Sports Scandals

by Laura Finley; Jeffrey J. Fountain Peter Finley

  Steinbrenner likely underestimated Vincent when he went into the hearings and attempted to use patronizing tactics and flattery to control the proceedings. For example, Steinbrenner said to Vincent, ''I think you know how I feel about you, and maybe I should have sought advice and come to you as a friend.'' To this, Vincent curtly replied, ''Not as a friend. As commissioner.''34

  Through these types of exchanges, Vincent concluded that Steinbrenner did not ''appreciate the gravity of his conduct.''35

  In the decision, which both Vincent and Steinbrenner agreed to, the owner was allowed to maintain a partial ownership of the team (reduced to below 50 percent), but he was not to have a part in the management or day-to-day operations of the club. At the time, Steinbrenner said he had agreed to and accepted the arrangement and would not apply for reinstatement after a year, as the league rules allowed, nor would he mount a legal challenge against the decision. In fact, Steinbrenner went so far as to say, ''I'm very happy it was resolved. I'm very satisfled with the resolution.''36

  One day after being ousted, Steinbrenner named his son, Hank Steinbrenner, as his successor, under strict guidelines that the father not confer, consult, advise, or communicate, directly or indirectly, with the son or any other Yankees officials on matters regarding the management of the team. Naturally, this begged the question of how such a mandate could be enforced. The Yankees had to submit in writing (every six months to the American League president) that no such interference occurred. Anyone caught violating the terms of the agreement faced a ban from baseball.

  The banishment of George Steinbrenner was short lived. By 1991 he wanted back in. Vincent said he would not even consider the matter as long as three lawsuits filed against the commissioner and Major League Baseball were active. Not surprisingly, the suits began to drop away. The timing of Steinbrenner seeking readmission was likely not a coincidence. Just prior, Howard Spira had been convicted of trying to extort $110,000 from Steinbrenner and was sentenced to twenty-two months in prison.

  A mere thirty months after he was exiled, Steinbrenner was allowed to return to Major League Baseball. The owner who had changed managers eighteen times immediately voiced support for the current manager, Buck Showalter, and other front office employees. Showalter remained as manager for several seasons before being forced out in favor of Joe Torre. Steinbrenner's return to the stadium was frantic as he tried to navigate a throng of fans. As one reporter wrote, ''Steinbrenner was hailed like a conquering war hero, not a man who was suspended from baseball.''37 Such was the crush of reporters that it took him over an hour to move one hundred yards from the entrance gate to the playing field. He responded to the attention by saying, ''I knew there would be a lot of attention.

  It makes me feel good. I'd rather get shoved around a little bit than not have anyone here.''38 Perhaps the best indicator of the impact of this case can be seen in the references made to it on the all-time most popular sitcom, Seinfeld.

  JACKIE SHERRILL VERSUS THE BULL

  As a head football coach, Jackie Sherrill could win games. After an unsuccessful year at Washington State, Sherrill was 50-9-1 at Pittsburgh, including three consecutive 11-1 seasons, from 1977 to 1981. Then he was 52-28-1 at Texas A&M from 1982 to 1988 before departing under a cloud of suspicion that led to two years of NCAA probation for the school for, among other issues, unethical conduct and lack of institutional control.

  As Sherrill began anew at Mississippi State after a few years away from coaching, perhaps he was looking for some extra motivation to help his players turn around the moribund program. After a 7-5 debut for Sherrill in 1991, the team sought to open the 1992 season on a high note, but faced the perennial power Texas Longhorns, ranked thirteenth in the country prior to the September 5 game. According to columnist William C. Rhoden, ''Sherrill apparently became dismayed because his team did not know the difference between a bull and a steer.''39 So, he decided to have a bull castrated in front of his team, right there on the Mississippi State practice field. Apparently this was intended as a metaphor-that his team would castrate the Longhorns on the following Saturday. Asked how this was intended to motivate his players, the coach answered, ''That's everybody's different perception.''40 It seemed that not everyone found the motivational tool to be useful or appropriate. Within days a complaint was filed with the state chapter of the Animal Rescue League. The Mississippi State University president, Donald Zacharias, said the act was ''inappropriate and contrary to the educational ideals'' of the university. At a weekly news conference, Coach Sherrill said, ''If this incident was in any way not perceived as proper by those who love Mississippi State, then I apologize.''41 For the MSU faithful, the apology was probably not necessary. They were thrilled their team had upset Texas by a score of 28-10.

