Bobby Rush (D-Ill), my hero

[sturt]

Lawmakers taking notice

Congressman wants to discuss scandal with Stern

{i]Posted: Thursday July 26, 2007 4:29PM;

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of a House subcommittee is requesting a meeting with NBA commissioner David Stern concerning the betting scandal involving former referee Tim Donaghy.

Rep. Bobby Rush, who heads the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, said he is also considering calling a hearing on the matter "should the facts warrant public scrutiny."

"If the allegations prove true, this could be one of the most damaging scandals in the history of American sports," the Illinois Democrat wrote in a letter sent to Stern on Wednesday and released to the press on Thursday.

Donaghy is the target of an FBI investigation for allegedly betting on games, including some he officiated, over the last two seasons. He resigned July 9.

Rush wrote that he appreciated the need for the league to conduct its own investigation and that he would like to meet with Stern at "the earliest appropriate time."

"Unfortunately, fairly or not, the NBA, more than any other professional sport, has been consistently dogged with allegations that league referees needlessly affect the outcomes of games by making bad calls," Rush wrote.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/bask...tml?eref=si_nba

[gsuteke]

I heard somewhere (not Kerry's letter to Goodell) that some congressmen want to look at dogfighting now.

they are so transparent.

[sturt]

To be sure, the MLB steroids hearings demonstrated the joy politicians take in pretending that sports issues are their issues.

I'm only half-serious about the "my hero" stuff.

But the part of me that IS serious about it, is that way because I'm just so angered that this situation with the NBA officiating, I believe, could have been prevented or resolved long ago, except that it's been David Stern's pleasure to see the game become so inconsistent that no "superstar calls" ultimately sticks--when the standard is so iffy, who's to say if this call or that call is legitimately bad, or just bad?... and I just want Stern to have to face as much spotlight right now as possible, because if he doesn't, he'll snicker to himself and go on about his merry way, and if that happens this time, I'm afraid it's going to be a lost cause for the balance of Stern's tenure, how ever long that may be.

[hawkman]

Aren't there much more important things that these guys should be concerned about?

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Like what?

[DrReality]

I feel much better knowing that our politicians are going to look into this. They'll probably take care of it like the immigration problem, poor healthcare for Vets, and numerous other fiascos. Looking into the betting problem would like the blind leading the blind.

[gsuteke]

Quote:

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I feel much better knowing that our politicians are going to look into this. They'll probably take care of it like the immigration problem, poor healthcare for Vets, and numerous other fiascos. Looking into the betting problem would like the blind leading the blind.

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at the risk of getting myself into trouble I saw something at the gym this morning via CC about a gang called MX 13 or something along that lines forming in the U.S. these guys are organized death squads for hire.

scary. if they don't belong send them where they do belong.

[chillzatl]

this meat sack probably hasn't watched an NBA game in 20 years, if ever. Yet now he's all interested in "knowing the facts". If these ass clowns would pay for this out of their pockets, then I say do what ever you want. Since it's my tax money paying for their waste, I think he needs to STFU. With crap like this is it any surprise that all these guys want to do is raise taxes?

[sturt]

...let me enter a serious vein, too.

A little clarification first: I agree that there are more important matters, certainly, but after all, Congress has evolved into little more than a public issues spin factory... and that's it's own troubling issue that our halls of Congress are failing to produce legislation that actually accomplishes anything to attempt to remedy the problems we face, but rather are existing merely as old, expensive bully pull-pits. Meanwhile, immigration, social security, and other issues of dire importance and urgency sit without any movement b/c the Senators and Representatives are so... well, let's just say that they remind me of a long discussion b/t a couple or three or four of our own here... communication reduced to the sensational, disrespectful, and "gotcha-lines" to the point that no one can even start to form a viable consensus.

Unfortunately, what they should be talking about is a whole lot more important than whether Billy Knight of the Atlanta Hawks has had or continues to have or will have the most-ever draft "capitol."

Okay... having said all of that...

