Has Hulk Hogan's Legacy Been Tarnished?

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Thanks for sharing your feelings. In 2002, Hogan wrestled a match against the guy who was already the company's top draw, and would retire 2 years later. So let's set the bar at 8-plus years; can you tell me what Hogan has done since then?

Beyond the things I've already mentioned, which apparently you find it beneath you to address, we have Hogan's stint in TNA. At least Ric Flair, while having wrestled far past the point he should have, is able to contribute in a significant way to producing something of value for wrestling fans by cutting great promos and giving the rub to up-and-comers. What has Hogan given us? Abyssamania.

Hogan is not some kind of sympathetic figure, and it's beyond me why anyone would make him out to be one. The guy routinely screwed over his fellow wrestlers, and took for himself without concern for how it would affect those around him. Hell, we could look no further than Wrestlemania 2 or 3, I forget exactly which it was, when Jesse Ventura tried to unionize all the guys backstage before the event, and Hogan basically said 'no dice.' The guy has always been out for himself, and his recent exploits have made that glaringly apparent.

Where is it our place to JUDGE anyone on their backstage conduct without REALLY knowing the facts, which again we are not there to see go down. I said the things I said about Austin but I say them with the notion that such things stated may not be true, and the same with Hulk Hogan. However, I can tell you that both of these individuals seem to have been raked through the coals in their personal life, and while I feel that Hogan may not be humanitarian of the year, if the stories are true about Steve Austin he is no better, but yet it seems that a double standard exists amongst most supposed experts on professional wrestling's dirty laundry and you seem to be a part of that contingent from what I am reading of your posts.

And Hogan has made his efforts however few and far in between to put talents over in this business. You can't blame him if guys like Brock Lesnar, The Ultimate Warrior and Brock Lesnar did not want to be wrestling's standard bearers. You also can't blame Hogan or The Rock if The Rock felt that a full time movie career was more tailored to his longevity as an entertainer, hell I know I can't blame him, I could see if The Rock left and broke a contract to do films, but from what I have gathered and heard, The Rock let his contract come to term and then immersed himself full into Hollywood, he at least made a commitment if the stories are true to the degree people say they are and along the way Hogan decided to do for The Rock what Andre The Giant did for Hogan YEARS earlier. Some people could argue that by the time Andre-Hogan happened that Hogan was the top draw in the WWF, but that didn't make beating Andre The Giant in the storylines any less significant, and trust me The Rock beating Hulk Hogan was something that in the Rock's future storylines was an achievement that definitely helped and didn't hurt his character. If rumor is also true, that very distinction could have gone to Austin but again that's only if such speculation is true, and it's a shame that that match couldn't have happened either. So I would definitely be aware of the BS rhetoric you are trying to slant on this thread. If Hogan wanted to be as tyrannical as the pundits like to say, then the closest David Arquette would have ever gotten to the WCW Title was if he ordered a replica off highspots.com.

Hogan's stint in TNA could be a lot worse, the guy could try to fool the world into thinking he could still wrestle and if that were the case he'd probably have been TNA World Champion his first night in the company. But alas he did not, and while "They" may not meet the standard of the nWo, TNA's numbers are showing some consistency granted no where near what WWE is doing, but still better than nothing. WWE didn't get built over night and neither will TNA, remember Hogan's not at that age where he can compete like he had years ago. I can't guarantee it but if Hogan was 17 years younger or had that ability to move like he was 17 years younger like in WCW, things would be a lot different.

I am not out to make Hogan a sympathetic character, but I am merely stating that he is no different than any other entertainer, he's not in a class of his own, trust me on that, and if at times the stories of him looking out for himself are true, who can really blame anyone in that spot. Do you think you yourself could guarantee that you'd be a humanitarian if you were in a multi-million dollar industry, I highly freaking doubt it, hell I know I'd have to question myself if I were in the position of any of these guys. The names humanitarian and entertainer are not synonyms so don't act like they are.

