Taking a quick look at the sports pages of the St. Petersburg Times
Sat. July 5: Marcellus Rivers and Alvin Porter, two former Oklahoma State football players now in the NFL, settle a sexual assault case. Saints lineman Victor Riley is sentenced to two weeks in jail for domestic violence. Southern Miss football signee Anthony Perine is indicted on sexual battery charges involving a 13-year-old girl.
Sun. July 6: Broncos tight end Dwayne Carswell is jailed for allegedly picking up his girlfriend by the neck; twice previously Carswell has been charged with assault and pleaded to a lesser charge.
Mon. July 7: Missouri basketball guard Ricky Clemons, serving a 60-day sentence at a work-release center for beating up a woman and holding her against her will, crashes his all-terrain vehicle at the residence of the university president - while in violation of his work-release agreement.
You get the picture. It's "Athletes Gone Bad."
Is there something defective within the jock culture, or within certain sports (football?), that predisposes such behavior? Do athletes feel exempt from repercussions because of their "status?"
Regardless, these are serious issues that cast a loathsome pall over the games we love. Offenders such as third-time loser Carswell must be punished severely to send the proper message to all.
Tune in for drama, history, pain
Turn on your TV at 9 tonight and flip to the Outdoor Life Network. Do it!
In the quest for compelling athletic competition, you will find nothing more captivating, passionate and downright brutal than the legendary climb of L'Alpe d'Huez in the Tour de France. It is the final climb in today's critical eighth stage, with the last two hours broadcast on tape on OLN (Ch. 74 in Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco; Ch. 80 in Pinellas) from 9 to 11 p.m. (OLN is carrying all but three stages live each morning.)
Turn it on.
Tens of thousands of rabid fans clog fabled L'Alpe d'Huez, congregating unfettered in the road as exhausted cyclists stagger past. The ascent is rated "out of category" because it is so steep. There are 21 snaking switchbacks culminating the 136-mile stage.
Monday, the riders wake up and do it again: a 115-mile stage through the Alps. (The final stage is July 27 in Paris.) This is what sports are all about.
This is a historic Tour, the race's 100th anniversary. Plus, the immortal Lance Armstrong is aiming for a record-tying fifth straight victory.
The drama is amplified in the Alps and Pyrenees, where gobs of time can be gained or lost. It is here, on breathtaking, quad-breaking ascents such as L'Alpe d'Huez, that Armstrong must match key rivals Jan Ullrich and Joseba Beloki.
