Anyone else think that Spain looked suspiciously poor at the end of the game against Brazil?
(To those that don't follow basketball, basically both Spain and Brazil were definitely through the group stage but whoever lost this game would avoid USA in the semifinal.)
But professional sport is an entirely different ball game, and you know that. Many athletes are employees who are paid to win. That's their actual job. It isn't to hold up some belief about sportsmanship, or to be gentlemanly. I'd be rather shocked if Fernando Alonso's contract included a clause that said 'at all times sportsmanship must come before anything'.
Of course there are times where an athlete must draw the line. For example, Nelson Piquet at Singapore. But that demonstrates how much pressure some athletes are put under. And as we know about Alonso still regards that as a win. sportsman like or gentlemanly? I don't think so!
Are you seriously suggesting Tristan that if you were being paid millions to race in F1 for a top team and living the dream you wouldn't push the rules on occasion? You wouldn't maybe over-defend a tad if the F1 championship was on the line? Maybe you recognised the car that maybe wasn't entirely legal (questionable at best) but could pass FIA scrutineering... you'd dob in your own team?
The reasons these issues arise is because the Olympics has become a professional sport entity.
Just because it happens in professional sport doesn't make it right. Would the Arnoux/Villeneuve battle have been anywhere near as good if the driver in front had moved off line to block the overtakes? Would <insert suitable football match from the bygone era> have been as good if <insert footballer's name> had fallen to get a penalty? Was Peter Collins WRONG to hand his car over and sacrifice his championship to help Fangio because he felt Fangio deserved it more?
I think professional sport ought to learn some values from amateur sport.
One could argue Fangio's behavior was entirely unsportsmanlike. He took advantage of having a subservient team-mate while other rivals may not have had such a luxury.
And Arnoux/Villeneuve contained some very dirty driving in my opinion - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... =player_detailpage#t=117s - Arnoux tries to ram Villeneuve off and then continues to cut the track. Then Villeneuve just drives straight at the apex when Arnoux was blatantly there and smashed into him, though Arnoux should have already conceded position because he cut the track. But the contact there should have left them both out of the GP. That is far from gentlemanly driving.
So it depends how you view these things.
But if you point is professional sport needs to be more amateur like then fair enough, that's perfectly reasonable.
Yeah, the Olympics are cool. But it's what's going on after the events that's really interesting.
Oh... and we FINALLY have a local here that can beat the crap out of someone and NOT go to jail for it. http://www.chron.com/olympics/ ... -boxing-semis-3765620.php
Looks like she'll get the gold too.
Evaldas Petrauskas is a beast! I think he can easily claim the gold 
