Best of 2007: A Year of Corruption

Scandal.

If I had to pick one word to describe the world of sports in 2007 that would be it.

Probably not the word any major sports organization would want to represent an entire year of hard work and dedication. Legendary, ground-breaking, even ordinary would probably be better, but no matter where you looked in 2007 some sort of corruption was lurking in the corner. 

So when asked to write an article about the best sports story of 2007, that’s the first thing that came to mind. Sure there were records broken, huge upsets made, and championships won, but in the end we all know that’s not what this year will be remembered for.

Just look at the headlines: Michael Vick, Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, Bill Belichick. How about that Mitchell Report?

The crimes, the cheating, the drugs—these are the things that will go down in history and nobody can stop it from happening.

Let’s face it, we live in a world where drama rules. The negative almost always gets more attention than the positive, especially when it involves shocking detail and a famous face. Even people not the least bit interested in sports can tell you what Vick did to earn himself a trip to the Big House and exactly what juice Bonds was enjoying. But could they tell you what team had a miraculous run to get to the World Series? Probably not. In fact, they might not even know who won the World Series. And in the scheme of things it doesn't really matter.

What matters is that something needs to change.

I'm pretty sure Americans as a whole aren't going to stop salivating over a juicy story involving a famous person any time soon, so sports figures just need to stop providing the bait.

Can it be done? I sure hope so because, contrary to popular belief, not all publicity is good publicity.