Sports fans look to new year to end soap opera

Wednesday, January 28, 1998

Sports fans look to new year to end soap opera

COLUMN From dueling Jabbars to ear-biting, ’97 was less than
spectacular

By Tim Yun

You have probably read about, heard about, saw it – heck – maybe
even thought about it, but the soap opera that is Latrell
Sprewell’s life reared its ugly head again yesterday when an
arbitration hearing concerning his future in the NBA got
underway.

For those of you who may have missed it the first time, here is
a quick refresher.

Apparently awestruck by the Golden State Warriors’ tremendous
run through the early portion of the 1998 season, Sprewell decided
to show his appreciation to coach P.J. Carilsimo, by "initiating
physical contact."

Ordinarily, I would be appalled by this blatant disrespect for
authority,this vicious act of brutality, and ___________ (you fill
in the blank), but if you really think about it, was it really that
odd considering all of the buzz and unpredictable events that
happened in 1997?

Within the context of all of the other events that occurred in
the past year, there was really nothing extraordinarily abnormal
about this sequence of events.

How bad was 1997? For those of you with short memories, here is
a brief reminder of just some of the more memorable stories:

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson decided to show the world
his best impression of Hannibal Lechter during his second title
bout with Evander Holifield.

We now know former sportscaster Marv Albert likes to wear
diapers and pink underwear while engaging in bizarre sexual
relationships with a dominatrix,

Two former Bruins, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Karim Abdul Jabbar
engaged in a lawsuit over the use of the name.

Red Sox outfielder Will Cordero being investigated for allegedly
hitting his wife with a telephone

Now former Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer conveniently
"forgetting" to take his loaded handgun out of his handbag before
going through airport security.

Now former Anaheim Angel outfielder Tony Phillips being arrested
for venturing to the Ivanhoe Motel to purchase crack cocaine.

Two starting players, Jelani McCoy and Kris Johnson, being
suspended from the UCLA Basketball team for the early part of the
season, for some undisclosed reason.

After a while, Sports Illustrated starting to look more and more
like The Weekly World News or the National Enquirer.

Yet, we remain die-hard fans. How quickly we can forgive and
forget. Isn’t it ironic that we are shocked when we hear these
freakish stories, but as long as our team wins, or as long as you
can run faster, throw harder and outlast your opponent, all is
forgiven?

Hopefully, things will change for the rest of the new year. And
with the Bruins winning their 10th football game in a row with a
victory in the Cotton Bowl, the Denver Broncos winning their first
Super Bowl in five tries, and with the Olympic Ice Hockey coming
just around the corner, 1998 seems to be getting off on the right
foot.

Some may argue that the 1997 sports year was indicative of the
degeneration of moral standards within the world of athletics, but
both you and I know that the real reason can be summed up in two
words: El Nino.