COMMENTARY: Sports’ Season in the Sun is Over

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Like millions of other Americans, I am cynical about public leaders who “misspeak” and escape responsibility for their errors by invoking the infantile mantra that “mistakes were made.” Sometimes they use deceptive Orwellian language or shamelessly change their long-standing positions on important issues. But I always assumed there was […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Like millions of other Americans, I am cynical about public leaders who “misspeak” and escape responsibility for their errors by invoking the infantile mantra that “mistakes were made.” Sometimes they use deceptive Orwellian language or shamelessly change their long-standing positions on important issues.

But I always assumed there was one area that provided absolute clarity about goals and results, salaries based on verifiable performance, and unquestioned statistical reliability: the world of professional sports. That’s because individual players and teams emerge as clearly defined winners or losers, and sports statistics cannot be “cooked” to fool the public. And unlike elections, there are no recounts, recalls, do-overs, or doubts about the identities of the victors and vanquished.


Indeed, I believed professional sports followed the biblical teaching: “You shall not falsify measures of length, weight, or capacity. You shall have an honest scale … ” (Leviticus 19:35-36)

But several recent disgraceful events have forced me to add professional sports to my growing list of the repulsive and disgusting. I do so with sadness. As a member of my university wrestling and track teams and a college newspaper sports editor, I was, until now, an ardent sports fan.

The National Football League’s New England Patriots are under a cloud of suspicion because of the illegal spying actions of head coach Bill Belichick. His grumpy and grudging public admission of guilt sullied both his team and his personal reputation. Were the Pats’ three Super Bowl championships of recent years fraudulent? Were those triumphs aided and abetted by Belichick’s hi-tech spying on opposing teams?

Sadly, Belichick has earned his journalistic “obituary line” when the NFL fined him $500,000. A negative paragraph about his spying on the opposition is now a key part of the coach’s public persona.

Clearly, Belichick and the Patriots need to remember what the Bible taught in Ecclesiastes 7:1: “A good name is better than precious oils” _ or victories perhaps gained by cheating.

Even if Barry Bonds is ultimately cleared of any hint that he used steroids in his efforts to break Hank Aaron’s career home run record, the severe damage to Bonds’ reputation is permanent. Perhaps the arrogant Bonds, who will not return in 2008 to the Giants, does not care about his legacy.

But he should always remember that “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and respect is more valuable than silver and gold” (Proverbs 22:1).


Tim Donaghy, a National Basketball Association referee, admitted his gambling addiction forced him to tip off big-time gamblers which teams to bet on. Donaghy even wagered his own money on the games he worked. Impartial referees are required to preserve the sport’s integrity, and he shattered that trust.

By using his referee status to influence a game, Donaghy has tainted the NBA and called into question the effectiveness of the league’s self-policing programs. Donaghy, who will be sentenced in November, faces up to 25 years in prison. While waiting, Donaghy would do well to remember the warning from Proverbs to beware those “ … who rejoice to do evil … who are crooked in their ways, and persevere in their paths.” (2:14-15).

Isiah Thomas, a former Detroit Pistons All-Star and now president/coach of the New York Knicks, is on trial for his alleged sexual misconduct toward a Madison Square Garden female employee.

But the trial in New York City has unexpectedly revealed something else about the once-popular Thomas: a nasty bit of racism. Thomas believes there’s a difference between a white man using an ugly five-letter word to describe a black woman, and a black man, like himself, using the same obscenity. “I do make a distinction,” Thomas said in a videotaped deposition.

However, it’s more than a “distinction;” it’s a double standard. It seems Thomas in his personal life operates with two sets of linguistic scales and weights, one for whites and one for blacks.

Finally, Floyd Landis, who won last year’s grueling Tour de France cycling event, has tested positive for doping. He has been stripped of his title, and Landis’ actions undermine the entire sport.


Ecclesiastes wrote (3:1): “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose.” My once passionate love affair with professional sports is finished. The “season” is over.

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)

KRE/JM END RUDIN800 words

A photo of Rabbi Rudin is available via https://religionnews.com.

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