‘What should Fernando Gonzalez have done?’
Now, I’m not sure what’s Spanish for ‘the right thing,’ but I sure as hell know how to say it en anglais. Because there’s no getting around it. Gonzalez, who let play continue as freely as ever, with a brush-of-a-bullet shot of adrenaline and a crumbling Blake across the net, saw his opportunity. And, ever the Machiavellian, he went for it.
Which is good enough for Scoop.
As the rest of his column goes on to detail, cheating your way to the top is acceptable — nay, admirable — as long as it takes place in the realm of sports. As long as the ref doesn’t see it, or if the zebras blow the call, all is fair in 40-love.
Apparently, Scoop missed the third grade lesson about integrity.
For both the competitors and the game, cheating — or even turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to a transgression — cheapens the morals and the standards of both the competitors and the game. The fans don't get their money's worth, and in lessening their efforts, the athletes fail to improve their skill sets. Who wins?
Here’s Scoop’s logic, simple and concise: Since everyone else is doing it, why should you be different? Why would you want to be different? There’s no such thing as the right thing — only what consensus would dictate. Scoop writes, ‘What athlete in his right (or left) hemisphere would give away a point that critical?’ With a dash of Big Brother syndrome, Scoop is reveling in conformity at its finest.
Let’s equate that to, say, politics for a moment. What presidential hopeful would, in the dog days of the election, clamp down on the 527s, the 21st century swift-boaters? Honestly, none, but that doesn’t mean we don’t wish they would. And if there were tangible, all-encompassing evidence that Obama or McCain had eradicated any semblance of these low blowers, don’t you think the honesty could maybe, just maybe, give him a precious bump in the polls?
Article comments
1 - nicolas
Scoop is ridiculous. He says that you don't do the "right thing" but rather what consensus dictates. Guess what, Scoop? A behavior is usually considered the "right thing" to do BECAUSE it is what consensus would dictate. And if you asked a consensus of tennis players, they would agree with Blake's anger.