Some of you have probably noticed this semester that I have taken on more responsibility covering sports instead of political opinion. Well, this decision came not without debate for me. “Do sports really have a serious place in the grand scheme of life?” was a question I asked myself.
The late George Plimpton knew quite well that sports had a place in a well-rounded life. Plimpton trained with the Detroit Lions, pitched to Willie Mays and played tennis with George H.W. Bush in his illustrious career.
He was like a modern-day Henry Adams, in that he virtually knew the who’s who of politics, athletics and literature.
I hear from some my readers that they do not read the sports section nor are they interested in them because they believe sports have no value in day-to-day life.
One gentleman even said to me that I should stop covering sports because politics were much more important.
In a democracy, the world of athletics is very important and worthy of study and participation. In fact, many major news events have involved different facets or debacles in sports that we see in government everyday.
Uday and Qusay, Saddam Hussien’s sons, were killed this summer. It is known that they tortured Iraqi Olympic athletes if they failed to win their event.
That’s quite a burden for an athlete to bear, especially if that event is the marathon, for example, in which Kenyans dominate.
Imagine running for 26.2 miles thinking of severe torture awaiting if you do not win against athletes with immense talent who are allowed to train in free societies.
Free societies make for world class athletes and world class screw-ups like Pete Rose.
Rose is being kept out of the Hall of Fame because he gambled on a team that he managed and played for at the same time. Earlier this year, the word was that Bud Selig was going to let him back in baseball despite his gambling mistake. Like Homer’s Odysseus, Rose was lulled by the sirens of monetary pleasure and was wooed off course in his pursuit of a plaque in a small town in upstate New York by the name of Cooperstown.
In a democratic society, Rose must deal with his actions and consequences. Like Newton said, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”
LSU’s big win over Georgia in the SEC championship and Kansas State’s destruction of No. 1 Oklahoma brings the BCS system into question.
Is technology better to make decisions on human events or should man make decisions on human outcomes?
The BCS cannot understand or reason that LSU beat Georgia two times while they were in the top 10, BCS views this as the Bulldogs were really not that good in the first place.
Will technology prove to be fallible and unable to be the great moderator in the new millennium?
Ask Garry Kasparov, the No. 1 chess player in the world, who ended up in a draw against a 3-D computer this November. Kasparov’s reason is up to par with that of a computer, leaving us to wonder, who is really the machine?

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