mlnolan00 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
s wrong to take that feeling of joy away from
> the connections from his groom to Mr. West, and
> that's my biggest issue with the DQ. I can't
> sympathize with folks who so capriciously, meekly,
> and messily ignored the heft of the event and the
> lives that would change following their stewards
> decisions, and, accordingly after 22mins, as
> Indiana Jones would say, they "chose poorly". :(
>


It's fine to feel compassion for the aggrieved, or at least in this case Saez and those doing much of the grunt work who were denied their one taste of glory, but that can never be the standard for decision-making in competition. Nor does the heft of the event influence that. Rules can't be ignored. I'm not saying they were correctly applied here, because I don't know, but game changing calls, whether it's the final two minutes of the Super Bowl or 7th game of the NBA Championship series, or the Run for the Roses, are part of the game, though one assumes and hopes they are made with a level of discernment commensurate with the moment. Sentiment needs to be checked at the door. When you enter the ring, you know that's the risk you run. Wide World of Sports -- the agony of defeat. That's endemic to all sports.

JB, I know you want this to end, so I'll pay my fine to you with some kind of vodka concoction at Siro's in August, but I can't let this slide because we already have too much "participation trophy" sentiment infiltrating competition, and I'm not taking a position on the correctness of the decision.