Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

There s good in sports, and it s closer than you think

BY Ben Giles

brgiles1@vwc.edu

Welcome back to school, athletes and fans alike. It wasn t the greatest summer for sports, to say the least. The commisioner of nearly every professional sports league in the United States had a lot to deal with.

The NHL is still dealing with the damage done from a season-long holdout in the not-so-distant past.

Major League baseball witnessed one of its most revered records, the all-time home run milestone, broken by Barry Bonds, widely regarded as He-Who-Cheated, and along the way passed Hank Aaron, otherwise known as He-Who-Cheated-Not.

Even MLB success stories are littered with bad news. Rick Ankiel, the power-hitting pitcher from St. Louis, is now in question over accusations of the use of the Human Growth Hormone. Make that another asterik for baseball.

Basketball? Don t get me started. It doesn t matter how many dress code requirements David Stern makes; this league will always be haunted by the stigma of egotistical millionares with a massive superiority complex.

New comissioner Roger Goodell, a man whose namesake invokes a smile on everyones face (how can you not support this guy? It s impossible for him to be a bad guy, right?) was haunted in his first full offseason by Michael Vick (dogfighting), Adam  Pacman Jones (strip clubs), and of course, the entire Cincinnati Bengals team (too many offenses to mention). I m sure the poor guy couldn t get a good nights rest until the season kicked-off this past Thursday.

Overseas, things are much better. Fans lost count of how many cyclists were forced to drop out of the Tour de France, and without Lance Armstrong sporting that bright yellow shirt, there wasn t much interest to begin with. And who knows what sort of drug-related fun the 2008 Olympics will bring.

If you re still reading this horribly depressing article, take heart. There is some good news.

We re at Virginia Wesleyan, a small, non-athletic scholarship Division III school. If you re an athlete here, you re playing for love of the game. The chance of using VWC as a path to stardom in pro sports is rare. A few of our baseball stars may get drafted, and we all wish alumni Brandon Adair the best of luck overseas, but these are rare exceptions to the fact that there is no selfish purpose behind athletics here.

Athletes, take comfort in your everyday practice and play. You can be a reminder to yourself of the good in sports. Ignore ESPN for a day and look for powerful stories on your team.

Fans, get up off your couches and make the walk to Trinder Center to watch a soccer game. Or if you re not the outdoor-type, check out basketball and volleyball games in the Batten Center.

If you want, you can even play the sports yourself thanks to intramurals. It s exciting, it s live, and it s Vick free.

Recapture your love of sports. It s not all doom and gloom.