  Bill Conlon, a regular on ESPN's The Sports Reporters (a popular show at the time), suggested Mississippi State fans consider a new cheer: ''2-4-6-8 …

  who we gonna castrate?''42 Perhaps this case was important only for how bizarre it was, as the authors are unaware of other coaches dismembering live animals as a motivational tactic. We have, however, heard of other nefarious plots to fire up a team, even at the high school level, so it's possible Sherrill proved to be a role model for some, however unsavory.

  MAHMOUD ABDUL-RAUF WON'T STAND FOR NATIONAL ANTHEM

  Denver Nuggets player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf caused a national stir during the 1995-96 National Basketball Association season when he cited his religious conviction as precluding him from standing for the national anthem before any of the season's first sixty games. Born Chris Jackson, he changed his name in 1993 as a reflection of his conversion to the Islamic faith. His new name means, ''elegant and praiseworthy; most merciful, most kind,'' which is fitting for a man who said that he ''was never a head case, never known to be a hassle, boastful or impolite.''43 He acknowledged that the perception of him changed through the controversy, with fans seeing him as a villain. Prior to the controversy, Abdul-Rauf was best known for his ongoing battle to overcome Tourette syndrome, which causes uncontrollable tics, body movements, and involuntary speech.

  Abdul-Rauf would stay in the tunnel or stretch during the national anthem. The firestorm began when he was asked to explain his beliefs and he

  responded that the flag is ''a symbol of oppression, of tyranny.''44 He was suspended by the league for violating a rule calling for players to stand in a dignifled posture during the anthem. After missing one game and having his pay docked $31,707, the player and league reached a compromise. Abdul-Rauf would stand for the anthem and would engage himself in personal prayer.

  When asked if he was standing for the anthem, he explained that he was ''not standing for it, I'm standing while it's being played.''45

  Sports fans learned more about Islam as a result of the controversy, which led many to wonder whether there was a negative effect on his play due to his observance of the holy month of Ramadan, during which he fasted from sunrise to sundown for thirty days late in the NBA season. Abdul-Rauf became a lightning rod for fans and commentators who felt his choice was an affront to the American flag. Controversy increased as other professional athletes were asked to comment. Professional golfer Mike Sullivan fueled the fire when he said, ''I don't think they should suspend him. I think they should shoot him.''46

  After compromising with the league, Abdul-Rauf returned to action on the road against the Chicago Bulls and was booed every time he touched the ball.

  He had a solid game in spite of the distraction, scoring nineteen points in only twenty-one minutes. One fan yelled a racial obscenity at him as he left the court. He was visibly supported by his teammates, several of whom hugged and patted him at the end of the anthem. Following the season, the Nuggets traded him to the Sacramento Kings. The controversy followed him to Sacramento, as fans continued to taunt him. On one occasion he was woken in the middle of the night when a man telephoned to sing the national anthem at him.

  Abdul-Rauf 's interpretation of his faith was not universa
lly shared by Muslims. Mohamed Jodeh, president of the Colorado Muslim Association, stressed that the Islamic faith does not prohibit people from standing for the national anthem. ''There's no conflict between standing for the anthem and Islamic thinking,'' he said.47

  After missing the last three months of the 1997-98 NBA season with illness and injury, Abdul-Rauf went to Turkey to finish his basketball career.

  BOMBING OF ATLANTA OLYMPICS-RICHARD JEWELL WRONGLY ACCUSED

  Atlanta's dream Olympiad was forever marred when a bomb exploded on July 17, 1996, during the Centennial Olympic Games. After the explosion at Olympic Park, Richard Jewell, the security guard who had spotted the bag containing the bomb and moved people away, was hailed as an overnight international hero. Just as quickly, when it was leaked that he had been questioned as a suspect, he became the target of a reckless and vicious media witch hunt.

