THE LAND OF PHOTO-OPPORTUNITY: Escape from Scrutiny

By Diane M. Grassi

Whoever said that the land of opportunity was reserved for the little people looking for a piece of the proverbial pie? In this land of ours the pie now extends to a multi-tiered layer cake for the powerful, the rich and the politically connected, including those who have fallen from grace. They remain in the spotlight infinitely by way of becoming an entity unto themselves through the ever-present media spotlight, and thus are subject to less scrutiny.

And some of them cannot help themselves either, to wit former President Bill Clinton. Word came out last week that Marc Rich - pardoned by President Clinton in the last days of his presidency causing much controversy- was allegedly rumored to have been a beneficiary of the U.N.’s Oil for Food Program scandal. We have also learned in the past few weeks that Denise Rich, Marc Rich’ wife, was the predominant fundraiser for as well as a major contributor to the Clinton Memorial Library. And this week she made the society pages by purchasing her new $14 million yacht.

Meanwhile, while all this is going on, Bill Clinton could not resist this past week from crashing the party at the Westchester County Medical Center in Westchester County, New York where he received his initial treatment and advice for his heart by-pass surgery earlier in the year. The medical center was opening a new wing of its hospital dedicated to cardiac surgery and the board figured it would give them better press coverage if the former president was there. And given his Achilles heel for posing for cameras and mucking it up with the little people, it worked out great. And the best part is that he took the spotlight off of the Marc Rich fiasco.

As they say, the best defense is a strong offense. And none other than Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has taken advantage of the movie reels several times this past year, as he defended the Defense Department’s arguably failed leadership, craftily parsing his words and leaving his own self out of the equation in doing so.

After the Abu Ghraib disgrace Rumsfeld made an unpublicized trip to meet and greet troops, and an unexpected trip at Thanksgiving when word was beginning to surface that supply trucks were not escorted by proper security for unarmored vehicles. Later it became confirmed that the Secretary did not even know the status of armor production at a recent press conference before the troops, or that a third of the vehicles namely supply trucks were unarmored.

And finally this week on Christmas Eve, Rumsfeld made an impromptu trip to Tikrit, Iraq and various other locations there again, days after the blast in the mess tent in Mosul, Iraq which killed 14 American soldiers and critically injured 22. Hand shaking and diatribe in tow accompanied the ever-rolling cameras. (No less than six Iraqi suspects are presently being investigated in an effort to learn how base security was pierced.)

Never one known for shying away from the cameras herself, fabricated altruist Martha Stewart has taken on a new mission. As the homemaking diva went to federal prison this past October, with an ample supply of arrogance in tow, she has now shifted her focus. Aside from illicitly conducting a TV show deal, and selling $8 million of her own stock while behind prison walls, she has now decided to take stock of how money cooks are too many in the Alderson Prison’s kitchen; meaning she does not like the food.

Although now photo-op challenged from federal prison, it has not stopped Martha from appearing in the press. As quoted on Stewart’s personal website on December 23, 2004 (which is also a violation of her incarceration as she is not to be communicating with the public or have access directly or indirectly to an internet connected computer) Stewart said, “When one is incarcerated with 1,200 other inmates, it is hard to be selfish at Christmas.” Could this be a self-effacing admission by Stewart herself? Who says one cannot be rehabilitated in prison, after all?

But keep those cameras rolling, folks! At this rate we will eventually never need the courts or legislative hearings again! Decisions will be made in the court of public opinion and the reality show as we now know it will eventually morph into our own daily reality. And the people with the money and power will no longer be held accountable, as they can always go to the videotape to reinvent themselves.

Happy New Year!

Nation's Capitol & Major League Baseball Go Full Circle

By Diane M. Grassi

At one time Major League Baseball was our celebrated pastime in the spring, summer and early fall at which time the World Series was played. Over the past couple of seasons however, we have been put on a perpetual baseball calendar. MLB’s players’ trades, policy on illegal drug use, merchandising, anger management policy, teams for sale and potential relocations are an ongoing sideshow commanding headline copy and sometimes overshadowing the 400-foot homer and the 18 strike-out games.

And as the off-season of 2003-2004 started off with Grand Jury testimony regarding the BALCO investigation and the appearance of Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield to name a few, the off-season never disappeared and haunted major league stadiums throughout the 2004 MLB season.

