太阳照样升起

比尔·德怀尔

球迷们对于职业篮球的信任因为一名裁判再次受到了考验，但是失望也好，怒火也罢，风波终将过去，塞翁失马，焉知祸福，谁知道呢?

Time to take a deep breath, folks.

伙计们，该是时候深呼吸一下了。

Yes, the world of pro sports had a scandalous week.

Yes, we havea famous NFL quarterback accused of having illegal dogs fight for his amusement and killed for his disdain.

是的，我们的一位著名NFL四分位因为非法组织娱乐性斗狗比赛，并粗暴虐杀斗狗而遭到法院指控。

Yes, we have an NBA referee accused of wagering on games he worked and making calls favorable to the line he bet.

是的，我们的一位NBA裁判因为对自己所执法的比赛下注，并相应实施对此有利判罚，也同样受到指控。

And yes, if true, any and all of that is disgusting and stupid.

是的，如果所有指控都将成立的话，那么一切都显得那么龌龊和愚蠢。

But it isn't life-threatening for the institutions---the NFL, the NBA or even referees in general---who all are currently reeling while figuring out when to start spinning.

但是对于NFL和NBA这样的体育联盟，甚至对于所有裁判来说，这都算不上致命打击，他们正在偃旗息鼓，但依然盘算着如何卷土重来。

This much is certain: The sun will come up tomorrow.

有一点是明白无误的：明天太阳依然升起。

This is not meant in any way to minimize the charges against the Atlanta Falcons' Michael Vick, or the NBA's Tim Donaghy. Nor is it a treatise on innocence until proved guilty,even though, in this day and age ofDuke lacrosse casesand rushes to judgment on Marion Jones' performance-enhancement habits, finger-pointing needs be selective.

这么说并没有丝毫试图减轻亚特兰大猎鹰队迈克尔·维克，或者NBA裁判蒂姆·多纳吉所犯下罪行的意思，撰写此文也并非在他们被证明有罪之前力辩其无辜。在如今这个时代，即使是杜克大学长曲棍球队丑闻已经昭然若揭，马里昂·琼斯服用兴奋剂的恶习已经大白天下的时候，对别人进行指摘之前还是要经过深思熟虑。

Still, there appears to be so much smokearound Vick and Donaghy that prospectsof huge fires breaking out in the near futureare good. Newspaper reporters or websitetypists with agendas who make thesesorts of accusations are one thing; Federalinvestigators altogether another.

看上去，在维克与多纳吉周围已经硝烟弥漫，熊熊大火似乎触即发，这样的前景不是什么坏事。那些有计划大肆报道这些新闻的报纸记者与网站打字员是一回事，联邦机构的大规模调查则是另一回事。

So, for the moment, what do we do? Howdo we think, act? What do we say?

那么，就现在的情况而言，我们该做什么呢?我们该怎样思考，怎样反应呢?我们该说些什么呢?

Anger is fine, appropriate. Hand-wringingis acceptable.

愤怒没有问题，这种情绪无可厚非，即使感到绝望也绝非无法接受。

Vick has been called so many names intwo or three days that we've pretty much got itoff our chests.

两三天以来，维克被无数人咒骂，以至于我们甚至以此为乐。

Turns out, you can anger sports fans —but don't mess with PETA.

尽管如此，但结论却是，你可以激怒体育迷，但千万别得罪PETA(人类善待动物组织)。

Now Donaghy has taken our anger to abigger target, to an institution we never quitetrusted but badly wanted to. Barry Mano ofRacine, Wis., is a perfect spokesman for thatinstitution. He is president of the National Assn.of Sports Officials (NASO), and Friday, whileprefacing all statements with the phrase "if thisis true," he was clearly a man shouting out awindow for all the world to hear.

现在多纳吉把我们的怒火引向了更大的批判对象，一个我们从未给予多少信任，但却衷心希望信任它的组织(NBA)。来自威斯康星州拉辛市的巴里·马诺，是NBA最适合的发言人。作为全国体育裁判协会(NASO)主席，本周五他用“如果这是真的”作为开头，发表了一系列的声明。很明显，他要把头伸向窗外，让全世界都能听到他的声音，

"What we bring to the table is impartiality,"

Mano said. "Without that, we're lost. Thatmakes this a horror story."

“我们的职责就是保证不偏不倚，”马诺说，“缺了这一条，我们就输了一切，这也就是为什么这条消息如此令人恐怖的原因。”

Mano also used the word "tragedy"frequently in several conversations, which,in his world, is accurate and understandable.He comes from a family of NBA referees,and he knows no matter the legal outcome ofthe Donaghy case, what life will be like for hisconstituency next season.

在几个谈话节目当中，马诺同样也不断使用“悲剧”一词，在他看来，用这个词来描述这一丑闻既恰如其分，又通俗易懂。他出生于一个NBA裁判世家，对于多纳吉一案在法律上会有怎样的结果，他并不清楚，至于下赛季他手下会员(即裁判)的生活会产生什么变化，他也一无所知。

"Hey, rock head. How many dimes yougot down tonight?"

