Which sports association seems more desperate? The WNBA's Tulsa Shock, who just signed 34-year-old convicted felon Marion Jones to rejoin a game she hasn't played seriously in almost 15 years? Or NASCAR, which embraced a "have-at-it" mentality earlier this year, and ended up sending Carl Edwards outside to clap erasers as punishment for deliberately causing a crash that sent a car airborne?
NASCAR gave Edwards a three-race probation, the silliest use of discipline since Michael Phelps' pot-related three-month suspension from USA Swimming during a dead zone in the season. It all means nothing. NASCAR had to pacify the general public after dramatic footage of Brad Keselowski's flying car went viral.
Drivers already had been told that they should mix it up, in part because auto racing needed some MMA-style panache to bump up the ratings. It would have been hypocritical to suspend Edwards afterward because Keselowski's car took flight.
The have-at-it policy reveals a pathetic need for approval, and a belief that the pleasure of watching auto racing can't sustain the sport.
The Shock's move is an even bigger admission that the franchise doesn't have much faith in its viability. Yes, Jones played point guard for North Carolina's 1994 NCAA championship team, before she focused on track and field. The Phoenix Mercury chose her in the third round in 2003, a decision only slightly less vain than the Shock's.
Jones' new career is an insult to the athletes that play the game at the highest level. She deserves a chance to start her life anew after revealing that she took performance-enhancing drugs before her five-medal splash at the 2000 Olympics and after spending six months in prison for lying to federal agents about it.
Apparently, Tony La Russa didn't need a base-stealing coach. So Jones had to settle for a job that might have gone to someone who has played basketball in the last decade. She'll sell tickets, and that's the whole point.
But Chad Ochocinco and Evan Lysacek on "Dancing with the Stars" make better destination TV.
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