Interesting that within the last week, we’ve seen three different entities within the world of sports raise the white flag when nobody saw it coming. Perception is reality in this day and age and seeing an organization, group or individual make wholesale changes (possibly) in the name of protecting one’s image is not totally unusual. However, watching one react in a manner that is in no way congruent with how they typically operate? Now that is something to see.
About a week ago, we saw Augusta National Golf Club, an 80-year-old private club, admit the first women ever as members. Condoleezza Rice, Former Secretary of State and South Carolina financier and former board member for the University of South Carolina Darla Moore accepted the honor from chairman Billy Payne. It was widely received as a positive (albeit long overdue) move by Augusta, especially after former chairman Hootie Johnson notoriously said 10 years ago that the club may admit women, but that the “timetable will be ours and not at the point of a bayonet.” Johnson and other Augusta supporters have fought the integration of women for many years, not from a segregation standpoint, but from the stance that a private club should have the ability admit and deny membership to whomever it chooses.
A few days later, news broke that Lance Armstrong, cycling legend, cancer survivor and hero to millions around the world, had “turned the page” on his battle with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and their ongoing doping allegations/investigations. As you may recall, Armstrong has won seven Tour de France titles (the 3 week long annual Super Bowl of cycling), all of which came after a testicular cancer diagnosis in 1996. Following surgery, doctors said Armstrong had less than a 40% chance to live, yet he heroically fought back to become the most decorated rider in cycling history. And while many of the other top cyclists in the world have been knocked for doping, Armstrong, while always under suspicion, has NEVER been found guilty through testing by any governing body.
If that weren’t enough, on Friday rumors were swirling that the Boston Red Sox were in the midst of pulling off a mega trade that would send Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett (all All-Stars) and Nick Punto to the Los Angeles Dodgers for mostly minor league prospects and players to be named later. The deal was consummated Saturday and Gonzalez was in the Dodger lineup, and hitting a three-run home run in his first at bat with L.A. Saturday evening. The Bo. Sox sent over a quarter BILLION DOLLARS in salary still on the books to Cali, possibly in an attempt to regain control over a clubhouse that had pretty much been in turmoil since spring training.
These were three drastic changes in the worlds of golf, cycling and baseball that completely blindsided fans and observes alike.
In the words of the great Charles Barkley, “Hootie Johnson is rolling over in his grave.”
But should they have? And why the drastic changes now?
While Augusta National should have ended their exclusion of women long ago, they didn’t decide to do it until last week. Some theories suggest that it could be traced back to money (shocker). Earlier this year IBM, a major corporate sponsor for The Masters golf tournament held at Augusta each spring, appointed Virginia Rometty CEO. The last four CEOs of IBM all had memberships, which put the club in a very awkward spot. Ultimately, it appears that maybe Augusta didn’t want to run the risk of messing their money up any further due to this antiquated rule.
Lance Armstrong claims he was fed up with the constant attacks of his character and his athletic feats, so he was essentially washing his hands with the matter once and for all. But Travis Tygart, chief executive of the USADA has said that while Armstrong has never been caught through testing, witnesses (snitches) have been coming out of the woodwork to expose Armstrong and other riders. Mr. Livestrong maintains that those snitches were jealous ex-teammates who were given “sweetheart deals”. This could be true, but the fact that Tygart now possesses this new, and mounting testimony, which is considered to be damning by some, makes the timing of this announcement a bit odd. So maybe Armstrong was frustrated with the years of unfair treatment and accusations, or maybe he knows the writing is on the wall, and he just wants to get out in front of it.
Never thought we’d see Lance throw in the towel, but maybe it’s for the best.
In any case, this announcement by Armstrong has been taken as an admission of guilt by the USADA. Armstrong has been stripped of all of his Tour de France titles and has been banned from the sport for life.
While Armstrong’s announcement has undoubtedly hurt him within the cycling world, it has not harmed his bank account, or the bank account of his Livestrong Foundation. Endorsers of Armstrong, such as Nike, still have his back and donations for his cancer research foundation have skyrocketed. So maybe Lance had an inkling that if he took this type of stance (calling the USADA’s case against him a “witch-hunt” and just giving up a fight he knew he could never win), he would come off as a sympathetic figure and would still retain some of his positive public image.
If there is truth to any of that, it was a shrewd and admirable move, especially when you consider that his only mission now is to preserve and protect his foundation. Still, nobody ever thought the man who beat cancer, who beat so many of the world’s best athletes and who had beaten the USADA for so many years would just give up.
That brings us to the Red Sox. After winning the World Series with a group of scrappy, yet talented players in 2004, they won it again in 2007 after proving they were willing to be big spenders. Yes, the Sox reached lucrative deals with Manny Ramirez as a free agent in 2000 and Pedro Martinez in 1997 (signing him to an extension after trading for him). But they took ballin to a whole other level in ’07 after spending $70M on J.D. Drew and $51M just to talk to Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, and then dropping another $52M to sign him.
The Red Sox are apparently ballin on a budget after sending first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and his orca big contract to L.A.
It seemed like general manager Theo Epstein and owner John Henry made it clear they had no problem keeping up the Jones’ (aka Yankees) after signing Crawford to a $142M deal and Gonzalez to a $154M deal in 2010. But after watching a historic late season collapse in 2011 (the team drop 18 of their last 24 games to miss the playoffs) and the team hold down 4th place in the division for much of 2012, Henry and new GM Ben Cherignton made the decision to blow up this high-priced roster and start over.
In all, $261M in salaries were shipped up out of Boston on Saturday. Cherignton knows his team will have a higher payroll than most more often than not, but now he’s focused on getting good value in trades and free agency. Overall, the Red Sox made the right decision (now all that’s left is dumping Bobby Valentine), but maybe they realized that getting into a 1-on-1 game of ball ’til you fall with the Yanks isn’t the best idea. The Bronx Bombers always have a sky high payroll, yet you’d never see them throw away all of their high priced assets in one fell swoop, consequently giving up on this season (even if they were out of the playoff mix) and possibly future seasons as well. Expect the Red Sox to make a big splash in free agency sometime in the future, but don’t expect them to try to go toe-to-toe with the Yankees each winter like they had been in recent years.
There is only one New York Yankees. They are to professional sports what this guy was to sports entertainment.
So what’s the moral of these here stories?
Well, admittedly there is a lot of speculation involved by our part. But there has to be valid reasons behind Augusta, Armstrong and the Sawx throwing in the towel after all these years. Could it just be that each was in desperate need of a change?
Sure. But Lester Freamon taught us a long time ago to follow the money. And even though he was speaking about drug dealers, you can’t help but feel like that statement applies to nearly every aspect of life…
Professional sports is no exception.