[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

right, but that doesn't mean it's all flaws either

Agreed completely, if anything was entirely my argument to Rob about match-fixing. EVEN IF the entire thing is fabricated like a TV wrestling match, it could hardly negate the athleticism, craft, and skill of the athletes. If anything, part of me is even MORE impressed that folks could even try to fake it so convincingly as some of the thrown games in professional sports history. So while I would prefer an "honest" game tonight when it is Heat-Thunder, I would be just as entertained at Lebron dunking like crazy and KD shooting 23 foot jumpers anywhere on the floor. If it turned out that there was a dive or a fix, I wouldn't think less of Lebron or KD athletic abilities even if the sense of competition was decreased.

I think folks have misunderstood my premise. Match fixing, doping, and commercialism only taint our ideal of sports, but if we are more realistic we can still enjoy it for what is rather than what we wish it could or should be. When we apply some kind of almost quasi-religious status to "fairness" or "competition" we only fool ourselves with a kind of false sanctimoniousness which becomes almost idolatry. Religion isn't the opiate of the masses, Saint Augustine was right when he said it was the stadium, the race track, and the arena. When we put too much into sports, that is what it becomes, our Bael or Molten Calf.