work, the public seems to turn a blind eye to his alleged doping.   The federal investigation ended up getting dropped without ever getting to the trial stage.

Roger Clemens, similar to Barry Bonds, was on trial for perjury.  In the Bonds case, his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, refused to talk.  In the Clemens case, his former trainer Brian McNamee was the man against him from the beginning.  Sounds like a slam dunk case and conviction for the prosecution if you ask me.  The first time Clemens went to trial, a mistrial was quickly ruled after the prosecution introduced unpermitted evidence.  It was a stupid mistake that should have signaled how poorly the prosecution’s case was put together.  Nevertheless, the prosecution got another chance and last week Clemens was ruled not guilty on all charges. 

Jeff Novitzky was the federal investigator behind the cases on Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong.  With the lack of convictions against the two men, could it have been a personal vendetta of Novitzky’s against these guys that led to sloppy cases?  The public knows they did it!  They know they did it!  How could the prosecution not convince the 12 jurors in the Bonds case?  How could there not be enough evidence against Armstrong?

The investigation against Lance Armstrong always interested me because I always wondered why the feds were so interested in it.  Before I tell you my stance, think about this: What really was the point of investigating and possibly convicting Lance Armstrong?  He donned the logo of the struggling United States Postal Service for years during his Tour de France runs, which could have further hurt the federally run business.  Most importantly, he was the face of cancer research charity efforts.  Wouldn’t a federal conviction hurt the massive fundraising dollars pouring in because of him?  One would have to think so. 

The Roger Clemens trial had some promise at the start.  Clemens’s personal trainer Brian McNamee was not only testifying against Clemens, but there was supposedly physical evidence as well.  The prosecution was so prepared on this one that they let McNamee’s estranged wife steal away every ounce of credibility that McNamee had in the case.  If that isn’t enough for you they let the defense make McNamee look like babbling idiot during cross examination.  They even made Rusty Hardin, the personal injury lawyer, look like Johnny Cochran!  In my best Seth Meyers voice, “Really?”

Court of Public Opinion– Dopes vs. Dopers
The problem with these trials is that people usually internalize them as trials of whether or not the athlete used performance enhancing drugs which that they are not.  They are cases looking to find if these athletes lied under oath, which apparently they did not.  The court of public opinion doesn’t need a federal conviction to prove what they already know.  In the court of public opinion, these guys are all guilty.

Armstrong competed in one of the dirtiest sports in the world when it comes to drug use.  It’s to the point that the goal of a Tour de France cyclist may or may not be to try to come in second place because within a year or two the winner is sure to be stripped of the title and second place will then be crowned champion.  In a sport where many of the top athletes have a history with using, it is hard to believe that Armstrong was just that much better than all of them.  The court of public opinion rules guilty of being a doper.

Bonds was an above average player before he was even accused of using performance enhancers, which makes his use very perplexing.  However, when you look at the circumstances under the era he played in (the “Steroid Era” for those of you who may be lost) and the sheer mass that he gained over the years, it is tough to say that he did it all naturally.  The alleged use of the now infamous cream called "the clear" was most likely a large factor in extending Bonds’s career to a point that he was able to break the most famed record in all of baseball, Hank Aaron’s home run record.  I say we take away his home run record, give it back to the rightful owner, and in an act of gratitude and graciousness trademark the phrase “I didn’t knowingly use steroids” under his name.  Just kidding.  But seriously, the court of public opinion knowingly rules guilty of being a doper.

Clemens’s situation is very similar to Bonds’s.  Clemens just happened to play in the steroid era.  Clemens just happened to get bigger as his career went on.  Clemens just happened to stay great suspiciously past the typical prime age of a major league pitcher.  There was testimony from his former trainer and physical evidence to boot.  The evidence may not fly in a formal court setting, but in the court of public opinion it works perfectly fine.  Just because the jury said not guilty on counts of perjury doesn’t mean that he isn’t guilty of using.  Clemens seems to think that it does, but that may be a product of the delusional world he has been living in.  The court of public opinion rules guilty of being a doper. 

Jeff Novitzky seemed to be under the impression that he had the end-all-be-all of cases when he was handed both Bonds and Armstrong.  The court of public opinion was 100% against Bonds mostly because of his arrogance and big head (literally and figuratively).  Armstrong was a bit tougher simply because some people in the public had a tough time seeing past the vast charity work that he had done.  Nonetheless, the evidence is still against Armstrong.  Neither case resulted in the goal conviction.  Was the investigative work poorly done?  Did a poor investigation lead to sloppy cases?  If so, the court of public opinion rules Novitzky guilty of being a dope.

The Dollars and Sense

These federal investigations into athletes and their drug use are downright expensive.  As mentioned earlier, the investigation and trial against Bonds cost an estimated $55 to $75 million dollars.  It is safe to assume that the investigations against Armstrong and Clemens were around the same figures.  If so, the most conservative estimate of the total cost of the three investigations is $165 million! All for one conviction on a single obstruction of justice charge against Bonds that carries very little consequence.  Next time you wonder where your federal tax dollars are going, just picture a toilet because federal cases against athletes’ drug use are only good for flushing money away. 

If there is one good thing to come of these trials, it has to be that we’ve learned a lesson to never try this again.  In the times of such economic crisis, there is no room to be wasting precious cash money.  These trials are a waste of money, a waste of man power, and a waste of time.  There are bigger problems that the federal government has to deal with first, so hopefully the Clemens trial was the last. 

No matter how hard I try, these dollars just don’t make sense.  Case Closed.

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