Selig, Stern, Goodell Battle the Commissioner Blues

In the last week, professional players and coaches have had no choice but to show sympathy to the big bosses of their respective leagues.

Each of the country's three principal sports commissioners has his work cut out for him these days: Bud Selig with the furor over Barry Bonds, David Stern with the Tim Donaghy scandal, Roger Goodell with his fight against habitual lawbreakers.

Here are their respective cases. I leave it to the Bleacher Bums to decide which Commish has it worst.

Bud Selig Reverses His Call

After months of waffling, Selig finally announced last week that he'll be in attendance when Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's career home run record.

As MLB Commissioner, Selig has overseen an ongoing investigation into alleged steroid use by many players who would otherwise be locks for the Hall of Fame. While Bud may not have absolute power over the Hall, he should at least have a say in who gets in and who doesn't.

And when the Commish makes his appearance on the night of 756, it should only be to tell Barry that his date with Cooperstown is far from guaranteed.

David's Stern Words

No matter what Charles Barkley says, the Tim Donaghy investigation is a serious problem for the NBA. At least it is according to Stern, whose league has already seen its ratings flag in recent years. 

Stern called Donaghy an isolated rogue who acted alone. That's not much consolation to Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns, who may have been victimized by fraudulent calls in Donaghy's final playoff series.

Donaghy will be sleeping with the fishes when all this is said and done. And don't be surprised if you see Nash and Co. dumping a special package into the Gulf of Mexico.

Roger Fights the Goodell Fight

As if Goodell didn't have enough headaches to deal with courtesy of Tank Johnson and Pacman Jones—now there's Michael Vick's dogfighting indictment.

The Falcons were going to suspend Vick for four games, but the big boss man stepped in and barred Vick from taking part in training camp while the league investigates the matter. My problem: Vick's first offense has people screaming for his head on a platter...but you don't have to be a Duke lacrosse player to know it's never wise to rush to judgment.

Goodell has an uphill climb ahead of him. I applaud him for taking action so quickly—but Roger, you've gotta tell those yahoos at PETA to back off.

Sports are becoming too political, so far as I'm concerned. It's time to get back to basics: time for politicians to focus more on making our country safe and less on taking the fun out of sports.

Either solve all the problems or leave them to the people who get paid to do so.

 

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