The Contented Cow Blog

Building Workplaces That Work

One would have to be living in a cave to have missed the unfortunate goings on in major team sports this past week. The lead article in USA Today’s sports section on Wednesday, 7/25 profiled the commissioners of the NFL, NBA, and MLB, and their current dilemmas with marquis players, and one (hopefully) referee. Et tu Tour de France? This is probably one story soccer doesn’t mind being left out of. Besides, they had a good enough week anyhow, with “David Beckham’s arrival in Los Angeles“.

From a management standpoint, in two of the three aforementioned cases, I’d say that the league commissioners got it exactly right. Both Roger Goodell (NFL) and David Stern (NBA) stepped in quickly, taking action to protect the game, reassure the fan base and the public at large. Though Goodell’s action with the involved player was firm, it was entirely fair. In instructing Mike Vick not to come to practice, he essentially suspended the player (with pay) pending the outcome of the league’s internal investigation. I’d like to see more managers take this approach when something significant has happened, the results could be serious, but the facts aren’t entirely known yet.

Baseball, the remaining sport, isn’t faring as well. That Major League Baseball, aided and abetted by the MLB Players Association has been “looking the other way” for years when it comes to artificially amped players leaves commissioner Bud Selig standing at parade rest while not just one, but every player winds up under a cloud of suspicion. It’s a little like being president of a company and having more than a gnawing feeling in the pit of your stomach that some of your highest producing sales reps are doing some shady deals.

If Mr. Selig wants to enjoy more wonderful afternoons like he had on Sunday, watching two of the games real stars, “Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame“, he’ll hitch up his britches like his two counterparts have done and insist on some real change.

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