sports // 18

Backing up

» Lions’ guarantee was the right move

= . ays
% Eric Wilkins
Assistant Editor
i M assistant
%., |, , @theotherpress.ca

few weeks ago the BC Lions
ost to the Saskatchewan

Roughriders. Team owner David

Braley could likely have been

found screaming into a pillow as
he beat his head against the wall :

following the game. Though
such actions of despair could be
attributed to his wholehearted
devotion to the team—-since his
other club, the ArgoNots, aren’t
doing so well—the real cause
was likely the thousands upon
thousands of dollars in lost
revenue. A few days prior to the
game, team president and CEO
Dennis Skulsky had guaranteed
a win. The consequence of
losing? A free ticket to a future
home game for every fan in the
stands.

Thirty-three thousand
one hundred ninety six people
were in the crowd on August
24. Even at the minimum ticket
price of $33.57, that represents
$1,114,389 in lost ticket sales. It’s
unlikely that such an expense
was budgeted for in the off-
season. The flak the Lions
and Skulsky have received in
response is nothing short of
remarkable. Everything from
gleeful watermelon heads (the
equivalent of Toronto Maple
Leafs’ fans in Vancouver)

: rejoicing that insult has been
: added to injury, to proud

: orange supporters expressing
: their embarrassment that the
: club could put itself in such a
: situation.

But at the end of the day,

: Skulsky should be praised, not
: belittled, for his decision to

: makea bold public statement.
: Outspoken athletes are known
to make guarantees or at least

 

: trash talk on the daily. Do they
: ever back up their statements

: with anything of value? No.

: If they come up short, as they
often do, they brush it off with
: some clichéd and practiced

theotherpress.ca

: line and quickly move on.

: Skulsky didn’t have to say fans

: would get free tickets. He could
: have just as easily guaranteed
|} awinand promised nothing

| } more than an embarrassed

_ | smile as collateral and no one

: would have said boo. Skulsky’s
: guarantee wasn't unprompted,

: either. The Roughriders had

: purchased a billboard outside

: BC Place that read “Green is the
: new Orange.”

For their part, the

_ } organization with the wildest
? fans in the league wasn’t
: showing the Lions any special
: treatment with the billboard
: as they’ve put them up in
: several other CFL cities as well.
: Gregg Sauter, the Riders’ vice-
: president of marketing says
: that the advertisements are
: there “just to give a shout-out
: to our fans” and to “create some
_ } awareness,” but it hardly seems
: necessary to involve a shot at
: opposing clubs to boost the
b : profile of your own if “creating
? some awareness” was really all
: Saskatchewan was aiming to

do.

Even in hindsight, Skulsky

: should still have made the

: guarantee. Failing to do so

~ + would have shown a lack of

: faith in his own team, and

: that—as any true sports fan

: knows—is infinitely worse than
: any financial hiccup. Especially
: against the damned Riders.

 

A lifetime sentence

» At what point does a ban span too long?

Natalie Serafini
B, Editor-in-Chief
Py) © editor

Fs @theotherpress.ca

  

pe Rose didn’t smell
quite as sweet after being
accused of gambling in
sports—and the stench has
followed him for 25 years. Rose
was banned from baseball in
what has been lauded one of
the most controversial bans
in the league. Recently, many
have been writing about the
astounding length of Rose’s
ban, questioning whether
the baseball great should be
reinstated and recognized
for his more upstanding
achievements.

For those who don't
know, back in 1989, an
investigation revealed that
Rose had gambled extensively,
including betting on his

: team. Commissioner Bartlett
: Giamatti clarified in a

: statement that, “One of the

: game’s greatest players has

: engaged in a variety of acts

: which have stained the game,
: and he must now live with the
: consequences of those acts.”

The Dowd Report,

: compiled by lawyer John M.

: Dowd, showed that Rose lost

: more than $67,000 ina single
: month, and at one point owed
: $200,000 to a bookie.

For years, the banned

: baller maintained his

: innocence—despite not

: fighting the charges—until an
: admission in 2004. He said,

: “You don’t think you're going

: to get caught. I think what

: happens is you're, at the time,

: you're betting football and

: then, then what’s after football
: is basketball and obviously

: the next thing that follows is

: baseball. It’s just a pattern that

: you got into.”

Ok, so Rose denied any

: culpability for a long time,

: not really acknowledging the

: charges for 15 years. It’s now

: been 25 years, during which

: time he’s accepted his ban

: and confessed to what he

: did. I know he hasn't died

: yet, allowing for his ban to

: end following the lifetime

: “regulations,” but bro is now 73
: years old—can't we allow him

: to be reinstated as the great he
: was before he keels over?

Put the ban he’s served

thus far in perspective: in

: Canada, even people who've

: been convicted of first-degree
: murder are eligible for parole

: after serving 25 years of their

: sentence. Granted, Rose could
: have asked to be reinstated one
: year after his ban; he chose to
: postpone applying until ‘92

: and ‘g7. While that possibility
: for “parole” marginally

: lessens the harshness of

: Rose’s sentence, how is he

: still banned? The fact that I’m

: comparing his ban to a lifetime
: sentence of first-degree

: murder should be astounding,

: but the situations are far too

: analogous.

: Rose is also being punished :
: for something that most would :
: term an addiction, particularly
: given the overwhelming debt

: that he got himself into. There
: haven't been many lifetime

: bans in baseball related to

: addiction since then, apart

: from Steven Howe in ’92—and
: an arbiter reinstated Howe not
: long after his ban.

The whole “lifetime

ban” punishment in baseball
; seems woefully arbitrary

: and erratic: Willie Mays and
: Mickey Mantle were both
banned, although they were
: already retired, for accepting
: payment to sign autographs

: ata casino; meanwhile,

: Marge Schott was banned for

: discriminating against African-
: Americans, Jews, Asians, and

: homosexuals, as well as being

: a Nazi-sympathizer—she was

: reinstated two years after her

: ban.

Maybe I’m ludicrous for
suggesting that an addiction

: to gambling doesn’t bring the

: Major Leagues into as much

: disrepute as sympathizing with
: Hitler does. Regardless of logic
: (or lack thereof), how about we
: refer to sympathy and respect

: in this situation? Pete Rose

: was a great baseball player,

: breaking multiple records

: in his long career; he’s also

: lost plenty as a result of his

: addiction to gambling. I don’t

: really care if he was blatantly

: disregarding rules, or didn’t

: acknowledge his culpability for
: several years. He’s had enough
: punishment—let’s ban the ban.