Good Game Ya Bastard
Greetings Friends,
I have to first apologize for the lengthy absence. I have been having a hell of a month and needed some time to reflect on life.. Well, reflection time is over and i am ready to come out swinging.
I would like to talk a bit on sportsmanship or the lack there of in today's games. There used to be a time when 2 teams or 2 players could stand toe to toe in the field of competition and play their game with dignity. Each player used their skills and abilities to beat their opponent and earn their respect.
Then he happened.
Who's he you ask?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Muhammad Ali. Never has sports as a whole been changed by as insignificant as someone's big mouth.
Ali has been the fodder for much debate over the years. Some say that he transcended the sport of boxing to become a major figure in not only sports but civil rights. Others call him a draft dodger and unpatriotic. I just call him an asshole. He was the first athlete to really take the art of trash talking to its current level of absurdity. The press conferences and interviews were not as much about the event, but what Ali was going to say next.
When an athlete shows disrespect towards an opponent, they are spitting in the face of competition. Athletics are a battle of physical skills. When you make them personal, athletics become pro wrestling. You can see his footprint in today's athletes. 50 years ago there would never have been a brawl like the one in Detroit a couple years ago. The celebrations of football players losing by 30 points when they make a simple tackle. All of these disgusting displays are all forms of poor sportsmanship.
Now I know that some of you may disagree with me which is fine. I have had people tell me that displays such as these make the game exciting. Sports is about the love of the game. The heightened sense of violence and anger associated with taunting and trash talking only does 1 thing, it takes the drama of competition and turns it into Jerry Springer.
Take care of yourself, and each other.............
P.S. Mr. Ali.............You were far from the greatest.
Steve Taylor
Co-Founder and Second Banana
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Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. is one of the reasons I HATE Sports Illustrated with a passion. At the end of the last millennium they named him "Sportsman of the Century". "Sportsman" ... him? He is / was the ignition to all that is WRONG with sports!
Unabashedly self absorbed.
A flagrant show boater.
Most of all a hypocrite.
He had no issues using America as a vessel to make himself rich and famous, but when his country called he fled to Canada and now is welcomed as a hero for it.
Do you really think he would have seen combat? He would have made the rounds with the USO, in an attempt to boost morale. ( If seeing this bum boots your morale, you have bigger issues then a war going on around you ).
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