Unfair advantages

As a sports fan, I appreciate competition. I revel in a hard-fought game. If an underdog wins, better yet.

But there's the other side of the sports coin. It's comprised of dynasties, unfairness, gamesmanship, and it makes me sick.

There are some teams that I find repugnant. I loathe the NY Yankees for various reasons, not the least of which is that they play on an unlevel playing field. With the YES network, they have an inexhaustible fountain of money that enriches the entire organization, from the big league team down to the minor league clubs. Sure, they contribute to the luxury tax or revenue share, whichever you want to call it, but there's no doubt they have a disproportionate share of revenues compared to many, many teams. Add to that that they were among the last MLB teams to integrate and it adds up to an Evil Empire.

The Mets deserve inclusion for the simple reason that they defeated my beloved '69 Cubs. Of course, they also had a cocaine-influenced team that won the '86 World Series. I despise the Mets.

Then there are college teams. The Michigan Wolverines football team just makes me want to hurl. Many Wolverine fans think this is pure envy at their success on the field. Not so. I admire the institution as one of the finest public universities in the country. I absolutely love the state. And my girl is from there. But that football team has been cheating for years and getting away with it. I'm not talking about DickRod stuff; that's small potatoes. The players who have attended Michigan are no different than those that attend other schools other than the fact that they may be better athletes; better students they aren't. Listen to some of the players that come out of that school and you'll hear articulate people and others that can't string together a simple declarative sentence.

If that were all to it, you might say that sour grapes was the reason. But even the refs favor the Evil Empire. Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyG_GBHSTsY&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLC0428BEB2B18540F

The Big Ten apologized to Illinois after it happened, but that's all it did. The next year, the EE was playing at MSU and the clock operator took liberties starting the clock that hurt the EE. Not only the Big Ten apologize, it instituted instant replay the next season. Only when the EE was affected did the Big Ten feel the need to step in and try to make things right.

The same thing happens in college hoops. Two sacred cows of NCAA basketball are Kentucky and North Carolina. Illinois was screwed by both schools in the NCAA tournament. In 1984, Illinois had to play Kentucky in Rupp Arena, Kentucky's home court. Check out what happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG-KN_fILYo. As with the Big Ten's decision on instant replay, the NCAA later enacted a rule that schools couldn't play in tournament games on their home floors. Of course, this was after the fact.

In 2005, Illinois played North Carolina in the national title game. Illinois had lost one game until then. The refs made the game a complete joke. Illinois played poorly, no doubt, but the refs allowed North Carolina to do whatever it wanted, and if Illinois even came near the Tar Heels they called Illinois for a foul. Despite this, Illinois only lost by five points. Later, the Tar Heels would have four players drafted in the first round of the NBA draft to Illinois' two. Yet the refs felt they had to assist North Carolina because, after all, North Carolina is a sacred cow of college basketball.

Another element of sports that upsets me is the fad from Euroland that is nothing more than gamesmanship, better known as flopping. It seems to have started in soccer, where players dry to draw fouls by rolling for yards after a tackle, acting as if they've been hamstrung by the contact with their opponent. They thrash back and forth on the field as the ref looks down at them, sometimes granting the sought-after foul or, more recently, shaking their heads at their lame attempts. As the ball makes it way down the field, the player lies on the ground cluthing a body part that, obviously, will require surgery after the game, until the inevitable miracle occurs and he leaps up to get the ball in an advantageous position to score a goal. Their basketball brethern have taken a page from the soccer playbook and now act as if they've been hit by a Mack truck anytime their come in contact with an opponent, flying backwards with such histrionics that somewhere Laurence Olivier is grimacing. The idea of both strategies is to gain favor and fouls from the referees.

Competition is what makes sports enjoyable. But competition is supposed to start with a basic premise that the setting is fair -- both baskets are at ten feet high, the pitchers both throw from sixty feet, six inches, hockey players' sticks aren't curved too much for one team, both football teams play with eleven players. When, on the other hand, one team has a built-in advantage, it ceases being competition, or enjoyable.

(c) 2012 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles