Olympic overhaul

U.S. needs honorable executive leadership for the Games

Naming the most pathetically inept sports entity in the United States may not be easy. The Cincinnati Bengals, some fans would immediately shout. No, others would cry out, the Los Angeles Clippers exhibit the kind of sustained failure that is tough to beat. And I shan't be cruel enough to mention the many colleges that give special meaning to the word "loser."

Still, when it comes to unadulterated incompetence in sports, it's difficult not to put your United States Olympic Committee at the top of any list of challengers. To call your USOC a laughingstock simply does not do justice to banana republics, Keystone Kops or Arthur Andersen.

Your USOC executive committee will be meeting next week to consider the case of Lloyd Ward, its chief executive, who allegedly tried to steer a $4.6 million business deal to a company in which his brother was employed.

Here we go again. Last year it was the USOC president, Sandra Baldwin, who was trapped in her own ethical mess. (She resigned after lying about her academic credentials on her resume.) Alas, there are all too often conflicts of interest and skeletons in the closet, both with your USOC presidents and your USOC executive executives. Ward is just part of a grand tradition.

He also, by the way, is a member of Augusta National. Of course, America's Olympic leader says he's doing nothing wrong by retaining his membership to a club that discriminates against half the people he represents.

It's not just that Ward has to "do the right thing," as Baldwin was bold enough to say when she stepped down after having been found out. It's time that, somehow, more honorable and capable people were attracted to our Olympic organization, who could then bring in top-drawer executives. As we know only too well, the International Olympic Committee is peopled by a great many knuckleheads and scoundrels, but even that suspect body is appalled at the third-raters the world's superpower presents as its Olympic elite. We're patsies; we produce no leaders in international sport.

To some extent it's ironic because America has the most magnificent tradition of volunteerism. Many of the best Americans give their time to schools and hospitals and other health and social charities. Unfortunately, the Olympics and too many other amateur sports organizations often get the leftovers, cheerleaders who like to show up at games wearing blazers. Sneer all you want at owners and agents for being heartless, but, hey, an awful lot of them are competent. Your Olympic association is run by blundering mediocrities. The reason we do so well in Olympic competition is that we are so big and rich that even we can't screw up all the games. The reason we are awarded so many Olympics is that the IOC uses us to help pay the bills. We're a chump country.

After your USOC executive committee dispatches your current USOC chief executive it ought to start the process of ridding us of itself. The only Olympic movement you need is a complete turnover of your USOC. We need fresh blood running our Olympics, ladies and gentlemen who have the same degree of talent as our athletes.

Of course, by now, who with any brains or dignity would want to be associated with such a nincompoop organization?

Sports Illustrated senior contributing writer Frank Deford is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com and appears each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. He is a longtime correspondent for HBO's Real Sports and his new novel, An American Summer (Sourcebooks Trade), is available now at bookstores everywhere.

To read Frank Deford's take on Lefty Driesell's career, pick up the Jan. 13 issue of Sports Illustrated.

 

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