A Dramatic Summer To Say the Least

For me, summertime is the most boring time of the year when it comes to the sports world, because quite frankly, I can’t get my mind invigorated in the game of baseball.

But since baseball takes over summer like anabolic steroids takes over baseball players, there isn’t much left for me to watch other then poker and bowling.

Not taking anything away from tennis and golf, but what kept me entertained in sports this summer was all the drama that occurred both on and off the playing field in all sports.

It's like MTV came in and said that the sports world needed to spice things up for the slow moving summer.

So the same people who brought you The Hills and Laguna Beach decided to bring a show that would just encompass all the sports world had to offer in the summer of 2009 in one six episode mini series called, Lying, Cheating, Stealing and Killing Dogs…The Life of a Pro Athlete.

Episode 1: Homeless

In the heat of NHL free agency, one story seemed to be recurring day after day.

Dany Heatley demanded to be traded from the Ottawa Senators early in July. Despite the shock felt from Senators GM Bryan Murray, he found an offer for Heatley that would move him to the Edmonton Oilers. The trade failed to go through because Heatley rejected it. Close to two months later Heatley is still searching for a new home, but for now he’s stranded in Ottawa. If I were him, I wouldn’t want to step foot in the Senators' dressing room.

Leaving Heatley nothing, but homeless.

Episode 2: Caught Shooting Up

The Major League Baseball steroid saga has gone from crazy to outlandish. First Roger Clemens then Andy Pettitte, then A-Rod, Manny, and now David Ortiz.

Ortiz was among what is now known as "The list" of over 100 players who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. Thus raising the question again: Who isn’t on steroids?

Episode 3: Cabbie

Just weeks ago Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks was arrested along with his cousin in his hometown of Buffalo, NY after allegedly assaulting a cab driver for 20 cents.

The cab fare was apparently $13.80 and Kane and his cousin handed the driver $15. When the driver only handed them back $1 in change, the two assaulted the driver over the 20-cent difference.

Kane is set to make $875,000 this season with a $2.85 million bonus.

Episode 4: Second Chances

We’ve been waiting for almost two years to see if a team would give Michael Vick a chance, after he was released from prison for upholding a dog-fighting ring within his own home.

Well despite what the dog lovers of Philadelphia may think, the Eagles have taken a chance on Vick signing him to be the backup for quarterback Donovan McNabb. Time will tell if Vick still has the jaw dropping speed and agility that once made him an elite NFL quarterback.

Episode 5: Back yet Again

After all the speculation, Brett Favre has once again decided to stick around the NFL for another season, this time with the Minnesota Vikings. I personally think it's enough already, hasn’t the guy tarnished his legacy enough?

Episode 6: He She

To close out the summer of scandals, my personal favorite, is Caster Semanya: man or woman?

Semanya won the gold medal for South Africa in the women's 800 meter at the World Athletic Championships in Berlin on Aug. 19. But her deep voice and manly build left people asking whether she was actually a woman, literally. Semanya is now being tested by a team of doctors to figure out if shes really a woman.

There were other dramatic moments this summer like San Jose Sharks Patrick Marleau’s captaincy being stripped, and Michael Beasley of the Miami Heat checking into a rehab center, however, the show writers didn’t have enough room to mention everything in the six episode arc that MTV gave the mini series.

The sad part about all this summer drama is the real sports action falls by the waste side, and their were some fantastic moments this summer. Y.E Yang became the first Asian born male golfer to win a major title defeating Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship, Roger Federer and Andy Roddick relinquished their rivalry in one of the most epic Wimbledon finals ever, and Usain Bolt broke yet another world record. 

Forget Semanya somebody should test him, because there is no way Bolt is human.