  The pipe bomb, filled with nails, detonated at the park that served as an area for meeting and celebrating throughout the Olympics. It killed one person and injured 111 others. The tragedy would have been far worse had Jewell not acted as he was trained, rapidly evacuating the area after identifying the threat. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first carried the story that he was a suspect and the media frenzy began. Jewell was labeled as an attention seeker who planted the bomb himself and used it as an opportunity to play the role of hero. Newspapers called him ''a simpleton security guard, a failed cop from Bumpkinville, a roly-poly loser, a beefy nobody,''48 and ''the village Rambo.''49 Columnists made up names for Jewell, such as ''Una-Bubba,'' as they suggested ''his arrest was imminent; the noose was tightening around his neck.''50 One forensic psychologist even said that Jewell ''sounds like someone who craves excitement the way an arsonist does.''51

  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution cited unnamed law enforcement sources in its front page article that said Jewell ''fits the profile of a lone bomber.''52

  Media around the world carried images of the FBI carrying bags, presumed to be evidence, out of Jewell's home. In an attempt to get Jewell to give up his rights to an attorney, the FBI tried to trick him into participating in a video about responding to bomb scenes. Then, eighty-eight days after beginning the pursuit of Jewell as a suspect, the FBI cleared him of any wrongdoing. Jewell launched a wave of legal action against a variety of media outlets for libel. He secured settlements from NBC, CNN, the New York Post, and ABC. He also reached a settlement with his former employer, Piedmont College.

  After he was named as a suspect, the president of the college had described him as ''erratic,'' an officer who wrote ''epic police reports for minor infractions,''53 and a ''badge-wearing zealot'' who should be investigated.54 Settlements ranged from a reported $5,000 with ABC to $500,000 from NBC for remarks made by Tom Brokaw.

  When Jewell's lawyer was asked if Jewell would lose public sympathy by pursuing lawsuits, he responded, ''The working people of this country don't have any problem at all with Richard Jewell taking down these damned big shots for what the hell they did to him.''55 Jewell also sued the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Among the evidence against the paper were taped depositions in which four of the copy editors said they had problems with the story and had alerted superiors about potential libel issues. Jewell faced an uphill battle in the suit when a court ruled that he was a public figure after he was hailed as a hero, meaning he would have to show the paper not only published a falsehood, but also acted with actual malice, meaning the publishers knew the information was false or acted with a reckless disregard for the truth.

  The Olympic Park bombing was actually committed by Eric Rudolph, a white supremacist, backwoods survivalist. He had been in the U.S. military, but had dropped out of the Army Special Forces when he became disturbed by the number of minority soldiers he had to spend time with. Rudolph committed a string of bombings in the Atlanta area, including a 1997 abortion clinic attack and another a month later at a lesbian nightclub. In 1998 he bombed another abortion clinic, this time in Alabama, killing an off-duty police officer and maiming a nurse. Rudolph disappeared into the mountainous backwoods of North Carolina after fleeing from his home in the small town of Murphy. He managed to elude capture for over five years, living in the hills of Appalachia. He was on the FBI Top Ten Most Wanted list and had a $1 million bounty on his head. Finally, in 2003, a rookie policeman in Murphy made a routine arrest of a man loitering around the trash bins behind a supermarket; the disheveled man was Rudolph. He had been hiding in the area for years with the help of sympathetic locals who supported his antiabortion position. Rudolph pleaded guilty in 2005 to committing four bombings in a deal that spared him the death penalty but ensured he would never be released from a maximum-security prison. Jewell was among the people in the Atlanta courtroom when the plea was entered. He sought to bring closure to his own experience and to support the victims and their families.

