Between the superstar quarterback getting indicted for dog-fighting, the NBA referee implicated in a burgeoning gambling scandal, and the alleged steroid-user chasing down the hallowed home run record, the jarring soundtrack to this summer has been more cynical jeers than resounding cheers.

In their own way, reactions to the various scandals have offered a unique glimpse into the mindset of this society.

The prospect of an official trying to affect the scoring in a basketball game in order to land spread bets has elicited far more outrage and anger than either of the other two stories. According to some commentators, jacking up on illegal drugs in order to hit the baseball farther isn't cheating on the same scale as a ref blowing for imaginary fouls. Similarly, the Atlanta Falcons' Michael Vick gets vilified for his reprehensible treatment of dogs by people willing to laud the San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds making a complete mockery of the national pastime.

Even though it's now been four years since the raid on the BALCO laboratory finally forced baseball to confront the prevalence of steroids in the game, Bonds' pursuit of Hank Aaron's 755 home runs tally has still been disturbing to behold. Television commentators refer to him with some affection as just Barry and channels vie for the national rights to games in which he plays. Too often, there is little or no effort to put his dubious journey into the record books in some sort of context by mentioning the steroid cloud hanging over his every at-bat. It seems the chance to witness a historic achievement . . . even if attained with the assistance of, among other substances, cattle steroids . . . overrides all other concerns.

Like a pathetic lapdog, the commissioner of baseball has followed him around the country in an effort to be present when he broke the record and his fellow players defend him at every turn, invariably trotting out the old saw about the lack of a smoking gun. Never mind that Bonds has shown no inclination to sue the two journalists who wrote a hefty book outlining absolutely every contraband item he ever ingested on his way to the physique he carries today, there are times listening to the debate about drugs in baseball when it sounds like America's attitude to the whole farrago is about as ill-informed and poorly-judged as Ireland's was before the Atlanta Olympics.

Meanwhile, as he awaits trial for his role in the Virginia dog-fighting case, Vick has been banned from pre-season training and is not expected to play a single down in the forthcoming season.

There is plenty of talk around Georgia of his $120m contract being voided some time in the coming weeks. Apart from affording Padraig Harrington's cousin Joey the chance to rekindle his own career and start for the Falcons come September, Vick's absence has one curious tinge to it. This is the same country where a couple of years back Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant was allowed to commute to NBA games from a Colorado courtroom where he was defending himself on a rape charge.

Against that background, it looks odd that Vick won't be allowed to take the field in the forthcoming campaign.

But really, nothing should surprise anybody here. When news broke that a previously unknown NBA referee called Tim Donaghy was being investigated by the FBI for alleged involvement in illegal gambling, people who regard Bonds and steroids as much ado about nothing treated the news like some sort of sporting apocalypse. Since Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series at the behest of gamblers back in 1919, betting on games has been regarded as the most serious offence in every sport.

"This is something that is the worst that could happen to a professional league, " said NBA commissioner David Stern. "And I want to say on the other hand that we are going to make good on the covenant that we believe we have with our fans, and I pledge that my involvement will be as intense and complete as it can possibly be. I can tell you that this is the most serious situation and worst situation that I have ever experienced either as a fan of the NBA, a lawyer for the NBA or a commissioner of the NBA."

The funny thing is nobody knows yet how much or how little Donaghy was able to influence the outcome of games or the number of points on the scoreboard. He's only one member of a threeman officiating crew but already journalists have focussed on a match during which Donaghy and his fellow officials awarded the New York Knicks 39 free throws to the Miami Heat's trifling eight. He also worked a controversial play-off between the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs featuring a number of questionable decisions that seriously swayed the outcome of that game and the entire series.

"I always turn to the sports pages first, it records people's accomplishments, " said US Supreme Court judge Earl Warren sometime in the last century. "The front page has nothing but man's failures."

That was then. This is now.