Jeremy: Covered in filth...

As a sports fan, July is easily the worst month of the year. The NBA and NHL seasons are over, and NFL and college football training camps don't start until the end of the month. Of course there's soccer, but unless you care about Posh Spice's husband, you'll probably take a pass on the grass fairies. The Tour de France can be exciting to watch... when there's a crash. So the only sport worth watching is baseball, and although I like watching baseball, I wouldn't exactly call watching a game on TV riveting.
But the sporting world has been kind enough to give us some controversy in July. At least it's something to pay attention to, right?
But if you are like me, this July has made being a sports fan even more unbearable than usual, thanks to all of the controversy. As a hard core sports fan it's hard not to feel like you've been kicked in the stomach lately.
I'll start with my beloved Gopher football team. Tim Brewster comes screaming into town just over 6 months ago proclaiming to be the new sheriff in town. Things are going to be different, the attitude is going to be positive, we are going to win. Now 4 of his players, two being incredibly important to the team, have been kicked out of the program for rape charges. If the Wisconsin and Iowa fans that I work with didn't have enough to dig their claws into about the Minnesota football squad, they do now.
Barry Bonds. What can you really say about this that hasn't already been said? Here's my two cents: Did the guy take 'roids? Probably. Is he twice as big now as he was when he started playing the game? Absolutely. But steroids can't make you hit a home run. They can make you stronger, and they can make you hit the ball harder, but I don't believe that they can make you a good hitter, and in order to hit home runs, you have to have talent. If all you needed to be a good long ball hitter was to be big and strong, don't you think Brock Lesnar would be trying to break into the MLB instead ultimate fighting?
On to the NBA. Holy smokes, what a mess. As if it wasn't bad enough for the NBA that it is year-in and year-out the most lopsided league in sports, and already has the most controversy when it comes to officiating and the potential for rigged games, now David (The Don) Stern has to deal with the fact that there is actual evidence that a referee was tampering with point-spreads? The NBA is in trouble folks. Don Stern's league (DSL) already had a major image problem... I don't think that a link to the mob is going to help matters.
Last but not least, Mike Vick. If ever the words sh#@-storm were applicable, this is it. You know, crime is one thing, but if you haven't noticed, people get pretty emotional when it comes to animals, especially dogs. I also heard the other day that Arthur Blank, owner of the Falcons, has two Labradors that are always with him, even when he travels. Having a man like that as your owner when you're caught up in the storm that Vick is in is not going to help your cause. I think Goodell is doing the right thing by keeping Vick out of camp, and it will be very interesting to see what they do now that the trial isn't going to take place until late November.
Now that I've rehashed all of the crap going on in the sporting world, don't you just feel filthy and dirty? Honestly, all of this drives me strait to apathy. People ask me about Bonds, and I just can't make myself care. They ask me about Vick, and all I can say is "he's an idiot." Ask me about the Gophers... "morons." Ask me about NBA refs being in-cahoots with mobsters... "like we didn't see that coming."
And you know what? I don't want to care. I don't want this garbage to overshadow the fact that Vikings training camp started this morning, and the Gophers first game is just 36 days away. I don't want to watch a Timberwolves game this year and assume the ref is crooked. I don't want to wonder if Bonds' record is legit.
But these are the times we live in, I suppose. As much as I don't want any of those things to happen to me, every single one of them will.