FamilyMan wrote:slucero wrote:FamilyMan wrote:Allow me to try something as radical as engaging you in a somewhat more intelligent, elevated dialogue. I liken the tapegate controversy to that of another, more recent scandal: baseball & steroids. For years, baseball fans and owners alike buried their heads in the sand while home run hitters were juicing. As records were being broken and fans flocked back to ballparks in the aftermath of a crippling strike, no one seemed to mind that a phenomenon of physical prowess by artificial means was on display. Fans didn't care... they just wanted their fix. I simply submit that many in the Journey faithful felt the same way. A guy named Steve was center stage, the band was touring, and hands were in the air. Everyone looked the other way.
... and just like McGuire, Sosa and Bonds will never get in the HOF.. neither will Journey..
This is true, but if anyone ever asked McGuire, Sosa or Bonds to choose between their multi-million-dollar pay days and the HOF, I bet you they would have taken the money. Journey's induction in the Rock and Roll HOF (which I agree will never happen) wouldn't have put any more butts in the seats.
Except Sosa, McGuire and Bonds weren't concerned with putting "butts in the seats" or making money... at that time they all were in the last years of their most lucrative contracts. And they were juicing to be famous. Bonds juiced out of jealousy. Again, nothing to do with ticket sales.. that was all a consequence. It was all pure lust for celebrity.
The problem here is societal.. the degradation of morality that has led us to accept compromises where we once would not. Regardless of whether it's artistic or athletic...
Simply choosing to do something deceitful "for the money" and parsing the middle ground between it and the truth does not make it "right". All it says is that the artist/athlete has lost sight of the love of their craft,
and their willingness to protect the integrity of that craft.When they supplant the love of their craft with the need for money, they not only harm themselves and their fans (who BTW haven't lost sight of why
they love it in the 1st place), they harm the integrity of their craft as a whole.
The only way this would be integrous would be if the athlete or artist admitted having "assistance" beforehand, and it was known to all beforehand, but it isn't.
Why?
Because it's wrong.