As the 2004-2005 off-season takes off, not only do we now have the leaked testimony of Barry Bonds and
Jason Giambi of a year ago, but leaves us with a player who may have committed perjury, and one who lied to his team and the public-at-large, perpetuating the proverbial black eye on MLB.

And if MLB’s image problems were not bad enough, not many of us could have foreseen that our nation’s capitol would loom so large during this Hot Stove season. Commissioner Bud Selig is spending an awful lot of time in Washington, D.C. these days, and a lot of it is due to his failed leadership. Politics is a component of every private or public organization, but when its politics provokes legislation and law enforcement, then your in-house politics have not been handled very well. And thus Washington has horned in on our pastime’s back page glory.

Not only is the U.S. Congress involved in demanding Commissioner Bud Selig and President of the Players’ Association, Don Fehr, to come up with a revised and meaningful illegal drug policy by early January, but Selig has yet another “fiasco” which he must now go back and clean up. That mess is no less than the thus far failed relocation of the Montreal Expos which was contingent upon ratifying an agreement for building a new stadium in Washington, D.C.

The mainstream press would like us to believe that this agreement process was a terrible shame and would rather blame this whole problem on one D.C. councilwoman. But they obviously have short memories.

First of all, Bud Selig was over a year late in deciding on a permanent home for the Montreal Expos, forcing them to play a third of their games in Puerto Rico for the second straight year, with the rest of the time on the road and at home in a stadium of approximately 4000 ticket holders each game. Since Major League Baseball collectively owns the Montreal Expos, (another arguable mistake by Selig) it is obligated in finding it a new home, new ownership, and handle any stadium transactions required prior to finding an owner.

The deal with the Washington D.C. City Council did not take place until September 29, 2004, which was contingent upon getting financing for a stadium to be built. (At this juncture there still have not been formal negotiations with any potential owners.) But since this whole deal was put together so haphazardly and rushed at the end of the season, mainly due to placating Baltimore Orioles’ owner, Peter Angelos, (another Selig indiscretion) none of the terms of the agreement were ratified.

In early October it became evident from the D.C. Council that they wanted to pursue private financing in addition to public financing and possibly ask MLB to foot some of the bill. This did not come down to a last minute shakedown from one person. This was a collaborative failing of a Mayor anxious to improve his Q rating and a Commissioner who has been questioned on his leadership since he has been the Commissioner of Baseball.

That brings us back to our national pastime, and makes us wonder why it is such a public relations nightmare. We would like to enjoy the game as it once was played, but since that is highly unlikely, at least management on both sides of the aisle should be held accountable enough so that the public is not inundated with the ineptitude of their decisions. It is a big turnoff for the average or peripheral fan, and the game needs to keep lukewarm fans interested in baseball, not turned off.

You cannot blame Washington D.C. for wanting a Major League Baseball team either, but given all of the bond measures and fiscal nightmares other big league cities have come up against when publicly financing stadiums, (such as San Diego’s Petco Park, which stopped construction for 18 months due to financing improprieties and less than truthful discourse with the taxpayers) you cannot blame those who do not want to deal with sticker shock after the fact.

And what does all of this have to do with hitting and throwing a ball around a baseball diamond? Well, MLB now has several other “games” going on in the background at all times, and that has unfortunately eroded the good of the game. Yes, it is now almost always about money, but when money rules, good management and clear vision is also a necessity.

And as long as Major League Baseball or any other professional or Olympics sports requires taxpayer financing, broadcasting rights, merchandising rights, drug policies requiring legislation, including the issue of eminent domain regarding the site of stadiums, it concerns the public whether it likes it or not. In that regard our national pastime is no longer a simple game but now touches so many parts of our lives and society and calls for responsible and even-handed leadership. No longer can the Commissioner just be interested in the best interests of baseball, but rather the best interests of the public-at-large.

THE EPITOME OF HUBRIS

By Diane M. Grassi

This was a week for the megalomaniacs of Major League Baseball to lay low.

Let the players’ tradings and signings by the owners begin amongst themselves at the Owners’ Meetings in Phoenix, AZ. Expect for Commissioner Bud Selig and Players Association Executive Director, Don Fehr, to begin to get down to the nitty-gritty on substantive changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement as it relates to illegal substance testing.

And now that the proverbial black eye has been levied against MLB through documentation from the BALCO Grand Jury testimonies, most fans are either disgusted or unphased by the latest foibles in the world of MLB. Both reactions are not good for its future health.

Collectively MLB, the MLB Players Association as well as MLB ownership has done little in the past several years in addressing the illegal substance issue other than to pay it lip service to the public and to the U.S. Congress. But now that the denial can no longer go on, thanks to back-door full and partial admissions of such use by Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield respectively, the issue has to be addressed with at least the appearance of forthrightness.

But as MLB strives to do some serious damage control over the winter and at the same time continue on with its normal pace of operations in order to get ready for the 2005 season, it needs to put its proverbial brood on notice that they need to represent the face of MLB in the most positive way they can. In other words, they should be selective in their choices for dealing with the public-at-large.

That brings us to the “Ultimate Experience” which was facilitated by the best known name in baseball himself, Barry Bonds, and NY Yankee, Alex Rodriguez, arguably the other best known name in all of MLB. It took place at the Marriot Hotel in NYC’s Times Square on Friday, December 10th. To say the timing of the event itself was bad for Barry Bonds is an understatement. (He is still under a great cloud of controversy since the Grand Jury testimony was leaked just a week prior.) And for both Bonds and Rodriguez to host such an event in the way in which it was done, did not “ultimately” improve their “approval ratings.”

The “Ultimate Experience” invokes images of the political fund raiser, which we all are too familiar with hearing about this past election year. A cocktail party for the well-heeled, was a benefit for the least few in the community, as it was limited to 100 persons, willing to pay the fee of $7500.00 in order to “Meet and Greet” the candidate, I mean ballplayer, in an effort to get a signed baseball and the chance to ask a question of him; although there were areas of questioning which were off limits, such as anything personal or anything having to do with the state of affairs of baseball concerning illegal substances.

Additionally, it was an attempt, at least on Rodriguez’ part, as a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of America, with all proceeds going to the Miami, FL chapter. If he is a NY Yankee and holding this event in NY, why not have any of the proceeds go to the NYC chapter? Barry Bonds did not disclose what he was going to do with the money. In other words, for those stooges willing to fork over $7500.00 for five minutes of the player’s time, they were not told whether the money which went to Mr. Bonds was going to go to a charity at all.

More curious above all was that this event was co-hosted by Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez; Bonds who does not care what the public thinks of him as he as reiterated many times, and A-Rod, a guy who actually gives the appearance of running for office, given the time he devotes to his public image.

But most important of all, at a time when MLB could really use its players to promote its positive image, two of its biggest stars choose to take the easiest route to earn the quickest return without including the community or its children. While many MLB players are handing out toys to children at local hospitals and volunteering at soup kitchens this time of year, and should be applauded, none of the “Ultimate Experience” proceeds will directly benefit the local communities or fans for which Barry Bonds or Alex Rodriguez play.

No, not everything about MLB is negative or related to illegal substance abuse, but not everything about playing MLB should be about making money or gratifying one’s ego either. Being a star in Major League Baseball carries with it another kind of price tag which has to do with giving back to the community and being held to a higher standard in doing the right thing. And that unfortunately is not taught between the lines.

Athletes' Illicit Behavior Transcends Sports

By Diane M. Grassi

It has been quite the whirlwind in the sports world this past year. From the 2004 Summer Olympics to Major League Baseball to the National Basketball Association to the National Football League, and not to forget the National Hockey Association and Major League Soccer, none have been without scandal and deserved scrutiny.

As a true Major League Baseball fan, or fan of any other particular Olympic, professional as well as a college sport, you become a student not only of the game of play but also of its history. And if you have observed all of the legal, moral, and ethical challenges all of our sports have suffered, especially this year, there remains a common thread in all of their frailties.

2004 began on an ominous note following the late 2003 BALCO preliminary hearings of subpoenaed witnesses who just happened to represent the pinnacle of their respective sports: 2000 Olympics Champion -sprinter Marion Jones; 2003 World Track & Field Championships record holder - sprinter Tim Montgomery; Pro Bowl NFL player Bill Romanowski; 2000 MLB MVP and NY Yankee - Jason Giambi; and four time MVP and San Francisco Giant - Barry Bonds who just happens to be 13 home runs shy of surpassing Henry Aaron’s all-time home run record who himself upset the record of no less a player than Babe Ruth.

The tabloids and mainstream broadcast media, pretty much the same animal these days, have feasted on sensational stories this year from January right through this December. To revisit all of the travesties to which we have all been subject would take up pages and pages of space. We have enough fodder in the past few weeks alone in which to write a diatribe. The words “NBA Brawl,” “BALCO: Giambi & Bonds”, “NCAA Football Brawl”, “FCC and the NFL” to name a few take us through November alone to date.

