The Arena Football League mothballed itself for a season. The most-successful franchise in the WNBA, the Houston Comets, folded. NFL commish Roger Goodell took a pay cut of around 20 percent and laid off at least 150 workers for the league. And Mr. RBI, Manny Ramirez, got less than he's worth in free agency.Yes, these are tough times for sports. But this may truly sum up the impact of the worldwide recession on sports.
Romain Mesnil, the pole vault silver medalist at the 2007 Athletics World Championships, has taken to jogging through the streets of Paris with little else than his pole -- um, the fiberglass one -- in an attempt to replace sponsorship money he's lost in the economic downturn. Nike didn't renew his contract, he said on his Web site.
"It was probably for budgetary and strategic reasons," he wrote. "It's the crisis."
So bad, he's lost more than his shirt.
Kevin B. Blackistone is a panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, the Shirley Povich Chair in Sports Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, and a former award-winning sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News. He currently lives in Silver Spring, Md.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-31-2009 @ 9:23PM
spiff245 said...
did you seriously compare an entire team folding and non player nfl employees being laid off in the same paragraph that you lament manny ramirez getting "less than hes worth"? you realize the people working for the comets and the nfl employees who lost their jobs probably don't make as much combined as Manny will make this year, right? stop being stupid!
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3-31-2009 @ 11:09PM
bobbyglee said...
Well said Spiff what an assinine article. Did he just say Manny Ramirez got less than what he wanted in free agency? He got over 24 million. Thats harldy a sign of these tough economic times. Did Blackstone really have to qualify that were in tough economic times in comparing a pole vaulter running nake to the nfl or Manny Ramirez. What worthless 2nd grade drivel. Terrible job. Im not even sure I understand exaclty what the pole vaulter did thanks to Blackstones butchering. How about not using the double entendre's and just saying he ran around naked. Be a pro at all times Kevin.
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