  On the tenth anniversary of the Olympic Park bombing, at a ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia, governor Sonny Perdue set the record straight regarding Richard Jewell. ''His actions saved lives that day. He did what he was trained to do. Mr. Jewell, on behalf of the people of Georgia, we want to thank you for keeping Georgians safe and doing your job during the course of those games,'' he said.56 Jewell responded, ''I never sought to be a hero. I have always viewed myself as just one of many trained professionals who simply did his job that tragic night. I wish I could have done more.''57

  In August 2007, at the age of 44, Jewell passed away in his home. He had been suffering from failing health and was on medical leave from work. He had spent the previous three years working as a deputy sheriff for the Meriwether County Sheriff 's Department. After the Olympic Park bombing fiasco was behind him, he worked for several small-town police departments. He never talked about being accused of the bombing unless he was prompted about it, according to friends and coworkers. At the time of Jewell's death, his lawsuit against the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was still unresolved.

  UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT HOCKEY CANCELLED AFTER HAZING INCIDENT

  University of Vermont (UVM) president Judith Ramaley imposed the death penalty on her own university's hockey team in January 2000 after hazing among team members came to light. The atrocious acts against walk-on goalie Corey La Tulippe and other freshmen players in fall 1999 included performing the ''elephant walk,'' in which the players paraded naked while holding each other's genitals. The severe sanction was intended to deter athletes, both at UVM as well as across the country, from future acts of hazing, which was already a hot topic in athletics.

  Coach Mike Gilligan, a sixteen-year veteran at the school, announced the remainder of the season would be cancelled on January 14, 2000. The Division I team, competing in the Eastern College Athletic Conference, had fifteen games left on its schedule. The decision to cancel the season was shocking, as hockey is to Burlington what football is to Lincoln, Nebraska. In the fall, the team held an initiation party at which nine freshmen recruits were told to perform the elephant walk and to drink excessively, and most were in a drunken stupor by the end of the evening. La Tulippe first reported the incident, claim ing that among other things the freshmen were told to do push-ups while dipping their genitals into glasses of beer. They were then told to drink the beer.

  He claimed another freshman had been blindfolded and fondled by strippers while the older players watched and laughed.

  Not only was the team punished for hazing, but also for stonewalling the university's internal investigation. ''It looks like everybody has lied,'' Gilligan told the players.58 As news about the hazing incident broke, members of the faculty expressed concern about how the university would punish the students who were involved. ''This is a state that has always turned a blind eye to what the ice hockey team has done,'' said Jean Richardson, an associate professor of environmental studies and president of the university's faculty senate.59 In the weeks that followed the cancellation of the hockey season, Gilligan refused to resign, despite pressure to do so. He also met individually with the players
and spoke with their families. He brought in counselors to help the team work through their anger and frustration, and, to the surprise of many, he urged the university to maintain the players' scholarships. The Cats also held informal practices throughout the cancelled part of the season.

  Long-time athletic director Rick Farham cautioned all student-athletes about the dangers of hazing. ''Doing things like stupid racism, dressing up in goofy clothes, whatever it is. You wouldn't think college students would be doing stuff like that. And I know, from talking with other coaches, administrators and students from other colleges, that it's just not UVM. What appears to be fun and games for 15 minutes can turn into a travesty.''60 Throughout the entire scandal and aftermath, Gilligan maintained he knew nothing about the party or any hazing. Farham also defended Gilligan, maintaining there is no way the coach would have encouraged his athletes to haze each other.

  An investigation by university officials acknowledged that certain officials were not forthcoming with information even after campus police inquired about rumors that hazing had occurred. During the investigation, La Tulippe was interrogated about his involvement in the incident and asked about accusations that he had urinated on a teammate in the shower in high school, as well as exposed a swollen and bruised testicle to women. He allegedly did not dispute those claims, although it is difficult to see their relevance to the hazing situation.

  Many members of the team completed various community service projects during the summer following the cancelled season, to the satisfaction of some Burlington residents and to the dismay of others. Of the twenty-one players from the 1999-2000 roster, eighteen returned to play for the team in 2000-2001. Players felt as though the incident had received enough attention. Jerry Gernander commented, ''What happened is something I wouldn't wish on anyone, but we served the time. And now it's our turn to shine on the ice.''61 Evidently UVM hockey fans were quick to forgive, as the team received a two minute standing ovation before it even took the ice for its first game back.