Sports grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons

What’s in the water at the moment? If you were asking cyclist Lance Armstrong the question you know what the response would be. ‘‘Nothing’’, followed years later by a grudging admission that there is something.

Everywhere you look around the world, sport is grabbing the headlines, and not for all the right reasons.

The whole sorry saga of Armstrong has destroyed the image of cycling, in particular the Tour de France. Armstrong won seven straight tour titles from 1999 but had them stripped when he was found guilty of doping in October last year before he spoke about his wrongdoings for the first time on American television.

Whatever the protestations, it would be hard to believe cyclists in the future when they deny taking performance enhancing drugs. He has almost single handedly destroyed the image of what was once seen as the creme de la creme of athletes.

Jump across the channel and England is currently in the middle of Ballboygate. Chelsea winger Eden Hazard was sent off for kicking a 17-year-old ball boy Charlie Morgan while attempting to retrieve the ball toward the end of a match against Swansea. In an incident, even strange by football standards, Morgan lay on the ball, preventing Hazard from picking it up. The Belgium winger has apologised and will not face criminal charges. He will be banned for three matches. The incident sparked a flurry of activity on social networking sites and induced imaginative headlines in British newspapers, such as ‘‘Ed Case,’’ ‘‘Occupational Hazard’’ and ‘‘Boots of Hazard’’. In a twist to the story, it turns out Charlie Morgan boasted on Twitter before the game about his time-wasting skills.

Sport in New Zealand has been grabbing its own fair share of headlines with the Black Caps and the Wellingtonbased Phoenix team.

What can be said about the saga of New Zealand cricket that hasn’t already been said? Except, just as we were about to write the sporting obituary of the entire team, they confounded everybody and notched up the country’s first series victory in any format in 60 years of playing international cricket in South Africa.

The test will be whether they can continue this success against England next month. More results like this in the coach Mike Hesson-captain Brendon McCullum era might help dull recent self-inflicted pain.

Meanwhile, the Wellington Phoenix have become a hot, political football. Resident ‘‘cat lover’’ Gareth Morgan, who is a co-owner of the A-League club, labelled the very people he is imploring to turn up and support the team as ‘‘pathetic’’ and ‘‘unsophisticated’’ for wanting to see short-term results. This naturally sparked outrage from the fans and follows on from his appearances at training and insistence that the team should change the style of football it plays. Let’s face it, who would want to be a Phoenix supporter.

Rugby has grabbed the headlines in its off season with Crusaders wing Zac Guildford and his latest incident with alcohol. Let’s hope he gets the support he needs to get back on track.

Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Fortunately yes – the beacon of light comes in the shape of the Breakers basketball team. The only headlines they have been providing come in the shape of Ws – eight wins on the trot. Whatever they’re doing is working and other codes could learn from it.

Let’s all take a sip at the fountain of the Breakers.