If a Tree Falls in the Forest

Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens

Today a story came out about Ray Lewis, the retiring NFL superstar about to end his career in the Super Bowl, where he is accused of purchasing performance enhancing drugs. The story isn’t actually new though. Two years ago the same man, Mitch Ross, said he sold PEDs to Lewis previously. Lewis has once again the denied the allegations and within a few days this story will blow over most likely.

Obviously I have no idea if this Ross character is telling the truth or just trying to get fame, publicity, money or whatever else he can by lying. Ray Lewis has never failed a drug test so for now we assume he is innocent.

However the problem here isn’t the accusations or even whether Lewis did it or not, but rather the fact that the NFL has a long list of banned substances, including the one Lewis is alleged to have used (deer antler spray… seriously), but then doesn’t even test for most of them.

Basically the league is operating on the “honour system” for many of the substances that can be as helpful as the ones they do test for such as steroids and HGH. It has long been known that PED use is rampant in the NFL, much like it was in baseball, but that not only do they not do much to catch the users, but it seems fans truly don’t mind.

There is a prevailing theory that the attitude of NFL fans is that they know many players use PEDs, but given the nature of the sport, they are fine with it. There are a lot of skeletons in the NFL closet, such as the Bounty-gate scandal and thus PED usage doesn’t really get much attention or interest.

If Ray Lewis is using the deer antler spray he is accused of purchasing, you can see why he would have done it.

The guy wanted to come back in time to play again this season, which was always likely to be his last. He had an opportunity to use something to make that happen that he cannot actually get in trouble for and he knows for a fact that lots of other players are using it too.

As humans we are always influenced by the culture we are surrounded by. That’s how a lot of well-meaning cyclists end up on EPO even if they had always been anti-PED previously. That doesn’t mean what they are doing is right and shouldn’t be punished, but it’s how these things become epidemics.

The NFL doesn’t seem to want to catch people using these PEDs, so of course the players are going to take them in such a physically demanding sport with one of the shortest average career lengths around.

What use is a rule if it’s never going to be enforced?

Lance Armstrong admitted one of the main ways he got away with doping was simply that they weren’t testing for what he was doing for much of that time. Sure, by nature the cheaters will always be one step ahead of the testers, but they can still make it a lot harder to do. There are tests that exist to test everything, or almost everything, banned by the NFL.

Having the rule but not enforcing it is purely a publicity stunt to make it seem like they are running, or at least endeavour to run, a clean sport. But while the testing stays as it is, it shows that the NFL have no real interest in opening the can of worms that surely awaits them were they to crack down on PEDs.

With everything going on surrounding the concussion issue in football, the last thing Roger Goodell needs is another scandal about the safety and integrity of the league he runs. So this story about Ray Lewis is something for talking heads to go on about for a couple of days and then forget all about the fact that underlying it is a much bigger issue.

Even if Ray Lewis had tested positive, the suspension would only have been four games for a first offence. Compare that to sports where you can be wiped out for entire seasons, multiple years or even lifetime bans.

Perhaps one day, once there is nothing ahead of it on the to-do list, the NFL will actually take drug testing seriously. But in the meantime, you are kidding yourself if you think half the players in the league aren’t abusing the rules in one way or another.

I love American football and am very excited to watch the Super Bowl this weekend (Monday our time). In fact I am hoping Ray Lewis goes out on top. However I am not naïve enough to believe I will be watching a sport where the athletes are clean, just like when I watched Le Tour during the height of the doping years.

When a tree falls in the forest, I hope someone will show up to drug test the lumberjack.

Contextual Heroes

Armstrong during his interview with Oprah

A few days ago a friend who is not a huge sports fan asked me a question, which was perfectly legitimate, even though most of us took it for granted.

She asked me why was Lance Armstrong was such a big deal when it is generally accepted that everyone else was cheating too?

The question was not asked in defence of Lance, but rather wanting to know why he was the one being so heavily scrutinised compared to others. For example, Alberto Contador may not have won seven Tours, but he did win an impressive three before being suspended and having one of his victories stripped.

The answer in one word is: context

So much of sport nowadays, especially with the “24 hour media cycle” as it’s called, is about contextualising the actual sporting events and achievements. Two players may put up the exact same stats and win the exact same number of games and yet those two athletes could be viewed in very different ways depending on the stories around them.

