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3 a.m. with Mike Wise
Now, can we forget our troubles and just play games?
Last night the opening closed.
That door through which so much bad news flowed — the August sports void — slammed shut. Second-ranked L.S.U. stomped Mississippi State in a Southeast Conference football tilt. And from here until next August, there's less room on the news for the Bad Boys of Summer. We can all act like we're watching Dallas reruns and this season of scandal was an awful dream.
Or can we?
A couple of nights ago I talked with Washington Post columnist Mike Wise about this summer like no other. Question by question, our conversation inched toward the conclusion that an ungodly mix of money and competitiveness has created an awesome potentiality for misdeeds in the athletics arena. There's crazy-wild stuff going on that you have no idea about.
I left off with my observation that gambling underpins a lot of this summer's sports scandals.
In [Michael] Vick's own warped mind, he had to be number one in whatever he was doing. And it goes right into gambling. These guys are competition junkies. He was willing to risk the lives of some dogs that he allegedly cared about
because he's used to being number one.
Vick was not only taking care of his boys, he was fulfilling his own jones for competition. When someone points out the reality to him, that these are domesticated animals that you're actually supposed to feed and water and care for, and he's actually putting them to death, then he looks like a monster. In his mind, he's just a competitor and he's trying to win.
That door through which so much bad news flowed — the August sports void — slammed shut. Second-ranked L.S.U. stomped Mississippi State in a Southeast Conference football tilt. And from here until next August, there's less room on the news for the Bad Boys of Summer. We can all act like we're watching Dallas reruns and this season of scandal was an awful dream.
Or can we?
A couple of nights ago I talked with Washington Post columnist Mike Wise about this summer like no other. Question by question, our conversation inched toward the conclusion that an ungodly mix of money and competitiveness has created an awesome potentiality for misdeeds in the athletics arena. There's crazy-wild stuff going on that you have no idea about.
I left off with my observation that gambling underpins a lot of this summer's sports scandals.
In [Michael] Vick's own warped mind, he had to be number one in whatever he was doing. And it goes right into gambling. These guys are competition junkies. He was willing to risk the lives of some dogs that he allegedly cared about
because he's used to being number one.
Vick was not only taking care of his boys, he was fulfilling his own jones for competition. When someone points out the reality to him, that these are domesticated animals that you're actually supposed to feed and water and care for, and he's actually putting them to death, then he looks like a monster. In his mind, he's just a competitor and he's trying to win.
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