Summer Daze: Dark Times in the Sports World

Summer 2007.

What did it mean to you?  

Some people will look back at the summer and remember laughter, or the fling that didn't last, or maybe even those dreaded summer classes.

For sports fans, though, Summer 2007 will go down as one of the darkest seasons the sports world has ever seen.

Never has there been a three-month span in which the three major leagues took such drastic hits. There were a few bright spots—Rick Ankiel, Josh Hamilton, healthy pennant races—but they aren't enough to outweigh the issues at hand for the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

The NFL got sideswiped by the Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones, Chris Henry, and Michael Vick cases. Talk about a series of black eyes. 

Of course, the league is trying to distance itself from the troublemakers —but, it won't be able to. These are NFL players. Or in the case of Vick, former NFL players.

Then you have the NBA. The poor, poor NBA. Sure, the league just came off a quasi-successful season in which its poster boy made the Finals—but then there was Tim Donaghy. 

If you're a sports fan, you know the story. All you can do is shake your head and wonder where it will go. Donaghy is planning to release information on other NBA officials—and when the stuff hits the fan, it's hard to imagine how the league will recover.

That sound you hear is David Stern breathing into a brown paper bag.

And then there's baseball. Baseball and steroids. Baseball and Barry Bonds. 

The most sacred record in all of sports fell this summer...and not much was made of it.  That's the biggest problem here: 

The home run record fell. 

And no one cared. 

Because Bonds was the one to do it.  

Gun charges. Drug use. Illegal gambling. Dogfighting. Dog killing. Some more gambling. Steroids. Jail sentences. Suspensions. Lifetime bans.

That is what summer has been about for sports fans. Ignore it and you ignore an important moment in sports history. 

This is a dark time, albeit possibly—hopefully—a short one.

These stories will fade, eventually. Michael Vick will be in jail alongside Tim Donaghy.  Pacman Jones will be getting body-slammed. If we're lucky, Barry Bonds will have retired.

And then what?

Summer 2008 will come around. 

Wait 'til next year, as the old saying goes.