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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
Suarez has talent, but so do dozens of other motherfuckers, shit, hundreds maybe. Personality is everything in sports. Kareem Abdul Jabar is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, perhaps thee greatest, and indeed, even one of the most accomplished athletes of any sport, of all time. However, the guy is more or less a curmudgeon, and has been chased out of the Lakers locker room, coaching staff, and front office have to result to reality shows with Louie Anderson. Sighs. Even Michael Jordan is such a competitive prick that he really isn't the best role model for people, whether in sports or real life. It is what it is, and these are two of the best to ever touch basketball, but they are no Magic Johnson personality wise. That, and Suarez is not only a poor sport, but a cheat. Handballing in major tournaments is cheating, let alone to do it multiple times in your career. BITING opposing players is about as cheap shot as you can get, really, let alone do it twice in his career, even biting and hand-balling in a single match! Sad really, for a guy with that much talent to result to such terrible tactics. THAT is why talent or not, the guy is no good, and many teams would be better off to cut their losses..
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Come on. If Suarez really was no better than 'dozens ... hundreds maybe' other players, then why is Arsenal so keen to get him and Liverpool so keen to keep him? Whatever you may think about his lack of sportsmanship and his dubious personality, in his position he's probably among the 10 very best players in the world right now. We talk about world class players. Suarez is world class IMO.
I think you read too much into the whole footballer-as-role-model thing. Some great players can be great role models (Messi?) others perhaps not so much (Maradona?) but a player's reputation will always be based on talent rather than personality - unless personality starts to impact negatively
on their talent, obviously.
I don't know how things work in the US (land of the Tiger Woods trial by television) but in the case of football/soccer, so long as a player's talent is considered exceptional (and Suarez really is an exceptional player) and for as long as they're able to perform at that level, there'll always be top teams willing to turn a blind eye to everything else that comes with them. If personality really
is 'everything' (and I don't really think you actually believe that) or even the most important thing, then how come players like Pepe, etc, still earn absolute fortunes at top clubs? And even putting football aside, two words: Michael. Schumacher.
I think your argument is sound from a moral standpoint but, rightly or wrongly, sport and morality have always been uncomfortable bedfellows at best.