Feelings and keyboards?
Drew, no one here is letting their feelings run their keyboards, least of all me. Perhaps it is you?
My life does not change one whit whether Hamm keeps his wrongfully awarded gold medal or not. Neither does yours.
You are entitled to your opinion. But so am I to mine.
But - you still have not answered as to why Hamm would not even consider the idea of awarding a gold to the South Korean. Why is that?
You can rationalize all you wish but you are still wrong. Hamm knows he's wrong. The entire world, other than a few greedy Americans who think that 'winning is everything, even if it screws someone else' knows it is wrong.
I was raised to do what is right, Drew. If I 'won' on a scoring error, I would know within myself that I did not actually 'win' at all. I would like to think that most of us would. Those of us who believe that creed would have given the medal to Mr. Tae-Young the SECOND we learned we did not actually earn it.
Mr. Hamm and many who admire him apparently believe otherwise. That is so sad.
IF Hamm DID the right thing in keeping his medal, why is it we won't see his pic on the Wheaties box? Why hasn't he been treated to every possible talk show and radio exposure there is? Why haven't we read time and again what a great athlete he was in winning the mens' All-Around? Why hasn't HE been compared to Mary Lou Retton? Why hasn't HIS win been emblazoned all over Time's Square?
BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WIN IT.
And again, you have yet to express your opinion as to what you think Hamm's actions would be IF the scoring had gone otherwise and had he been screwed over like the South Korean was.
Why is that?
Can you honestly say that if the situation was reversed, that Hamm was scored lower initially due to some Twinkie of a judge who can't add, that Hamm would go quietly into the night and say, "Well, Yang got the higher score at first - he therefore won it fair and square"?
Do you think he would say, "I don't want to have a duplicate gold medal because Yang Tae-Young truly won it and it is rightfully his alone"?
Do you really think that the U.S. Olympic team would shrug their collective shoulders and say, "Oh well... the right man won the gold. It belongs to Mr. Tae-Young. We have no quarrel with the scoring at all."?
I didn't think so. At least I sure hope you don't.
Logic and reasoning, no matter how eloquent or repeated, will NEVER replace what is true and what is right.
C'mon, Drew. We're not beating this to death and I don't care if there have been 18 or 10,018 threads about this topic. Right is right and wrong is wrong.
Hamm did NOT win the gold and the world knows it.
So enjoy your Wheaties, Drew. Too bad your idea of a winner's picture won't be on the box.
But I really would like to know how you think Hamm would have responded had he been in Yang's shoes and Yang been in his?
Have a great day, Drew.