Lance Armstrong deserves what he is getting now for the way he acted during and after the actual cheating. I don’t need to rehash all the despicable things he said and did as I’m sure you’ve all seen enough of it now. But the point is that if he dealt with the accusations and everything else the way some other cheaters did, perhaps he could have avoided so much of the damage now done.

David Millar was never Lance Armstrong and never won a Tour. He also never started a major charity or became one of the most recognisable athletes on Earth. Therefore perhaps it was a lot easier for Millar to be honest and open about cheating when he was caught many years ago, but Millar was not only forgiven by the cycling community, he is actually one of the most respected guys on the circuit and now a big advocate for cleaning up the sport.

Both Millar and Armstrong cheated in the same way in the same events. In that regard one isn’t really worse than the other outside of the fact that one of them won. But the way they dealt with the situation was so different that the results are also vastly different.

Manti Te’o is not only an absolutely bizarre and fascinating story; he is also a huge example of how context shapes our views on athletes outside of their athletic endeavours.  People seem angry and upset over the fake girlfriend scandal even though it has nothing to do with him or even how he played. But the reason it is such a big deal is that people form opinions on sports based around the stories surrounding them. Manti Te’o wasn’t only famous because he was one of the best players in College Football and at the most famous College Football school, but because he famously overcame the deaths of his grandmother and girlfriend in the same week.

Finding out that the basis for their opinion was false makes people question their own judgement, even if they had no reason not to believe the story when they heard it in the first instance. Discovering you believed a lie is something that hits home for everybody, whether it’s in their personal life or even about a football player they watch on TV. That’s why I believe people are so up in arms about this, especially when this particular lie (or at least embellishment) was used to bring spotlight to the athlete in question.

However in some instances we overlook off field issues. Ray Lewis is about to end his NFL career in the Super Bowl and is one of the most respected and beloved NFL players of his generation.  But it was only a decade or so ago that Lewis was on trial for murder and admitted lying to police to help his friends, who were later acquitted as well. Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, but nowadays the story only seems to even be referenced via Twitter jokes and completely ignored for the most part.

So why does Lewis and many other athletes get a pass where others don’t?

It comes down to how well an athlete is able to handle the situation after the fact. Whether that involves great PR and damage control people or just being honest about the situation, most of the time the public are willing to give second chances if they think the athlete shows they deserve one.

Another factor, as much as it probably shouldn’t matter, is how well the athlete performs after the scandal. Ray Lewis continued to be a great player for many years whereas Lance Armstrong is already retired. Michael Vick had one superb season when he returned from his dog fighting scandal and some people looked past that and focussed on what he was going on the field again.

In Australia, Shane Warne was always getting himself into trouble, even if never anything as serious as mentioned above. But he was still Shane Warne and no matter what went on in his life, he was always our hero when he had a cricket ball in his hand.

Bernard Tomic is going through this now. There was always talk about him being a spoilt brat, but until we read about the trouble he was getting in and the petulant comments he made, many fans focused on the fact that he could be the next great Aussie tennis player. However as his play went downhill and his off court antics got worse, he finally had to deal with the damage to his reputation.

So far in 2013 his play has improved dramatically. That alone will go a long way to helping his reputation, simply because people love winners, but if his tennis doesn’t live up to his antics watch how quickly we turn on him.

Sport is a bizarre world. When it suits us we like to only care about what happens on the field, as evidenced by how we can forgive athletes as long as they perform. However, we are also quick to jump down their throats when they let us down or lie to us. At the end of the day, we don’t know these people personally and can only judge them on their words and actions. In normal life, we care about things like how nice someone is to us and how they treat those we care about. When it comes to athletes and other public figures, we don’t have that luxury so all we are left with is trial by media.

Lance Armstrong seems like a pretty deplorable person. I’m sure he loves his kids and all that stuff, but he has never seemed likable and I don’t think it’s rash to judge him based on what we know. However, we should never stop asking ourselves why some people get scrutiny over others and whether it is always deserved.

It’s a Man’s World

Lauren Jackson competing at the 2012 Olympics

I read a headline today that turned out to be about something entirely different, however it got me thinking. The story was about how dual football and cricket international Ellyse Perry will have to choose between playing for Sydney FC in football or NSW in cricket this week when their matches clash. However the headline to get you to click on the story related to how Perry wants to compete against men. I’m sure she has mentioned this in the past, but it was nowhere to be found in the story itself.

Nonetheless, the issue of women competing in male sports fascinates me. Women’s sports obviously have rules preventing men from competing in them; however many male sports do not expressly have such rules preventing women. For the most part it is an issue that has never come up and obviously the woman competing in the male sport would not be at an unfair advantage as a man would if he tried to enter the women’s game.

I admit that it’s hard for me to have the perspective and insight on this topic that a woman would have and I would love to get the opinion of as many women as possible in the comments, but I will do my best to share my thoughts on an issue that I think will come up more and more in the future.

The sports in which it is easiest for a female to compete against men are obviously those where technically the sport is individual rather than in direct physical competition. Women compete against men in equestrian and horse racing all the time and recently we have seen women, such as Annika Sorenstam, get invited to compete in some golf tournaments, but they have yet to truly be competitive at that level due to the different tees and course set up.

Danica Patrick has become a famous example, but is not the only female to compete in motorsport against men and she has now moved on from Indy Car to NASCAR where she is certainly competitive. Again these are examples of sports that are technically individually based even if they are driving on the track at the same time.

Outside of the famous Billie Jean King exhibition match against an already retired Bobby Riggs, we haven’t really seen the top female competitors compete against men in direct competition sports, at least not in modern times.

I think that if we are to see women competing against men directly in the future it will have to start in a sport such as tennis, following on from Billie Jean’s lead and where they already compete in mixed doubles. For years people have speculated about whether Serena and Venus Williams would be competitive on the men’s circuit and whilst none of us can claim to know with certainty how they would do, our suspicions cannot be answered unless we get to see it.

But is it in their interests to try?

Women’s tennis, unlike most sports, actually has great earning potential simply by staying on the women’s tour. The prize money in tournaments along with the sponsorship money available means that it is not financially in their interests to compete against men, when it is reasonable to expect that even if competitive, they wouldn’t advance as far as they could against women.

Not only that, but should they try and fail miserably, it would potentially be damaging to their careers even if it shouldn’t be. The speculation as to whether they could compete is potentially better than trying and answering the question in the negative.

But what if they tried and succeeded? Say Serena Williams entered the men’s draw for the 2013 US Open and made it to the 3^rd round before losing to a seeded opponent. Would that not be one of the most amazing and inspiring events in sports history, not to mention move Serena to another stratosphere in terms of success and sponsorship dollars?

Some would argue that allowing her entry as a marketing play is taking away a spot from a man who can’t then turn around and go take her spot against the women. But if she is deserving of the spot and is truly one of the best 128 players in the World, regardless of gender, I think she deserves the opportunity. In a sense, without giving the opportunity to find out, we can’t know whether someone actually deserved the opportunity in the first place.

That’s just tennis though, which is a one on one sport without physical contact. What if a woman were to try to compete against men in a sport with physical contact?

I can’t see a day where women compete against men in actual contact sports like rugby but what about a non-contact sport like basketball?

Basketball is technically a non-contact sport (by rule), but is certainly very physical. I would never suggest a woman would be able to compete at the NBA level, but what about if Lauren Jackson or Liz Cambage tried to play in the NBL here in Australia? First of all it would be an amazing story and much needed publicity for the league, whilst giving the opportunity to a woman to earn more than they can in the women’s game. Obviously it would require a player considered tall in the women’s game as they would only be considered mid-sized in the men’s game, so someone like Jackson makes sense.

But could she do it and acquit herself well? I honestly believe she could be a decent bench player as a shooting guard in the men’s game, at least on offence, if given the chance. However, I have serious doubts about whether a woman would be able to defend in the men’s game, as opposing teams would look to target and take advantage of the athleticism gap. A 6’5” man who is used to being a perimeter player would likely blow past a 6’5” female used to being a centre. But I’d love to see Jackson or Cambage or even Baylor University star Brittney Griner, give it a shot.

Cricket is another sport where I think seeing a woman attempt to compete would be fascinating and have a shot at succeeding. The only real issue is whether or not the pace of the fast bowling would simply be too much. If Ellyse Perry or any other female cricketer aspired to play in the men’s game, as long as they could handle the much faster bowling, then I don’t see why they couldn’t make it work. To make it happen I’d imagine they would first need to try and play in a club level match before maybe having a go in the Ryobi Cup.

Again, I doubt the female competitor would reach the level of making the Australian Men’s team, much like I doubt a female basketballer would compete in the NBA, but if they were capable of competing in the domestic competition and earning the money and success that came along with that, then I am all for it. That being said, my doubts are simply my own personal doubts and without the opportunity, we will never know. A female spin bowler could show up and be as good as Shane Warne and end up being an all-time great regardless of gender.

