Integrity in Professional Sports

[Dakota]

I am NOT talking about the personal integrity of individual players (i.e. the "role model" issue). Instead, I'm talking about the integrity of the sport as a sport.

NFL: Did the Patriots cheat to win the Super Bowl with illegal video taping? Did they cheat to win other games with illegal video taping? Why did the commissioner engage in an obvious cover up by destroying the evidence? Does the commissioner's cover up taint the integrity of the NFL going forward?

MLB: Did the pretend commissioner conspire to look the other way while the integrity of the sport's most hallowed records were tainted with 'riod-juicing players as a way to re-generate fan interest after the strike year? Does this taint the integrity of MLB going forward?

NBA: Will there be a full investigation into the accusation of the fix being in on playoff games or will it be white washed by a commissioner who already knows the answer? Regardless of the official outcome of this, has the integrity of the NBA been tainted going forward by these accusations and by the actions of Tim Donaghy?

I don't know how many of you are fans of professional sports (I am a MLB fan; not so much the others), but, personally, I am very disturbed by the trend here.

The NBA, in particular, seems to be morphing into the Harlem Globetrotters (only using stereotypical Harlem players) vs the Washington Generals times 15. No one believes that the record of 13,000 and 6 between the Globetrotters and the Generals has any legitimacy at all. And, no one expects professional wresting to have any integrity as a sport. Yet people still buy tickets and watch for the entertainment in both cases.

Is that where big money professional sports is heading?