I've wondered for quite awhile now if it wouldn't be a smart proposal for there to be established a United States Sports Commission, probably under the auspices of the Commerce Department. Sports is, by anyone's measure, big business. From time to time, government is asked/expected to intervene in situations that develop, but in fact, Congress is NOT the sensical place for those requests to be heard and pursued. Ostensibly, the Commission would be a panel of maybe 9-15 highly-reputable people from different areas of expertise: primarily law, medicine, media, higher education, and business. They would not be full-time, as if that's all they ever do, but all the same, it would be a highly prestigious and occasionally a large time-consumer. The commission would require staffing and office space, but beyond that would not be a high-cost line item in the federal budget.

Authority of the USSC would be given by Congress, and all major interstate sports leagues (therefore, NCAA too) would be required to hold a charter from the USSC in order to operate... thus, though they certainly would be loathe to ever use it, the USSC would even hold the ultimate power to shut down a given league from operating until a given concern had been adequately addressed... just having such a big stick obviously would carry weight, of course.

Why do this? Two big reasons, to my mind.

Because (a) sports issues do not belong in the halls of Congress where loftier things ought to occupy our lawmakers' time... but also because (b) the owners and players always have a voice... media, by definition, have a voice... but Joe Fan has no voice... Joe Fan cannot affect anything because sports fans are not an organized body of people. Joe Fan ought to have representation.

Now, I know one could retort that Joe Fan votes with his checkbook... he can, at any time, stop buying tickets, stop buying merchandise, stop watching sports on TV that buoys advertisers' support. Here's the problem with that: by definition, whatever the issue may be to cause such a reaction, it is past-tense, ie the fan cannot speak with his pocketbook until the issue has proven to not be resolved... there is no pro-active mechanism through which fans can affect a problem before it reaches the point that they must make a decision to "do without." We don't like voting with our pocketbooks because we enjoy sports... why does a problem have to wait until WE are having to sacrifice something we enjoy to receive fan input?

That's not right. And this is one solution, though there may be others that are just as good or better.

How would the commission be assembled? Would they be appointed, say, by the Secretary of Commerce? Would they be nominated by him/her and then elected somehow? Or, would they simply be elected period?

I'm not taking it that far b/c I think there's a worthy debate there as to what is the best combination of being most efficient and simultaneously most representative... for now, I'm just saying that, given the billions of dollars in the industry and given the stream of issues that pop up every year or two and given the lack of a proper mechanism through which government and citizens can impact those issues, it makes good sense to set aside a body of reputable individuals with the authority to make demands of sports leagues, and to expect results from a citizens/fans perspective.

Interested in feedback, as always...

[DrReality]

I thought you were going to suggest they have referees in Congress to call fouls when there is too much b.s. or they get off task. That would be interesting. Two technical fouls and your out of the session.

[Wretch]

First, I have to admit that I do not follow politics at all - AT ALL. In fact, I avoid any and all matters of our government whenever possible. I have my own reasons for that, but I digress...

I think you have a wonderful idea there Sturt. Though I don't care for politics/goverenment la-la, I couldn't agree with you more. Just one problem though...it makes too much sense.

It'll never happen.

[frosgrim]

We should ALL follow politics very closely and a lot of the current problems in our government would begin to disappear. Special interest groups from all sides of the aisle rule congress right now because they hold the purse strings. Money is needed to get a measly 40% of the people to vote. If we all paid closer attention to congress and had debates like we have here on H.S. regarding health care for vets, for example, then I think a lot more would get done.

I agree that congress shouldn't be holding hearings on the NBA right now. Here are some of the things we face: we are in a war/police action/nation building/or whatever you want to call it, 40 million kids don't have health care, the economy has stalled for the middle class, real wages are declining, the CDC is falling apart, our roads and bridges are in dire need of repair, our power grid is maxed out. Just to name a few issues others can add more, but the idiots in congress are worried about a private business like the NBA????

[sturt]

Quote:

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40 million kids don't have health care

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Double-check that number... it's nothing remotely close to that. If you're going by your friend (?) Michael Moore's numbers, I believe that would be 40 million people, not kids... and fwiw, the Brookings Institute has fairly succinctly shot even that number out of the water, down closer to 2 million people who want health insurance but aren't currently carrying it, if I'm recalling correctly from the interview I heard just yesterday morning.

Still... the point is well-taken.

