The "state of sports" was examined on CNN's "Larry King
Live," with guests Leigh Steinberg, Charles Barkley, Mike
Lupica, Frank Gifford and Bob Costas. Lupica: "We've lost
our way in sports. ... we do have a value problem in sports,
and one of the reasons that people were so quick to judge
Erik Williams and Michael Irvin, is because we have come to
believe and expect the worst from these guys." Barkley: "We
are all losing. ... Players look at it as mainly business
and the owners have always looked at it as business. And I
think that we are all guilty." Costas: "It is harder to
feel affection for sports and a real connection to sports,
harder than it used to be when we were kids. ... When you've
got to pay the outrageous ticket prices that exist now, and
then personal seat licenses on top of it in some cases, and
when more and more of the games are going to cable TV or
even to pay TV, you're creating almost an aristocracy among
sports fans and you're pushing the little guy, who used to
really identify with sports, you're pushing him out of the
way, and something important is lost." Steinberg: "Today we
have a sports page that reads like the crime beat section,
and every single drunk driving [and] domestic violence case
is pushed into the face of fans and it doesn't represent the
typical life of fifteen hundred players in the National
Football League or Major League Baseball" (CNN, 1/15).
