Sports are no longer fun and no longer for character building; they are cold and heartless like much of the post-industrial society we live in today. It comes as no surprise that the only sports heroes we can admire are no longer the ones on the field or the court -- they're the ones on the big screen.
Classic sports movies like "Hoosiers" and more recent films -- "Cinderella Man," for example -- feature the only true sports heroes of this time. Athletes have no connection anymore to the public that admires and looks up to them. There are very few athletes like James J. Braddock, Cal Ripken Jr. and Jack Nicklaus.
Within the last 12 months, the Red Sox won the World Series, but in that same amount of time, a major fight broke out between fans and basketball players -- I am of course referring to the Pistons-Pacers brawl -- a steroid controversy occurred in baseball that involves several record-breaking players in America's greatest sport and the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix fiasco occurred at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Even in a sport that has built a reputation for bending the rules and outright cheating (look up Fireball Roberts on Google.com for more information), Sunday's F1 race in Indianapolis was the worst event in auto racing history. I have long considered myself a fan of racing, having grown up with NASCAR and the Indy 500. Auto racing, especially in America, has always been about making a connection with the public.
Formula One is supposed to be the cream of the crop, when it comes to racing. In fact, I recognize and respect the talent of F1 drivers; however, the sport put on the worst show in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history Sunday. Seventy percent of the field did not even attempt one lap.
Auto racing has built itself up as a sport of risks and guts, but the F1 teams did not show those things. They showed cowardice and greed.
Since the race, Formula One, a multi-million dollar industry, and the International Automobile Federation, the governing body of the sport, have traded off blaming each other.
Any time a majority of fans demand their money back, blame must be passed to someone. I personally have no faith in those fans getting their money back, and I have little to no faith in somebody being held responsible for this fiasco. However, I feel blame should be placed on everyone involved in the sport, from the drivers to the team owners and tire suppliers that supposedly caused the domino effect Sunday.
Many auto racing fans are telling F1 never to come back. I am with that group of F1 dissenters -- even though the lack of this annual event could eventually hurt Indianapolis and, ultimately, Indiana's economy.
However, this year's Formula One race makes me wonder if we should start to point the finger at the sports community in general. I certainly think so. Athletes have put a stamp on the sports they call their lives and their careers, but that stamp is not like the ones Bird and Johnson stamped on the game of basketball in the 1980s. The stamps these athletes used are greed, lack of morals and selfishness.
Just as basketball was not the same after the "Brawl in Auburn Hills" or baseball after the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919, auto racing will never be the same after this weekend.
Ultimately, the fans have lost, since sports stars will continue making millions of dollars, and we will still continue to watch them -- lousy or not.
Write to Matthew at
mlstephenson@bsu.edu
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