FanNation - The Republic of Sport

 

How exactly do fans feel betrayed by Vick's trangressions? Are they betrayed that he won't be able to help their despondant franchise anymore or because he committed a heinous crime? He may be the face of the team, a celebrity and a iconic figure but outside the football field, he is still a human being and priority number one was to mount a defense or manuever the system to whittle his jailtime down to as few time as possible.

While the reaction to his apology has been mixed and has been analyzed and debated on by fans, reporters, columnists and Public Relations consultants as well as apology experts, one thing has stuck out in my mind though. Has anyone ever noted his apparent inclination to refer to himself as Michael Vick? During an interview following the news of his indictment "Every where around the world, people still support loves Mike Vick." Then during his contrite apology on Monday morning he referred to himself in the third person on three occasions which makes one wonder how much more he has to be be humbled.

Now Michael Vick has a lot of downtime for self reflection to redeem himself in the eyes of Charles Dunson and fans everywhere. In an act of cruel symmetrical irony the Falcons will host the New Orleans Saints, December 10, on Monday Night Football, the same day Michael Vick's immediate future will be decided by an unforgiving judge in a Virginia courtroom.

If anything this summer has opened my eyes to the varying levels of sports controversies. In this era of intense scrutiny and intrusiveness into the lives of athletes it's important to know what your dealing when you hear breaking news, sound bites from an exclusive interview taped yesterday or an excerpt from a soon to be released novel. Scandals are a lot like an exclusive club, everyone might not get in and even if you do there's no guarantee you'll gain access to the VIP section. Just think of the codes like you would if you were ordering hot wings; atomic,hot, medium, mild and apply them accordingly.

Code Atomic: Transcendently Scandalous(Kobe Bryant's Rape Accusation, Michael Vick Interstate Commerce, Floyd Landis Testosterone Levels, BALCO, Jose Conseco's "Juiced", etc.)

The Ebola virus of scandals latches itself onto every aspect of our society, provokes a response from everyone and things can get ugly. These usually stem from a single event which branches into a full blown disaster and it's impact extends beyond ESPN and into other non-traditional sports networks. The beauty of these scandals is that they don't even have to involve a high profile athlete as long as it threatens to hang a black cloud over the the landscape of an entire sport.

Characteristics of these sports scandals include a bevy of live press conferences which involve a lot of reveal nothing we didn' t already know except giving us another grasp of the gravity of the controversy at hand. They usually cause normally rational people to become irrational, overreact and to side with either the radicalists or the pacifists. In Vick's situation, there were the extremists who used the details in this case to vent against the ahem... sociopathic, criminal thuggery in professional sports today meanwhile, the pacifists tended to overlook and ignore overwhelming evidence in order to blindly follow an iconic quarterback. Most often, the participants become infamous figures synonymous with their respective scandal no matter what they've accomplished before or after.

Hot:Code Black: (Patrick Dennehy Murder, Punter Stabs Teammate)
Though usually underreported by the media, these are brought about by the most tragic of events and sometimes can reveal an even darker secret or a deep underbelly of more illegal activity. The most infamous example of this type of scandal was the Baylor Basketball Scandal in 2003, which was set off by the disappearance of junior basktball player Patrick Dennehey. Soon after teammate Carlton Dotson was implicated in the murder, Bliss confessed to a major violation of NCAA rules school investigators by making payments to Dennehy, estimated at $7,000. After Bliss resigned, it emerged that he had told players to make up a storyabout Dennehy being a drug dealer in order to pay for his tuition as a cover-up for Bliss paying Dennehy's tuition.

Medium: The Faux Pas(tennis match fixing scandal, Jose Conseco's "stuff" on A-Rod, Reggie Bush's Illegal Benefits)

This type of scandal is usually a diabolical creation of the media's which usually fizzles out after the media realizes they've jumped the gun. This usually occurs when the media sees smokes, senses fire and chooses to fan the flames while their reporters disperse to warn the citizens of the forthcoming catastrophy. In the end though, the flames usually promptly simmer out, but not before burning down their entire camp. Kinda like when Gerald Rivera hosted a live primetime special to open up Al Capone's vault and instead of finding Jimmy Hoffa's body or great riches they uncovered a dirty tub and illegal moonshine. Whatever happenned to the uproar over Jose Conseco's "stuff" on A-Rod's steroid use or the fallout of Reggie Bush's illeged illegal benefits while at USC?

Mild: The Sheffield(Rush Limbaugh, Kobe Shaq's media sparring, anytime Gary Sheffield speaks, Irvin's Romo comments )
Named for the King of Controversy, The Godfather of Mouth Diahrea himself, Gary Sheffield who creates a controversy everytime every time he gets in front of a mic. These are usually the foot in mouth stuck in cow maneur brain freezes which often possesses people when they get too comfortable behind a microphone and forget that they are on television not at one of their klan meetings or in a confessional with their priest. There are variations of the Sheffield ranging from the conspiracy theories ffered up by the Godfather of Controversy, to the entertaining verbal sparring between teammates such as Shaq and Kobe using ESPN's Jim Gray and Ric Bucher as their personal relationship counselors. These can best be avoided by not using tv personalities as your confidants or by avoiding the bar during happy hour for a little buzz to take the edge off when your about to sit down for a light hearted interview with Stephen A. Smith. Don't do it reporters, can small weakness... and alcohol. If your a racist rehearse the racial equality questions, and if you hate your star teammate don't call Chris Mortenson at 3 in the morning to vent because he has the World Wide Leader on speed dial . The end result is that these guys become pariahs and the bud of everyone's joke as a result of their respective comments until the outrage eventually subsides.

-- D.J. Dunson Jr.