LFR Sports

SPORTS TURNED INTO ENRON WITH SCANDAL AND GREED, BUT WOMEN STEPPED IT UP

The T likes to hope (like to think) that the realm of sports is much more than boxscores and betting pools, but a unique glimpse into our society.

It's why 2005 was much more than the Chicago White Sox finally bringing a World Series title to the Windy City, the New England Patriots winning their third Super Bowl in four years or the Bay Area's two pro football franchises turning in equally dismal 4-12 records.

If the world of sports mirrors that of our society then 2005 signaled the beginning of decay.

The atrophy was no more glaring than the year's most infamous moment--Rafael Palmeiro waging his finger in defiance before Congress.

Palmeiro would later join the 3,000 hit club and a week later fall under the hypocrisy of a reported positive drug test.

At that same Congressional hearing the visions of the hulking stars of 1998's "magical" run to Roger Maris' homerun record trembled before the poignant criticism of John McCain, among others.

Mark McGwire cried and did his best Ronald Reagan impression by conveniently not recalling a thing. Sammy Sosa forgot how to speak English and whistleblower, Jose Canseco, looked like a hero before he appeared on VH1's kitschy reality show, The Surreal Life.

All the while, the biggest fish in the steroid scandal, Barry Bonds, put his run at the homerun record on hold while his body began to deteriorate--from age or the lack of performance-enhancing drugs--you be the judge.

If wondering whether the world of sports was actual clean or a mirage wasn't enough the worst natural disaster in American history effectively wiped the city of New Orleans off the map.

Already a suspect demographic for sports franchise, both of New Orleans' sports franchises jockeyed for a way out of the market while the citizens of the region wondered how their lives would be restored.

How the sleaziness of Art Modell, the former Cleveland Browns owner who moved the team to Baltimore, could be topped was unimaginable until Saints' owner, Tom Benson, attempted to openly negotiate with the mayor of San Antonio before the levees were patched and the city drained of water.

The New Orleans Hornets, on the other hand, surreptitiously ducked out of town as the Oklahoma City/New Orleans Hornets when nobody was looking or possible because nobody cared.

2005 wasn't just about cheating and money. Yeah, right!

In the Bay Area the Oakland Athletics did the impossible. No, they didn't win the World Series with a bare-bones budget. A's management somehow dramatically raised ticket prices without charging their fans. Instead, they wiped out the entire upper deck--20% of the stadium.

The idea was to create greater demand for A's tickets and foster more season tickets. How course, greater demand equals more expensive tickets for the fans. Gone are $10 upper deck seats and the revered $2 Wednesday will be brought back with a few thousand seats for sale.

C'mon, A's fans, you didn't think, in your utopian baseball theory, that you would win the World Series without it costing you a lot more money.

If the sports world became a lot like Enron and Worldcom in 2005, it almost rocked the social order of America for the better.

Numerous media outlets routinely rank the Top 10 highlights of the past year around this time. The White Sox, steroids and the Patriots were the usually suspects, but forgotten was the one highlight that almost happened.

If Indy car driver, Danica Patrick, would have finished those last six laps at last year's Indianapolis 500 her accomplishment would surely have been the top sports story of 2005 and assuredly one of the most important stories of the past 50 years.

Danica Patrick was the silver lining to the trying year of 2005. For one afternoon she captivated the entire sports world with the unthinkable--a woman winning the Indy 500. She exhibited poise, grittiness and beauty in a sport that was dreadfully occupied by the same good ol' boy attitude that fostered segregation and racism 50 years before.

Alas, she didn't sip milk from the famed winner's circle at Indy and finished fourth, but for one day she made the hopes of women like Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel far more plausible. And don't think there wasn't thousand of little girls around the country who didn't take a place on the couch next to Dad. The seed was planted into many of those girls that a girl can do anything a boy can do.

Soon, possible within this new year, a young woman will finally beat the boys at their own game and our society will be far better for it.