Poll on ESPN; Which sport is facing the biggest crisis?

[expendable]

I hate to take a lead from ESPN, but there is a good poll question on the website right now.

Which sport is currently facing the biggest crisis?

NFL -- Dogfighting?
NBA -- Referee misconduct?
MLB -- Steroids?

Steroids is in the lead, but I feel it's the NBA. Can't go fooling around with wins and losses, which is just what the NBA is facing right now. Everything else is either off the field or by players trying to gain a competitive edge and our tolerance of it.

 

[alleyallen]

The NBA cheating has me more concerned than any of the others.

 

[indiansnetwork]

No question this is now the NBA, fixing games is the worst thing that could happen to a sport because fans will not trust the outcome of the sport.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Now it has to be the NBA. It's taking the integreity and honesty of the sport into question. Now who knows which games were thrown that he officiated.

The other stuff is just a black eye. Even steroid don't compare with point shaving and officials betting.

 

[hockeybeat]

Has to be the NBA. Every game Tim Donaghy has officiated is in question, every outcome.

 

[alleyallen]

I know it's a fan opinion and doesn't count for much, but if there were a fix in, don't NBA officials seem much more likely to be involved?

 

[Mmac]

Game-fixing/point shaving issues trump all else on the sports crisis meter. Fans can tolerate thugs and druggie more easily than the perception that the games aren't legit.

 

[poindexter]

Game-fixing/point shaving issues trump all else on the sports crisis meter. Fans can tolerate thugs and druggie more easily than the perception that the games aren't legit.

It's never made a difference in pro wrestling.

Until these athletes are actually f-ing fans' wives or burglarizing their home, nothing will stop most of them from being fans.

 

[Chef]

NBA unquestionably.

 

[Mmac]

Game-fixing/point shaving issues trump all else on the sports crisis meter. Fans can tolerate thugs and druggie more easily than the perception that the games aren't legit.

It's never made a difference in pro wrestling.

Weak analogy. Has pro wrestling ever been percieved by the mainstream public as a legitimate sport? Certainly not in my lifetime. Pro wrestling fans go in with the pre-existing understanding that it's just for drama and not real, so nobody's gonna feel defrauded to learn that its fake. They already knew that.

 

[zimbabwe]

Game-fixing/point shaving issues trump all else on the sports crisis meter. Fans can tolerate thugs and druggie more easily than the perception that the games aren't legit.

It's never made a difference in pro wrestling.

Weak analogy. Has pro wrestling ever been percieved by the mainstream public as a legitimate sport? Certainly not in my lifetime. Pro wrestling fans go in with the pre-existing understanding that it's just for drama and not real, so nobody's gonna feel defrauded to learn that its fake. They already knew that.

The standards for homoerotic performance art should be HIGHER damnit

 

[boots]

It's the NBA without a doubt. Having a ref go down for allegedly fixing games isn't good.

 

[Chuck~Taylor]

I know it's a fan opinion and doesn't count for much, but if there were a fix in, don't NBA officials seem much more likely to be involved?

Umpires and the strike zone, football refs calling bad penalties(holding).....

 

[expendable]

I know it's a fan opinion and doesn't count for much, but if there were a fix in, don't NBA officials seem much more likely to be involved?

Umpires and the strike zone, football refs calling bad penalties(holding).....

I agree Chuck. With television and the small stage of a basketball court, it would seem that basketball would be the hardest to influence. I hope this goes only as deep as the one incident, but I fear it doesn't.

 

[DanOregon]

The NBA - but the crisis is mitigated by the general suckitude of the league's officiating overall.

 

[Oz]

The NFL with Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson and now Michael "Ookie" Vick would be the league more in crisis to me.

The NBA fixing games? No shock there. Remember the Jordan Rules?

 

[amraeder]

I know it's a fan opinion and doesn't count for much, but if there were a fix in, don't NBA officials seem much more likely to be involved?

Umpires and the strike zone, football refs calling bad penalties(holding).....

I agree Chuck. With television and the small stage of a basketball court, it would seem that basketball would be the hardest to influence. I hope this goes only as deep as the one incident, but I fear it doesn't.

The NBA - but the crisis is mitigated by the general suckitude of the league's officiating overall.

That's the thing, though. Terrible refing in the NBA is rampant. That's one of the worst things about watching the NBA (at least in the playoffs, when it actually matters). So now will every bad call be suspect?

 

[PhilaYank36]

The bad behavior in the NFL is, well, pretty bad. But you can solve that put instituting harsh penalties or kick the ungrateful fools right out. But this thing with the NBA referees? This completely undermines the legitimacy of the game. I just hope this is limited to the one referee. If not, we might have something that will rival the Black Sox Scandal, and Mr. Stern, I don't see Babe Ruth walking through that door anytime soon.

Mr. Weaver? Will a Mr. Buck Weaver please pick up the white courtesy phone?

 

[Chuck~Taylor]

The NFL with Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson and now Michael "Ookie" Vick would be the league more in crisis to me.

The NBA fixing games? No shock there. Remember the Jordan Rules?

The NFL will NEVER die. Ever.
You truly think the fans care about what Pacman Jones does in the club? Because they really don't. Fans are gonna come out to see the product. And this product is a very good one.

And of course no one over here on this site is even going to mention baseball in this discussion ::)

 

[Football_Bat]

Another one might be the one (tellingly) not mentioned.

NHL — Indifference.