9701050013
DETROIT FREE PRESS
970212
Wednesday, February 12, 1997
METRO FINAL CHASER
1D
MITCH ALBOM Free Press Sports Writer
Copyright (c) 1997, Detroit Free Press
FANS, WELCOME TO FOOL'S PARADISE
The sports world is full of errors in judgment: The Lions drafting Andre
Ware, World Team Tennis, Fox creating a blue puck.
Still, lately it seems like a plague of bad decisions has infected
sports, and it's even worse than usual. For example:
OLIVER McCALL VS. LENNOX LEWIS
A couple of years ago, Don King was talking about one of his fighters. He
couldn't remember his name, so he said, "Who's that junkie I got?"
The so-called junkie was Oliver McCall, a guy who has admitted using drugs
-- including crack cocaine -- since he was a teenager. Last Friday, a
supposedly clean McCall got into a ring with heavyweight Lennox Lewis,
despite all of the following:
* Two arrests for drugs in the last year.
* An arrest two months ago for throwing a Christmas tree across a hotel
lobby.
* Drug rehab that had him visiting the clinic as late as a week before the
fight.
Don King, his promoter, knew all of this. McCall still got into the ring.
And it could have killed him.
In case you missed it, McCall fought for the first two rounds, then spaced
out. He refused to throw punches, turned his back on Lewis and circled the
ring between rounds, mumbling to himself like some lost soul on the street.
Finally, after two rounds of virtually no punches, the referee stopped the
fight because McCall "refused to defend himself."
At the sound of the decision, McCall broke into tears and ran from the
ring. Now I ask you: Does that sound like someone who belonged in a
heavyweight fight?
"I don't know what happened," King said.
He knew plenty. He also knew this: McCall was scheduled to get $3 million
-- and King was due to get a big chunk of it. Of course, that purse is now
being held up, pending investigation. And I promise you King is more concerned
about that than whether McCall is ever normal again.
You have to wonder whose judgment was worse, King for using McCall, or
McCall for ever letting that slimeball promote him.
Of course, that's hardly the only error in judgment these days. . . .
ROBERTO ALOMAR AND THE ORIOLES
Last year's Mr. Spit was supposed to be this season's Mr. Sit -- at least
for five games, the suspension handed down by Major League Baseball for
Alomar's hawking a loogie in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck.
At the time, many people -- me included -- were outraged that Alomar was
allowed to play at all. Spitting in an umpire's face? I remember asking what
it took to get suspended in this league, a gunshot?
Well, as you know, Alomar was allowed to play, and he got the Orioles into
the playoffs. His only punishment was to sit the first five games of this
season -- presumably, without pay, since he was suspended.
Only now, as it turns out, the Orioles will pay Alomar while he sits.
"We want to show Robby we're behind him," an Orioles official said.
Great. Someone should get behind that guy -- and clomp him over the head
with a shoe. What are they thinking? It's bad enough they send a message to
fans that spitting at an umpire is not serious enough to miss a playoff game.
But now they're saying it's not serious enough to miss a paycheck? All Alomar
will have to ante up is a meager fine, around $250. The Orioles will actually
pay him NOT TO PLAY.
And they wonder why fans can't relate to this sport anymore.
In basketball, Dennis Rodman kicks a cameraman -- not a ref, a cameraman
-- and he gets an 11-game suspension immediately, no pay, see ya. In football,
you spit at a referee, you might as well book a long flight to South America.
And in hockey? I asked Don Cherry of "Hockey Night in Canada" what would
happen if an NHL player ever spat in an official's face?
"He'd be shot at dawn," he said.
But wait. There's more bad judgment. . . .
BILL PARCELLS AND THE PATRIOTS
Coach resents owner. Coach quits team. Coach wants to coach another team.
Owner resents coach. Owner sees coach quit. Owner says you can't coach
another team unless I get something in exchange.
For a while there, I wasn't sure if this were the NFL or two merchants
haggling in some Persian market.
In the end, Parcells was allowed to leave the Patriots and coach the Jets
in exchange for a packet of draft picks. It was a bitter trade. But what did
Bob Kraft expect? That Parcells would sit on the sidelines for a year?
And what did Parcells expect? That Kraft would let him walk away without
a hiccup? Do any of these guys actually read their contracts -- or do they
just cash the checks?
If you ask me, they all deserve each other. Kraft is desperate for the
spotlight, Parcells is desperate for control, and the Jets are desperate,
period.
Of course, this is just the tip of the bad-judgment iceberg. There's the
NFL's decision to allow indoor fireworks at halftime of a Super Bowl -- so
the players were coughing smoke the whole second half -- and there's the NHL's
decision not to change the silly skate-in-the-crease rule, and there are
Rodman's recent interview in which he compared himself to Elvis.
And I would like to comment on all of these, but to paraphrase a popular
T-shirt:
So many fools, so little time.
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE.
COLUMN; OLIVER MCCALL; ROBERTO ALOMAR; BILL PARCELLS