Forgive me if I’ve failed to notice a more ethically-challenging time in professional sports. It was 10 years ago this summer when Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off and I’m still reeling…but this has my confidence in athletes shaking a bit harder in the wind.
The sporting world is frozen in anticipation as Barry Bonds attempts to pass Hank Aaron as the all-time home run leader, something I never thought I would see. The person I thought would be closest to breaking the home run record, about the same time Tyson ate a raw human ear, was Ken Griffey Jr. ‘The Kid? as he was called, would have been so much better for baseball if he was the one nearing the long-standing record instead of Bonds. Without multiple injury-plagued seasons on his aging back, junior Griffey easily could have done it too. But now, still hammering away, he is hovering in the 600s, still a great feat, but not in time.
Regardless about how athletes feel about being looked up to, it’s going to happen. The question is when and who are children going to look up to.
On paper, Bonds looks like a good American baseball idol, with nice stats and a lengthy career, but with allegations past haunting his every at bat, is that who you want your kids acting like in the back yard? Nope.
Athletes have given themselves a bad reputation and they have no one to blame but themselves. Surely there are plenty of great human beings on any athletic team, but when a high-profile player like a quarterback gets himself indicted, it makes the whole team and the sport look bad.
I don’t want to go out and say there are no ethics in sports at all, but the business side of the ‘industry? have definitely watered things down.
Teams need to quit paying these problem children, owners need to band together and blacklist players with bad attitudes and criminal rap sheets, and spend their money on quality individuals.
The way to keep John Q. Clarkston Athlete or a kid from any city, from ending up like as poster athletes for how not to be is to keep them from seeing those examples in their youth. A good upbringing can’t hurt either.
Maybe David Beckham can teach American athletes how to clean up their acts after he’s finished making soccer as popular here as it is across the pond.

Ahh the Super Bowl, a day I thought was actually an observed holiday as a child. A time for friends, family and pigskin. Worse than the gluttonous overspending and overeating are the story lines interwoven into the game.
For whatever reason, the National Football League brought back the extra week between the conference championship games and the big game.
I don’t know why, but I can’t see how the players need one more week than they have every week of the regular season to prepare for the game.
Last season, I didn’t feel discouraged about the extra time because every day I was reading about the different events going on around the metro Detroit area and how seemingly everyone behaved themselves.
The only thing I disliked about the game and the hype surrounding it was: how many times do they have to tell us that Jerome Bettis, formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is from the Detroit area?
I feel the extra week is designed to keep the fans salivating for the game, in turn making it easier for the Best Buy’s and ABC Warehouses to push their TV’s.
Conversely, what it creates is a story-starved media looking for any connection it can find to sell papers and talk about anything besides predictions about the game itself.
Flip to the sports section of most papers and there it is, my least favorite story of the Super Bowl holiday season.
Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith became the first two black head coaches to lead their squads to the Super Bowl, a story written in gold lettering as the Colts came back from a 21-6 deficit against the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game.
Could the story have come at a better time of the year?
The game played four days into Black History Month would see its first African-American head coaches. A good story two weeks ago, but let it go please.
I personally feel that Doug Williams quarterbacking the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl XXII victory over the Denver Broncos, becoming the first black Super Bowl quarterback and the game’s most valuable player for his 340 passing yards and four touchdowns, is more significant in SB lore.
We generally look at Jackie Robinson’s dismissal of the color barrier in baseball as the biggest moment of integration in sports history.
We remember the players more than the coaches in the long run. This and the Bettis backstory of last year are perfect examples of why the league needs to play its championship game one week after its league championship matches. Did anyone catch the highlights of media day?
I don’t feel anyone will argue in favor of the extra week behind that garbage!
For Dungy and Smith, congratulations, but I would really be more interested if the saga had not been crammed down my throat.

