Congress’ unhealthy interest in sports

November 30, 2005

I can appreciate the fact that professional sports is a popular, lucrative entertainment industry that captures the attention of most Americans. But the fact that Congress finds it so interesting is a little disconcerting.

In March, for example, the House Government Reform Committee held very high-profile hearings on the use of steroids in major league baseball. This same committee has rejected calls for hearings on issues like the Plame leak, non-existent WMD in Iraq, possibly illegal administration lies about the cost of Bush’s Medicare scheme, and torture in Iraq — you know, things that might fall under the purview of “government reform” — but the committee’s Republican chairman believes baseball deserves the committee’s time and attention.

Yesterday, one Republican senator suggested he’s ready to follow a similar tack, this time regarding a football player.

Sen. Arlen Specter accused the National Football League and the Philadelphia Eagles of treating Terrell Owens unfairly and said he might refer the matter to the antitrust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs.

Specter said at a news conference Monday in Harrisburg it was “vindictive and inappropriate” for the league and the Eagles to forbid the all-pro wide receiver from playing and prevent other teams from talking to him.

“It’s a restraint of trade for them to do that, and the thought crosses my mind, it might be a violation of antitrust laws,” Specter said, though some other legal experts disagreed.

Personally, I don’t know (or care) enough about the Owens situation to have an opinion, but Specter’s committee hasn’t managed to lift a finger to look into a White House criminal scandal that’s already led to one high-profile indictment, among other matters that might spark a hearing or two. In other words, by Specter’s standard, an undercover CIA agent outed by the White House can’t get attention from the Senate Judiciary Committee, but a controversial football player can.

Sports can be a fun diversion, but isn’t it about time Congress got its priorities straight?

I think Owens deserved to be suspended. I also think Specter is crazy to believe this deserves Senatorial attention.

  • Wow. I’m actually a sports fan, albeit not a rabid one, but I couldn’t agree more. What a ridiculous prioritization. It’s embarrasing that Pennsylvania’s US Senator is wasting his time examining the NFL’s treatment of a player in a Pennsylvania team. His constituency should be ashamed of him for wasting the country’s “resources” like this.

  • That’s a very good point about priorities. I wonder sometimes if the Republican congress sticking its nose into private citizens’ business is some kind of intimidation ploy. You never know if you’re next.

  • When I worked in the Executive branch, I recall many, many legislators wanting us to do things via regulation so that they would not have to VOTE on controversial issues.

    My point is that it is EASY for Spector to pontificate about sports, which nobody really cares about while it is WAY more difficult to hold hearings on issues that voters care about!

    When a legislator weighs pontificating about Terrell Owens or Dub’s lies, T.O. carries a whole lot less risk.

  • The AP reports this morning that Specter has backed off on investigating the Eagles.

    WASHINGTON — Sen. Arlen Specter on Tuesday backed off a threat to have a Senate subcommittee investigate whether the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles violated antitrust laws in their handling of Terrell Owens.

    I think his intial reaction was wrong, but at least he came to his senses.

  • I think his intial reaction was wrong, but at least he came to his senses.

    Nah, he was shamed into submission. If he had his way he’d still force the Eagles to let TO breach his contract.

  • Nah, he was shamed into submission
    This is possible. His actual motivation may be impossible to gauge. The important thing is that he didn’t “stay the course”.

  • Professional athletes are obscenely rich celebrities, which means mindless Americans and American politicians (who are all mindless) will always slather adulation over them. I guess one major difference between them and many other obscenely rich people is that they actually have some observable skills. For a few years anyway. No one ever addressed a poem “to a plutocrat dying young”, though I am aware of at least one written to a dead arms manufacturer.

  • It’s another cynical Terry Schiavo moment: the Repubs think they earn points by butting in on the business of one high profile individual…meanwhile they abdicate any general oversight of the Bush administration…I don’t think the press and public are blind to this nonsense any longer…

  • Moral of the story: let Nicolette Sheridan drop a towel for Terrell – she’s a lot easier on the eyes than Arlen Specter, anyway…lol.

  • I love how they wanted to “legislate” how major league sports should penalize steroid use by atheletes. Don’t they know that “market forces” should be allowed to fix the problem. As soon as the public refuses to support a team that wins because of steroid use, it will be taken seriously by the team owners. As long as the public doesn’t care, there’s no incentive to fix it.

    So where exactly is the party that advocates less government intrusion?

  • Arlen Who?

    PR stunt pure and simple. No one would know who this guy is but now he has catapulted his bald head into the spotlight….

  • Well for years sports have been used to distract the common person from politics. Now it seems that it’s used to distract politicans from politics. Brillant! Also cause it’s so high profile your almost guarantees a spot on sports center with you mug up and about a 15-30 sencond report thus getting you out to all the 12-54 year olds in the country.

  • well thank god someone like Specter is there to stand up for the rights of the poor and powerless like T.O.

  • Owens got what he deserved. He disrupted the team (Eagles) for his own ego. It was wrong for him to make a public annoucement criticizing his teammates. I say “good riddence” to him. The Eagles are better off without him.

  • Can Arlen Specter actually experience shame?

    I would think, given his history in Congress, it’s been pretty fairly established that this is an improbability, if not an impossibility.

  • I am an Eagles fan, and originally from PA. You are absolutely right, there ARE many more important things our government should be attending to. But that is the problem, they feed these minor situations through the media to distract the general public from the major issues. Smoke and mirrors all the time, I think it’s time for some transparecny and truth.

    Great post

  • Hi Steve –
    I’m part of a peacegroup http://www.peaceroots.org . A couple of years ago I started a project to post peace billboards around the US promoting peace and working to end the war in Iraq.
    So far we have put up over 100 in 15 states.Being a small, efficient group,we are able to post these for very little (the last run of billboards averaged $270 each including a 12% administrative cost for a 30 day posting) . So I am wondering if you have a non-profit rate to run an ad or if you could donate some ad space to further this project ?
    Thanks – Dave Maize 541-592-6217

    buy this billboard
    (jpeg of billboard)
    http://www.peaceroots.org

  • WTF is Spector’s problem & who advised him this was a good idea? Is this about re-election (gee, wonder why I am so cynical?)…

  • Also, as is typical of senators & the house — much easier to dabble in meaningless minutiae than tackle what really matters to average working people.

  • I’m really tired of Congress wasting their time, and our money on sports. I understand that steroids are a serious issues, but that is for the sport to deal with, we have other problems, Iraq, the economy, fuel prices. With problems like that who gives a crap about sports. By the way, I’m a huge huge sports fan, I would just like to be able to enjoy my sports!

  • ARLEN SPECTER’S VIEWS ON BASEBALL ARE INCONSEQUENTIAL

    Arlen Specter is not to be trusted and goes with whichever side is most beneficial to him. He is an unprincipled traitor who wants to hand over our immigration and border policies to Mexico. We need to wrest control away from such fat-cat elected representatives by voting in strong 3rd party candidates who will actually represent us. That’s the only way to make a real change in this country.

    • Comments are closed.