And all of these situations involve variations of violent behavior, law breaking, cheating, unaccountability, indiscretions, indecent behavior, disrespectfulness, selfishness, and brashness; just a few of many adjectives one could use to express the world in sports this year.

But there is plenty of blame to go around. This meltdown of behavior should not be tied to any one player, team, broadcaster, network producer, advertiser, coach, manager, university or body of sport. They all made their own contributions. The negative behaviors are but symptoms of our society and pop culture which also have seemed to have become molded into one. Sports are unfortunately no longer immune from other segments of our society and remains a sad commentary on our state of affairs.

As sports has truly become an entity of corporate entertainment and thus equals “big money”, which includes the NCAA and the Olympics, more and more rules of sportsmanship etiquette have eroded arguably over the past decade. Fans have been urged to become “interactive” as a part of the entertainment from team promotions to where advertisers place their alcohol ads on game days and encouraging tail gate parties in the teams’ stadium parking lots.

The lines also have become blurred between entertainment and broadcast news which makes people wonder where accountability resides. If behavior that was at one time unacceptable is now looked upon as entertainment and broadcast as such, it is no wonder that disrespectfulness continues to fester to a fever pitch. And what once was considered disrespectful behavior has now morphed into illegal behavior. What is even more surprising and distressing is that most people act so surprised, as if they did not see this coming.

More specifically, as concerns the BALCO case and Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, it unfortunately more immediately comes down to a money problem for the powers that be. For example, Giambi on the face of it has breached his playing contract with the NY Yankees by his supposed admission to the Federal Grand Jury that he used several types of steroids and illegal substances in order to enhance his performance.

Instead of enhancing anything Giambi’s use of illegal substances probably made him susceptible to the several infections he contracted over the past two seasons, including a benign pituitary gland tumor and thus breaching his “agrees to keep himself in the best possible condition” for example. (Taking Clomid, a fertility drug which he allegedly admitted to taking, can produce such tumors in males.) It is a contractual nightmare for George Steinbrenner given the $82.5 million left on Giambi’s contract and Giambi’s “damaged goods’ prognosis for the future. The ethical and moral consequences will have to wait.

Marion Jones must stick by her original denial of never having used steroids and growth hormones, regardless of BALCO’s Victor Conte’s contradiction. As a track athlete, her endorsements are crucial to her future income. Track athletes do not get guaranteed $130 million contracts as both Giambi and Bonds have gotten. Meanwhile, the Olympics is a corporate money machine, much as the NCAA is, and their athletes are what keeps the money flowing. As their athletes fail, they fail, so there is impetus to overlook alleged illegal or unscrupulous behaviors.

If it were not for the NHL season lockout which has completely cancelled all hockey games thus far this year, we would be hearing more about its three players in the news this past year. St. Louis Blues player, Mike Danton, pleaded guilty to a murder-for-hire conspiracy charge of his own agent. Atlanta Thrasher Dany Heatley was indicted of vehicular manslaughter when driving under the influence which resulted in the death of his own teammate and Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Cannucks will go on trial January 17, 2005 for the on-ice assault of Colorado Avalanche player Steve Moore, which left him seriously injured.

Sports in the U.S. have always been treated in a clandestine manner and a symbol of hope and integrity. Without sounding preachy, although we collectively have taken many blows this year, for too long the writing on the wall has been ignored. Sports did not suddenly break down in 2004. Its ills have been coming on for a long while now. But we must take our sports back.

As long as Major League Baseball was willing to look the other way when its baseballs where flying out of the parks, when it was obvious that many of its superstars were using illegal substances, MLB should be held accountable. As long as the NCAA has looked the other way when players who do not academically qualify but suddenly get good grades; when they are excused for alleged illegal behaviors by their schools and are showered with expensive gifts, all in the name of making millions and millions of dollars from network telecasts, the NCAA should be held accountable. And as long as broadcasters and advertisers continue to promote and hail “street cred” and a “gansta” mentality for example, they should be held accountable.

And finally, no individual ballplayer or athlete should be considered above the game or sport in which they are engaged. We must collectively protect the integrity of our sports and games. Idol worship will not repair them. That perhaps is another reason we are in this mess. Had we not made such commodities of individual players, regardless of their behaviors, sports and it participants might very well still command the respect like they should and once upon a time did.