Almost every day when I get to the office, my message light is blinking. Another call from our loyal readership, I say to myself. Oftentimes what awaits me on the other end of the ‘mailbox? is a response to something I have written, but every now and again it regards something that has not been written.
The Clarkston News has gained the reputation as the lovable community paper that loves to include everyone’s accomplishments, especially kids. We like including children and their stories, but there are times when we miss things.
There are, however, times when we did not miss it ? it just hasn’t appeared in the paperyet. This also draws the ire of our reader parents. Also, people tend to confuse us with our cross-town (cross-county really) rival, and ‘un?-pleasantries are left for me to waltz into unsuspectingly.
If we miss something, we ask for your patience. Remember, we are a group of four (three staff writers and an editor) covering an active area.
There are times when we are ‘right on top of that Rose,? but due to space limitations in the paper, depending on the pages allotted for editorial content, there are things that need to be held over for another week.
We enjoy knowing that our readers take in every word we put out there, but we also acknowledge that people read more than one paper (keep up the good work) and sometimes, as I mentioned earlier, we take phone calls regarding items that have not appeared in our paper.
If calling to point out a potential error, please make sure there is a genuine error. If we are indeed incorrect, you know what to do (625-3370 or shermanpub@aol.com).
Parents by nature want the best for their children, and that includes attention for their accomplishments.
I get many calls for these types of ‘heads up? announcements and I appreciate that. I enjoy covering college signings and making kids athletes of the week. If there is something I, or we as a paper, have failed to cover, please let us know.
There are some things we are unable to cover, even being the courageous foursome we are. If we’re not there, it’s because one of us could not be there. Feel free to send in photos. That is also a good way to get people, groups and things recognized.
Personally, on the sports beat, there are more and more things for me to cover this time of year, now that the winter seasons are about to take off. If I’m not able to be out at such and such event, please don’t feel like I did it intentionally to insult you or your team.
I try to cover everything, but there are times when events happen out of the county (regular-season) or when I am unavailable due to prior commitments. I do try to get the scores and stats after the fact, but I understand that it’s not the same as being there.
I invite readers and non-readers alike to submit ideas via phone or email, at the same time keeping in mind that not everything gets written immediately.
Thank you for your ideas, comments and patience as we turn the corner to a new year and my first winter sports season. I look forward to sharing the time with you all. Take care.

This might be the first week since I began at this fine newspaper that I have not come across a common problem facing both Springfield and Independence townships residents.
This isn’t something that can be put on a ballot, but it can be argued. I am talking about larcenies from vehicles without force. Every week I see multiple reports of missing property taken from garages that were left open overnight or phones, wallets and credit cards taken from cars that get left unlocked.
I was told that this false sense of security comes from living in the suburbs. I had actually heard that before, but it was not anything that I kept on my mind because I (knock on wood) had never been the victim of a vehicular burglar. I assume the big difference between myself and those who file these police reports on a weekly basis is that I lock my car doors when I know the vehicle won’t be in my line of sight. So, pretty much every time I go to work or I park the car in my driveway.
It never fails that I get to read reports about cars that get broken into, and I can sympathize with a victim of that type. However, when people are naive enough to think they can leave their vehicles unlocked not only in their driveway, but in the street along their friends? yard while they take a trip out of state and expect nothing to go untouched., I have little remorse. We don’t live in the 1950’s anymore. For the record, I am not aware what petty crimes entailed in that era, but I am reasoning that they were much fewer than now.
On another note, yes’this is a sad and horrible commentary on the state of the world. But, you can cancel the ‘Doomsday? invitations; I don’t think this is the end of the world, because I feel the problems with theft in the area can be stifled if residents simply lock up their belongings.
The garage door goes down at night; just tell yourself you are doing it to keep the critters out if you prefer to think of it that way.
Before exiting your car for the house or bachelor pad that awaits you, take a moment to roll up your windows. You can pretend it’s supposed to rain? every night. Hit that lock button on your way out while you’re at it, it won’t bite.
Sure, we all have insurance and these are the types of things it’s designed to handle, but who really wants to go through all that hassle? Not me for one. Theft not only takes personal items, but it steals your time and energy along with that iPod on your front seat that you don’t have the serial number for.
I’m telling you, I see this happen all the time, often several homes in the same neighborhood. It can happen to you, or me, but I hope that it doesn’t. So take care of your property, you bought that stuff for a reason!
Hopefully, I can write to you next time and report the wonderful progress we’re making.