[Wretch]

Quote:

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"We should ALL follow politics very closely and a lot of the current problems in our government would begin to disappear."

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In fact, the world could be fixed if everyone would stop for 2 seconds to breath. But alas...you're preaching to the choir m'man. In my more romantic hours of spreading awareness, I stumbled upon the undefeatable paradox - nobody's vote counts, no one will ever be heard, nobody makes a difference.

Indeed.

"If people would just..." Yeah, just as they do on a much smaller scale here on the Squawk. LoL, and we're all on the same side!

So, I'll yeah...I'll keep my ears plugged drowning out the bombs and shouting. (Y'know what would go perfect right here...that picture of Dr. Z eating Pie!)

[frosgrim]

My bad on that data point. Here is the National Institute of Health 2006 early data release:

20.1 % of Americans are uninsured (43 million)

9.3% of all children under the age of 18 are uninsured.

The whole report can be downloaded in a PDF from here CDC/NIH health insurance coverage for 2006

Regardless, health insurance is a mess that needs to be corrected.

[Diesel]

Sports is a great economic giant. There are more Millionaires born out of Sports than I would say any other industry. Moreover, it's one of the industries in which you can go from poor to Millionaire the quickest.

Cities build arenas for Sports teams.

Nations participate in sports.

Advertisement is centered around Sports.

What would Gatorade be without professional sports?

What about Nike?

What about Playstation, Wii, or XBox?

Sports have a huge economic ripple in this nation. I would say next to oil, Sports is probably the second largest economic industry in the US.

So when you say that it's not that important, I think it's very important. If there's no integrity of the game, the economy could be effected.

Just imagine if Vick came back to the Falcons and everybody protested and refused to watch NFL football? What type of economic ripple do you think that would have?

[sturt]

It's big.

But in the universe of the United States economy, it's one planet, at best, if not a moon of a planet.

Again, that's not to suggest it isn't big.

But, it IS to suggest how vast our economy is... were the sports business to disappear, all of those advertisers would just find a new mechanism for selling their product... life would go on fairly routinely.

[DJlaysitup]

Quote:

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Sports is a great economic giant. There are more Millionaires born out of Sports than I would say any other industry. Moreover, it's one of the industries in which you can go from poor to Millionaire the quickest.

Cities build arenas for Sports teams.

Nations participate in sports.

Advertisement is centered around Sports.

What would Gatorade be without professional sports?

What about Nike?

What about Playstation, Wii, or XBox?

Sports have a huge economic ripple in this nation. I would say next to oil, Sports is probably the second largest economic industry in the US.

So when you say that it's not that important, I think it's very important. If there's no integrity of the game, the economy could be effected...

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Well said...whether we like it or not professional sports are HUGE in our society. No two ways about it. Gambling is a fairly big part of the economy too. Cheating by referees, point fixing scandals, etc. are killers for sports betting operations in Vegas and similar places.

As far as "next to oil" - money wise...of course that's not true...Microsoft, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, the auto industry, various food brand conglomerates, Halliburton, and many others are far bigger $$-wise. Yet, even as the 3rd pro sport the NBA is a big deal and worthy of Congressional interest.

[Diesel]

Quote:

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As far as "next to oil" - money wise...of course that's not true...Microsoft, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, the auto industry, various food brand conglomerates, Halliburton, and many others are far bigger $$-wise.

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I'm not completely disagreeing here... I'm just thinking that Sports has a direct effect on economy and also an indirect effect...

What I mean is that there are other conglomarates that has it's being because of Sports...

1. Athletic ware...

2. The video game industry.

3. Some Bars.

4. Athletic drinks.

5. A lot of the gambling industry.

6. Colleges and Universities.

IF tomorrow Bush outlawed Sports, I just try to think of how many other industry would be effected.. and really, I think that there's a lot.

I know if Lockhead Martin went out of business, it would cause the layoff of a lot of people, but on the whole, I think the economy wouldn't be devastated. The same is true of Microsoft. OF course, we'd be hurt but there wouldn't be a strong enough effect on the economy to notice, but if you took Sports out of the picture, I think, it would cause the economy to pause... It has far reaching effects.