When did sports have to do with the game and not the scandals off playing field. Sports fans have noticed there’s more drama in sports news than ever before. There’s not enough talk about the game itself and more gossip about the players’ personal lives.

In the past sports news was about drafts, game scores, rule changes, trades, strategy and game planning. Fans could read an article or tune in to the sports stations and get real sports news. As sports evolved and became more popular, the media got involved.

To understand this collaboration between sports and the media, we have to go back and take a look at one of the oldest recorded games in American history, Major League Baseball. The sport dates back to 1889 in Philadelphia where a group of thirty men who called themselves the New York Knickerbockers, played the game regularly. As newcomers came to America they took to the sport through scores and forming their own baseball clubs.

During the late 1800s the game of “Base” ball was referenced as “The National Pastime,” in the New York Mercury newspaper in 1856; although, the game was a bit premature. Baseball emerged in New York and was played primarily by immigrants.

After the American Civil War the game of baseball spread throughout America. In the early years of baseball teams were financed by outside investors, baseball players weren’t paid to play and if they were, they lost their credibility.

That changed in 1869 when the first Pro Team the Cincinnati Red Stockings where a group of Ohio Investors paid players a monthly salary. When the owner of the team moved to Boston and recruited players creating the Boston Red Stockings along with eight other teams to form the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players.

Due to the struggling success of the National Association, William A. Hulbert, owner of the Chicago White Stockings, picked five of the best players from two other teams to form the National League. Owners had full control of the league and players’ salaries. There was strict regulation and players who complained about their wages were either fired of blacklisted.

One of the first documented cases in baseball was a gambling scandal. Where four members of the 1877 Louisville Grays were found to have thrown games on purpose, because owners had not paid them.

The game of baseball became a business and its players seen as entertainers. Since the players were considered entertainers, they were also celebrities. Fans grew attached to the baseball sluggers of their time and wanted to know more about the men they paid to go see. Athletes were notably seen as God’s on the field. The media took on the challenge to dig deep into the lives of players and humanized them.

Fans saw star players like Babe Ruth also known as “The Great Bambino” as a cigar-smoking, home-run slugger, while the media portrayed him as a drunken adulterer. Issues stemming from alcoholism, drug use, adultery and steroids have been soaked up and spit out by the media; opening the door for fans, spectators and fanatics to criticize the character of the players.

Baseball isn’t the only sport where the players’ lives are publicized. The NFL and NBA have their fair share of scandal from drug abuse, domestic violence and rape. With the media drowning sports news in scandals, they have lost the integrity of the game and at times cross some ethical issues. The idolization of individual players doesn’t make the game what it is. As a sports fan you have to discipline yourself and learn to understand the game and how it’s played to respect it. The scandal and controversy leave it to the fanatics to indulge.