If any of you still think Michael Johnson was clean

Take a Moment to Read The Fall

RE: If any of you still think Michael Johnson was clean 10/16/2007 5:21PM - in reply to book club

The Fall of Marion Jones, Inc. This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071029/zirin
by Dave Zirin When it comes to cynicism, sports fans probably rank somewhere
between politicians and mob lawyers. They complain that players are only in
sports for the money, that ticket prices amount to robbery and that everybody
cheats. And yet, they flock to games, idolize their favorite players and become
distraught when their heroes are suddenly revealed to be anything but. This
contradiction between hardened and hopeful--the desperate desire for role models
to emerge from the primordial ooze of sports--explains the widespread dismay at
news that track and field heroine Marion Jones had admitted to taking steroids.
The one-time icon who graced the covers of both Sports Illustrated and Vogue
admitted to lying to federal prosecutors about her anabolic intake and returned
her three gold and two bronze medals earned at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
The shock waves following her announcement have been profound, even among the
grizzled breed known as sports writers. As Ron Rapoport wrote in the Los Angeles
Times, Jones, armed with her beauty, skills, and hypnotic smile, "was all but
inescapable as the symbol of the possibilities, and the joy, that could flow
from a life devoted to sport." At an October 5 press conference both tragic and
riveting a devastated Jones apologized to her fans through a mask of tears. The
looming jail time forced her to speak. Returning her medals was not imposed by
the federal government but demanded by United States Anti-Doping Agency For
Jones, the regret, the public humiliation and the possible time in prison are
hers to bear alone. This should not be the case. Fault also lies with a system
that both elevates and debases sporting superstars, turning them into something
not quite human. Star athletes have become corporations with legs: branded with
logos and slogans, and supporting an entire apparatus of advisers and
hangers-on. Jones became a one-woman multinational corporation after her 2000
Olympic triumph: the feet of Nike, the face of Oakley Sunglasses, the wrist of
TAG Heuer watches. All the riches and glory hinged on her ability to shine in
Sydney. Jones and her team knew what it would mean if she performed the
impossible at the 2000 games and won five gold medals, how it would enshrine her
as an immortal of the sport. The tragedy is that even if she hadn't taken
steroids, Jones could still have succeeded mightily. Her fall should not be hers
alone. It's an indictment of every "employee" of Marion Jones, Inc., every
Olympic overseer who basked in her glory, every corporate sponsor who made her
its brand. As steroids entered her orbit and the federal government loomed, they
reacted with either benign neglect or malignant intent. They all deserve to
shoulder some of this weight. In a world in which the possibility of escaping
poverty--whether it's baseball in the Dominican Republic, basketball in Eastern
Europe or football in the Florida Panhandle--is the major motive for many
athletes to turn professional, the drive to succeed is rarely fraught will moral
conundrums. Success means money, not only for you but also for the "employees"
of you, the corporation. You win or everyone loses. As Ricky Bobby says in the
film Talladega Nights, "If you ain't first, you're last." A multibillion-dollar
sports empire has been built on this ethically flimsy foundation, creating
unexpected platforms for sanctimony from the likes of Peter Ueberroth, the
chairman of the US Olympic Commitee, who demanded that Jones return her medals.
But what keeps the Ueberroths, the Bud Seligs up at night is the thought that it
is all built on a house of anabolic cards: on the ability of athletes to evolve
on fast-forward and continue their ability to amaze. As a baseball player once
told me, the problem with the debate on performance-enhancing drugs is that
"punishment is an individual issue but distribution is a team issue." Marion
Jones should not spend one minute in prison for lying to the feds, and that's
not just because President Bush and Scooter Libby have given us precedent to
believe that such punishments might be "unduly harsh." She was lying to protect
Marion Jones, Inc. She was lying to protect Ueberroth's Olympic ideal, which in
the twenty-first century has become little more than a frenzy of greed and graft
in pursuit of gold. Marion Jones should be granted amnesty on the grounds that
the entire system sets athletes up for failure. As fans and followers of sport,
it's time to drop the Pollyanna act and the hero worship. It's time to stop
demanding the super human and start letting the guardians of sport know that
anyone who benefits from an athlete's rise to the top should also accompany
their fall from grace. [Dave Zirin is the author of the new book "Welcome to the
Terrordome:" with an intro by Chuck D (Haymarket). You can receive his column
Edge of Sports, every week by going to http://zirin.com/edgeofsports/?p=subscribe&id=1
. Contact him at
edgeofsports@gmail.com ] -- To update your
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