Media and Integrity in Sports

Sports, unlike most other aspects of life, offers an objective resolve to determine who is the best. Without this, sports would be boring and would result in a popularity contest to determine who is better.

However, the integrity in sports has taken a drastic hit, ranging from steroids in Major League Baseball, the Tim Donaghy match-fixing scandal in the NBA, to the New England Patriots in the NFL, even with Juventus relegation from the Italian Serie A.

I think that part of this has to do with the ever-increasing media coverage of our favorite sports teams and their players, covering both the good and the bad.

Before this era of extreme media coverage in sports, fans may have been unaware of what really happened behind closed doors. A few years back, Kobe Bryant was vilified for cheating on his wife, while both Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson did the same, yet they were perceived by the media as role models.

I think the rise of media coverage in sports has been both bad and good. On one hand, everything is magnified by the media, leaving very little knowledge unknown. With this vast wealth of knowledge, sports will be examined even closer than before and in turn would make any cheating in the sport extremely difficult to get away with. In this perspective, sports today offer a fairer playing ground than before.

Another goal of sports in general is to give hope. In today's world of sports, gone are the days of the fairy tale teams or the "perfect" athletes who could do no wrong. Our perception of athletes changes daily in this age of sports. One day, Michael Phelps is an Olympic hero, the next he is an irresponsible pothead.

Charles Barkley once said athletes should not be considered role models. His statements have become even more true as time has gone by. Athletes no longer are are better citizens because of what they can do with a ball. Instead, they are normal just like us, making the same mistakes we make.

We are currently living in a time where everything is brought to light. Instead of looking at the past, we should be thankful for all the information given to us, for it will lead to fairer results in sports.

That after all, is what sports should be about, determining who is legitimately the best.