have you lost complete faith in the integrity of sports?

Question

with todays headlines (drugs,gambling, animal cruelty, pacman jones) have you lost complete faith in sports?

Answer 1

It didn't use to be that way, but when big business became involved in sports, that's when integrity went out the window. Before, when athletes competed not for the money but the honor and respect of their peers, Integrity was a big part of sports. Today, with sports agents and corporate sponsors standing on the side waiting to make money out of the top athletes, the focus is now more on quantity of awards and trophies, not on the quality of performance. The idea of promoting sportsmanship among the youth is rapidly being replaced with the idea of promoting enterpreneurship and self marketing for profit. While these two might not be a bad thing per se, in sports this is can be a source of corruption which usually leads to cheating. Have I completely lost my faith in sports? No, I still see sports as a good way to instill good values to the youth, we just need to find good coaches and officials with the same values, and governing sport leaders who are real sportmen, not some guy whose experience in sports that qualifies him for the job was selling sports equipment or sponsoring a sports team.

Answer 2

Not really in the sports itself, but maybe in the competitive/match-up and tournament aspect of sports. Too corporate and unreal. It has become a show that is never really based on who was the best, plain and simple. We never know specifically what goes on prior to and during the sport play, but the funny thing is we do know there is something going on anyways.

Answer 3

I haven't. I think that losing trust in sports as a whole is unfair. Just because some players or referees are bad apples doesn't make the rest of them that way. It would be like saying that all men are pigs and all women are psychos...

Answer 4

no way! wrestling is the most honest, nonscripted... oh, right.
btw, don't forget crooked NBA refs too.