I'll Hit It! 7.25.07: If I...
Posted by Don Abato on 07.25.2007
All sorts of juicy stories rocking the sports world. It's a great time if you love controversy. 411mania's Don Abato suggests we all should not be surprised of everything happening because there's more going on than we know. We just don't know what's really going on. For the one story that gets out there are dozens more that go unreported.
ESPN says this is the one of the most difficult times in sports history. You have NFL star Michael Vick's dogfighting case. The NBA has it's betting scandal involving a former referee. And in baseball the BALCO/Barry Bonds steroid scandal is still rolling. Not to be left out, Mixed Martial Arts is dealing with a steroid problem of its own and everyone has a thought or two about who needs to step up and help remedy the problem.
If I was to choose I would actually consider myself more of a pessimist than optimist. So-called scandals in sports and everything else don't really shock me because I believe there is meat to a lot of the conspiracy theories out there. These ideas are labelled as far-fetched by many because there's little or no supporting evidence, or sounds way too over the top to be true. But I really believe majority of the people when hear and read about are involved in some really big and illegal dealings.
I will say this once but remember it for all your life: There are all kinds of scandalous things involving professional athletes, Hollywood stars and politicians. We just don't know about it because A) every effort is spent by them and involved parties to keep it a secret, and B) THEY HAVEN'T BEEN CAUGHT YET! This is also a fact of life: IT'S LIKELY THEY WILL NEVER GET CAUGHT, SO WE WILL NEVER KNOW ABOUT IT. Thus, it remains a conspiracy theory.
If I were to suggest the NBA and NBC "assisted where it could" in the 1990's so the Bulls would be in the NBA Finals all those times with Michael Jordan because it greatly benefited both the league and network you would say I was out of my mind and obviously trolling.
Because of the developments involving ex-referee Tim Donaghy that idea doesn't seem as far-fetched as before does it?
If I were to endorse the idea NASA faked the moon landings you would say I was out of my mind and obviously trolling.
If i were to suggest Michael Jordan's first retirement was ordered by David Stern because his gambling and mob involvement you would say I was out of my mind and obviously trolling.
If I said the Rampage/Liddell fight was a setup there is no doubt you would all say I was out of my mind and obviously trolling.
Everyone needs to get this straight: we all don't know what's going on behind closed doors. So while you may call someone and idiot or a troll for suggesting something far-fetched or seemingly improbable, you should not dismiss their ideas as being wrong. You are just as incorrect for trying to suggest theorists are wrong. How do you know? Fact is you don't know and your guess is as good as mine.
To all the know-it-alls who post on the numerous MMA web forums hold off on jumping all over and attacking someone for their wild ideas. Popular opinion doesn't always mean the majority are correct. Only the involved parties know the complete picture, and they'll make sure we never get the complete story if they don't want to share.
All I can say is this: As time goes on we will see more and more scandals involving figures in our sport. When they happen you really need to ask yourself, "Am I really surprised?" This is not a fact just of MMA, but pretty much true to any high profile entity. Please revert back to paragraph three for the reason.