Women’s sports are never going to generate as much revenue as the men do and so the earning potential for females is always going to be lower in sport (tennis excluded); however should one woman in any particular sport be so good that they could have the opportunity to compete against the men and earn the money the men earn, then they should be allowed to.

If nothing else, they would be an inspiration to the next generation of women, whether they were trying to follow in their athletic footsteps or simply entering a career where men still make disproportionate incomes compared to their female colleagues.

What’s Best for Rogic?

Rogic representing the Socceroos

Tomas Rogic is the hottest of all the hot property currently tearing up the A-League. In what has been a boom year for fresh young Australian talent coming through, Rogic has been the standout performer and many hope he will become the future face of the Socceroos, the way Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill have been.

However there are many questions at the moment about where his future lies and what is best for his development, as well as what is best for Australian football. On one hand, were he to stay in the A-League and continue to lead Central Coast the way he has been, it’s basically the equivalent of their own marquee player. Plus the A-League is trying to grow and some would argue that losing its best talent is not in the best interests of the league itself.

On the other hand, Rogic’s personal development as a player is likely to stall if he doesn’t jump at the chance to move to Europe and play in a higher quality league. Not only that, but if he succeeds in Europe, it will be a great advertisement for the talent coming out of the A-League and increase the league’s overall reputation. This would then encourage better foreign players to consider the A-League and as the league develops, it could even encourage young kids who might have the option of turning pro in more than one sport, to go with football. After all, if you really make it in football, the money and fame and everything else blows almost every other sport out of the water.

For a while there it appeared as though Rogic was on his way to play for struggling English Premier League club Reading. Whilst that sounded great in theory, the concern was that in all likelihood Reading will end up being relegated at the end of the season and after that who knows if and when they will return to the top flight. A few months in a relegation battle for a team heading in the wrong direction is not the best situation for Rogic to choose. Smartly, after some advice from people concerned about Reading’s direction, Rogic decided it wasn’t the move for him. That is a decision I fully support.

It now appears as though Rogic will be joining Scottish powerhouse Celtic, at least during their midseason training camp in Spain. Whether that then turns into an actual transfer is yet to be determined, but I can’t imagine Celtic are inviting him to join them in camp without strongly considering buying him now or signing him in the offseason.

There are pros and cons to joining Celtic. The cons are the fact that the Scottish league is not only not to the same standard as the English top flight, but it’s also a league typically based around physicality rather than skill and it might not help Rogic reach his potential. The pros are that Celtic are also competing in the Champions League, which is an amazing opportunity for Rogic, were he to get playing time in those matches and it’s something he certainly wouldn’t get in England at this stage.

Playing for Celtic was not a bad move for a young Mark Viduka and it also put Viduka in the ‘shopfront’, which eventually paved the way for his transfer to Leeds. Rogic could follow a similar path where after a year or two developing at Celtic, he could then move on to a bigger stage, with a more developed body and game.

But what other options are out there for Rogic?

I’m sure many teams in the promotion hunt in the English Championship would be highly interested in him. Whilst they might presently be a division lower, it might be a smarter idea to join a team on the up, rather than a team like Reading who are likely headed back down. Obviously no team is guaranteed to be promoted, so it carries a risk, but it’s certainly a solid option.

Another option is to head to mainland Europe and not Britain. Not necessarily the bigger leagues like Spain or Italy, as he would likely end up at a club in a similar position to Reading, but rather going to a higher end club in a smaller league. This would be comparable to going to Celtic however it might actually be better in terms of the style of play that could maximise his development. Countries like Romania, Ukraine, Russia or the Scandinavian leagues have become hotbeds for developing talent that eventually move on to the bigger leagues. Many Brazilians are now taking this path and it may not be as popular a choice here in Australia, as we don’t follow those leagues as closely, but for his development it might be the best option.

At the end of the day Rogic will not only consider football factors in making his decision, but I’m sure personal preference towards lifestyle, money and other factors too. But as fans of the A-League and the Socceroos, we all have a vested interest in his development.  Everyone is going to have an opinion on where not only he should go, but also all the other top prospects we are developing in the A-League.

This is a great problem to be facing as a footballing nation, as we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel after our previous golden era of players retire and the next one comes through.