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Remember when Tiger Woods was a unstained golf legend? Remember home run happy A-Rod before he became A-roid after the steroids scandal?

These are people who have lost some of the luster of their image and their name.

For Tiger, it was a descent into sexual desires and his invincible golf armor eroding away before we saw him as fallable as the next human.

For all the baseball players, it was the glamor of records and fame and money that fueled their desire for illegal drugs, vaulting many into unsavory practices that endanger children who may imitate them and their lives for the potential of shortening it.

And for those who are lesser known or have the stigmata of potential fallibility surrounding them (Lance Armstrong for instance, who is accused of doping but has largely been tested negative for banned substances), their image can be tarnished forever by the floating rumors that trail them.

What do you make of those people who had near mythic stature amongst us mere mortals, and made the descent down into humanity once a scandal exposes them?

I think it's a shame that OJ's name has been so slandered.

Oh come on, you do not have to commit a crime to be a tainted sports hero. Just ask anyone that played for the Kansas City Royals (any Kansas City sports team) and what they did to Kansas City's Sports history. It is a stink that won't wash off or be expunged from the your criminal record. When I was a Military Police working road patrol in Fort Leavenworth, KS I couldn't even give away the stupid LEO Kansas City Royals baseball card to kids.

Honestly the whole Tiger Woods scandal just made him MORE awesome to me, and an actual celebrity worthy of notice. (Who gives a feth about golf? I mean really? )

I don't really care about sportsmen's personal lives. My favourite sportsman is a guy called Damien Martyn, an Australian cricketer. I liked him because he made the game look effortless, he batted like I'd like to be able to. He is, by all reports, a bit of dick in real life, but I don't care, because I admired his sporting ability and that was the extent of things.

I don't really understand how people could have any other interest in sporting stars lives. We pay money to see Tiger Woods hit a golf ball, what he does outside of that really shouldn't matter.

Probably because If you're going to get behind someone you'd prefer they weren't a total prick.

I actually prefer that tiger woods be judged as any other man would be. Rather than purely by what he can do with a flipping golf club.

This is the legacy Tiger Woods will leave...

"That guy was a great golfer."
"Yeh but a total dick though."
"True."

...and that's how it should be. There's more to being a man than being good at sport.

I agree with sebser on this: I really don't care about what sportsmen get up to. I don't have much of an interest in the most popular sports and when I hear of scandals involving Tiger Woods, John Terry etc, my immediate reaction is to turn off the TV, because after a few weeks, it'll be old news and no one will really care as they will be too engrossed in the newest scandal.

Mike Tyson

What really winds me up is athletes who get caught doping, serve their ban (whilst usually pleading innocent) and then return to the sport. This isn't allowed in the UK with regards to the Olympics. Get caught once and thats it, lifetime Olympic ban. There are two reasons this is a sound policy...

1. It's stop them cheating again. Lyudmyla Blonska, a Ukrainian athlete, won heptathlon silver in Beijing after returning from a doping ban. In her interviews afterwards, she was asked a doping related question and was none too pleased. She was subsequently found to have been using drugs in that competition too and was stripped of her medal.

2. There is strong evidence to suggest that athletes who have doped in the past retain the benefits even after their ban has expired. Lisa Dobriesky, our 1500m runner, came 4th at the European Champs on Sunday. 1st, 2nd and 3rd all went to former drugs cheats.

whatwhat wrote:...and that's how it should be. There's more to being a man than being good at sport.

Yes, but one can appreciate sporting talent while not passing any judgement on them at all as a man. The guy who painted my roof did a good job, he may have a dead hooker in the boot of his car for all I know, my opinion on him begins and ends with how he painted the roof of my house. It is the same with sportsmen.

Don't look to them to be role models, because you're likely to end up disappointed. Even if they don't end up in a scandal, you're looking up to a stranger who lives in a totally different circumstance to your own, and is likely a poor role model as a result. Just admire them for their sporting skills, and find role models closer to home.


I do agree with Flashman on the lifetime ban for doping.

For sheer ignorance I have to go with Barry Bonds. He thought people going after him was a bunch of racists who didn't want a black man to have the home run record.

Ahem... Hank Aaron... cough.

Good documentary called Bigger, Stronger, Faster that explores some of these questions: like how Tiger can get his eyesight surgically improved to 20/10 or baseball players can have Tommy John surgery, but steroids is still verboten.

DEUS VULT wrote:Good documentary called Bigger, Stronger, Faster that explores some of these questions: like how Tiger can get his eyesight surgically improved to 20/10 or baseball players can have Tommy John surgery, but steroids is still verboten.

Kind of need Tommy John Surgery when your Ulnar ligaments gets damaged.

Doping. I could care less. Baseball execs/coaches+ trainers had to know.Someone other than Canseco knew in the 90's. Some of those guys were huge. McGiure looked like; well not normal. I knew. Pro sports does not care at all. Football,Baseball please. $$$$$$$$$$$$$. They(execs) made their money.The problem is that there are maybe 3 lines of thought(mixing). Fair play best man wins. Anything goes to win. Those athletes who want to take themselves to their limit and beyond and see their training in that way. Basically they will ban anything that works(food). The tests in my understanding work on test levels. Testosterone levels that are going to be way above that of a normal person naturally. The problem is the exusing of it will create problems for kids who can be harmed by steroids. As a side note steroids do improve eyesite, reflexes, speed, coordination you name it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Pete Rose

Waagh!Balzsmasha! wrote:Doping. I could care less. Baseball execs/coaches+ trainers had to know.Someone other than Canseco knew in the 90's. Some of those guys were huge. McGiure looked like; well not normal. I knew. Pro sports does not care at all. Football,Baseball please. $$$$$$$$$$$$$. They(execs) made their money.The problem is that there are maybe 3 lines of thought(mixing). Fair play best man wins. Anything goes to win. Those athletes who want to take themselves to their limit and beyond and see their training in that way. Basically they will ban anything that works(food). The tests in my understanding work on test levels. Testosterone levels that are going to be way above that of a normal person naturally. The problem is the exusing of it will create problems for kids who can be harmed by steroids. As a side note steroids do improve eyesite, reflexes, speed, coordination you name it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Pete Rose

The travesty committed against Pete Rose disgusts me to my very core.

Edited for autotext fail.

Yea. I really feel for Pete. Can you imagine him as a commentator. You'd actually want to hear him. I really don't see him as tainted but he fell.

Stan Musial strangled Marilyn Monroe with a merry-widow he wore when he got his 3,000th hit.

True story.