This Week in Sports

Written By: Jamie Lazaroff
Edited By: Bob Lazzari

Hello, my name is Jamie Lazaroff and welcome to my first sports column. I'm a HUGE sports fan who happens to have a disability. I like all sports and truly have very strong opinions regarding most of them. My column will not focus solely on sports participants with disabilities; I will also offer my views about the various sports issues of the week. However, I will spotlight one disabled individual each week in this column.

Where do I even START this week? We have the NBA referee betting scandal and QB Michael Vick being indicted on federal charges regarding his role in a dog-fighting ring. We also have Barry Bonds' ongoing pursuit of the all-time home run record and whether or not Hank Aaron and/or commissioner Bud Selig should be in attendance. Finally, there is the Tour de France doping scandal on the sports page.

*The referee betting scandal is a black eye to a once-proud NBA, but this is not surprising. I can clearly see how the games can be fixed. In fact, we have had game-fixing scandals in college basketball for years; Boston College had one just a few years ago. I have attended many high school, college, and pro women's games over the years and seeing them up close gives me the impression that it can be VERY easy to fix a game. What surprises me is how long it took for this to affect the NBA, but with many younger players in the league right now (along with big money), this was bound to happen.

*The Michael Vick saga is very sad. I'm not the biggest animal lover but I do have a soft side for dogs. I think the Atlanta Falcons and the NFL did the right thing keeping Vick away from training camp. At this point, I don't think he should be allowed to play any football this season; his trial may get underway during the season and it would prove to be a major distraction to the team and the league in general.

*As far as Bonds is concerned, he has not been indicted by the grand jury yet. Whether you like him or not (I don't), Bonds should be respected for breaking one of sports most hallowed records; I think Bud Selig--not necessarily Aaron-- should be there to see him break it. In this country, you ARE innocent until proven guilty and the jury is still out on if he used steroids or not. All we have to go on at this point are two books--one written by a former teammate.

*I'm not even touching the Tour de France; it just has too many problems. I don't think cycling can be fixed. But it is a difficult sport and it's hard to believe that these athletes can cycle for days in mountains without having something foreign in their bodies. The human body is not built to take the physical punishment of two or three weeks on a bicycle.

*As I stated in the beginning, I'd like to spotlight one athlete with a disability each week. This week, the spotlight is on Oscar Pistorius--a double amputee, track and field world record-holder from South Africa. You see, he's been in the news because he has a dream: he wishes to run the 400 meters in the Olympics at Beijing next year. As a double amputee, his running prosthetics are j-shaped, carbon fiber blades. The problem here is that the world governing body believes that his curved, tapered prosthetics give him an unfair advantage over the competition. But in Oscar's first race against very able-bodied athletes, Oscar was well off the pace in wet conditions. Currently, he IS cooperating with the IAAF on future research. I believe Oscar can get better and compete with the world's best. I'm not sure if his prosthetics give him an advantage or not, but I will let you know the research findings in the fall.

That is my take, I'd like to hear yours.

Jamie Lazaroff