“嗨，笨蛋，今晚你进帐多少?”

"Nice callJimmy the Greek."

“吹得不错，Jimmy the Greek。”

Yes, the fans will speak. Loudly, angrily.Their trust will be hard-earned. For a while,they may not attend a basketball game, whichwould be a fair message to both leagueand referees, who should have, somehow,prevented this.

没错，球迷会开口说话，分贝极高，满腔愤怒，赢得他们的信任很难。一段时间里，他们或许根本不会去现场看球，这将是针对联盟和裁判的一个强烈信号，而他们，本可以阻止这一切。

But eventually, fans always comeback. Remember how many said they weredone forever with baseball duringstrikes?Remember how quickly baseball was backsetting attendance records?

但最终，球迷们还将回来。曾记否，MLB闹罢工时，多少人声称永远不再看棒球?曾记否，MLB以多快的速度接连创下现场观众纪录?

Both Vick and Donaghy, if guilty, havedone temporary harm to the sports andinstitutions that paid them handsomely anddefined them. But neither is big enough to bringthem down, or, in the long run, even do muchserious damage.

无论是维克还是多纳吉，如果被判有罪，他们的行为对于给予他们丰厚收入并帮助他们找到人生定位的联盟，乃至整个运动都带来了暂时的损伤，但是这些丑闻都不具有摧垮它们，甚至从长远来看，都不会有太大的破坏力。

We love our sports. They are bothentertainment and big business for us. Theyare pillars in deep cement.

我爱我们的体育，对我们来说，它们既是娱乐也是商业，它们是建立在坚实混凝土上的支柱。

Vick and Donaghy just hit us with a coupleof cherry bombs, and nothing fell.

维克和多纳吉攻击我们的武器只是少数几个樱桃炸弹，什么损失都没有。

The NFL will react with appropriate angerand punitive action to reassure fans and, moreimportant to them, big sponsors.

NFL将采取行动，恰当地表现出愤怒，祭出惩戒利刃，以示球迷，以及对他们来说更重要的——大赞助商。

League administrators of sports officials,NBA and others, will treat their referees morelike whipping boys than they do now, which insome leagues is considerable.

与现在相比，主管体育裁判的联盟管理者、NBA和其他组织对于裁判，将像对待替罪羔羊一样不留情面，这对某些联盟来说意义重大。

And Mano and his group, whocoincidentally meet for their annual Summitof Sports Officials starting July 29 in Denver,will put their heads together— all 250 ofthem spanning many sports—and seelunderstanding and solutions.

马诺和他的组织，恰巧要参加7月29日在丹佛举行的体育裁判年度峰会。来自众多体育项目的250名裁判将在此聚首，群策群力，相互理解，共商大计。

A couple of grief counselors might findwork there too.

一群忧心忡忡的法律顾问们也会在那里找到活计。

For a while, every officiating call will belinked to a sports book in Vegas, every closeloss on a controversial ruling will be furtherproof that everything stinks. There will even

be those demanding that officiating duties betaken over by technology.

在一段时间里，每一次裁判哨音响起，都会与拉斯维加斯的比赛盘口联系起来，每一个由于吹罚争议导致比分接近情况下的输球都将成为“一切都是设计好的”证据，甚至还会有人要求用现代科技手段接管裁判职责。

But reality will set in. It will become clearthat Donaghy is one official in a sea of otherswho, remarkably, have stayed clean. Anyway,hollering at machines is no fun.

但是现实情况是，很明显，多纳吉只是问题裁判中的沧海一粟，值得一提的是，其他人都将平安无事。毕竟，对着镜头大喊大叫并不是什么好玩的事情。

More so, we have always conductedour sports this way —people ruling on otherpeople. We may hate the system, but it is oursystem.

更何况，我们一直在用同样的方式从事着我们的体育运动——些人执法另一些人。我们可以痛恨这种体系，但这就是我们的体系。

More likely, it will be 20 years beforeanother NFL player will be seen in the samestate as a dog fight. More likely, sports officialswill be so far under the microscope— liedetector tests, random phone-call monitoring,etc. — that you can bet there'll be no bets.

更有可能发生的情况是，另一位NFL球员20年后又出现在同一个州组织另一场斗狗比赛；更有可能的是，体育裁判将从此在“显微镜”的密切关注下执法比赛——测谎仪、随机电话监控等——你可以下注，赌没有人再下注。

Sometimes, from this much bad comessome good. We may even want to thank thesetwo alleged perpetrators someday.

有时候，塞翁失马，焉知祸福。也许有一天，我们会感谢这两个正在受到指控的作奸犯科者。

Bet your bottom dollar.

对此，不妨押上你全部的筹码。