Millions of ticket buyers who supported Hulkamania speak far better than you and I over how important Hogan was to pro wrestling, ego aside, the man was a drawing card for years and was in the position to leverage things his way, people around him still got paid and still made successful careers, it's not Hogan's fault that people wanted him in the spotlight time and again, no moment proves this more than when the Ultimate Warrior did not pan out as WWF Champion for the long term, and a year later well less than that, Hogan was back on top. As far as the unionizing of wrestling goes, if anyone stood to gain from wrestling not going union it's Hogan or any other top draw for that matter. I am sure Andre The Giant and Randy Savage or even Roddy Piper may not have been too warm and fuzzy to that idea, especially if this was around WrestleMania 2's time frame. Considering that at that point Andre was on the verge of a big money run with Hogan in about a year's time (which Vince may have very likely been planning at that time), Randy Savage had just won the IC Title, and Roddy Piper still had a solid year left to go on his contract. I am sure those guys would have been just as unhappy with Jesse Ventura's idea to go union. To say it was solely Hogan's idea to squash a union is ludicrous, hell the man who stands to lose the most, you know that guy who truly calls the shots at the end of the day in WWF/E, Vince McMahon, he probably wasn't all that receptive to that idea either.

Think about that one for a second and combine that with the fact that you weren't there to see what went down should tell you that all you are stating is speculation and not fact, if you passed this off as opinion I'd give you some props and reply to you with a little more tact. But since it seems you are trying to pass this off as fact labels you as a total smark that truly knows nothing about pro wrestling.

So in closing, I don't know what it is you have your PhD in, but it sure as hell is not professional wrestling.

 

[Mr_Ratings]

Thanks for sharing your feelings. In 2002, Hogan wrestled a match against the guy who was already the company's top draw, and would retire 2 years later. So let's set the bar at 8-plus years; can you tell me what Hogan has done since then?

Beyond the things I've already mentioned, which apparently you find it beneath you to address, we have Hogan's stint in TNA. At least Ric Flair, while having wrestled far past the point he should have, is able to contribute in a significant way to producing something of value for wrestling fans by cutting great promos and giving the rub to up-and-comers. What has Hogan given us? Abyssamania.

Hogan is not some kind of sympathetic figure, and it's beyond me why anyone would make him out to be one. The guy routinely screwed over his fellow wrestlers, and took for himself without concern for how it would affect those around him. Hell, we could look no further than Wrestlemania 2 or 3, I forget exactly which it was, when Jesse Ventura tried to unionize all the guys backstage before the event, and Hogan basically said 'no dice.' The guy has always been out for himself, and his recent exploits have made that glaringly apparent.

Actually he had a very entertaining feud with HBK in 2004. Yeah HBK carried that feud with the AMAZING promos he cut ( I still youtube that promo he cut in montreal where he teased a Hitman return LOL ), and he carried Hogan in the match and made the match look decent. But Hogan's legacy and star power certainly gave that feud the extra juice it needed to have. So lets set the bar at 6 years not 8.

Btw I'm pretty sure 99% of us would drop what were doing atm to take a pic with hogan and get his autograph just to show other people that we were in his presence. He is the Micheal Jordan of wrestling without a doubt.

 

[Cookie14]

I don't think you can say Hogans legacy has been damaged in any way because no-one can take away his achievements in wrestling or his impact within the business.

However, over the past few years it has become harder to be a fan of Hulk Hogan or Terry Bollea. His TV series 'Hogan Knows Best', and him being in TNA has shown him to be a money driven, egotistical idiot. (traits that seem to be shared by the rest of his family, but that's for another day)

Hogan will always be a legend, but he continues to alienate himself from fans. His ego demands him to be in the spotlight but one day people will stop paying him to make appearences, especially since TNA has proved that he is no longer a draw. I can only wonder what he will do then.

 

[Tech N9ne]

Thanks for sharing your feelings. In 2002, Hogan wrestled a match against the guy who was already the company's top draw, and would retire 2 years later. So let's set the bar at 8-plus years; can you tell me what Hogan has done since then?

Beyond the things I've already mentioned, which apparently you find it beneath you to address, we have Hogan's stint in TNA. At least Ric Flair, while having wrestled far past the point he should have, is able to contribute in a significant way to producing something of value for wrestling fans by cutting great promos and giving the rub to up-and-comers. What has Hogan given us? Abyssamania.

Hogan is not some kind of sympathetic figure, and it's beyond me why anyone would make him out to be one. The guy routinely screwed over his fellow wrestlers, and took for himself without concern for how it would affect those around him. Hell, we could look no further than Wrestlemania 2 or 3, I forget exactly which it was, when Jesse Ventura tried to unionize all the guys backstage before the event, and Hogan basically said 'no dice.' The guy has always been out for himself, and his recent exploits have made that glaringly apparent.

Technically since he faced The Rock at Wrestlemania 18, he shortly there after won The WWE Championship. Beating (Mr. WWE) Triple H for that title. He had a few feuds as that year wore on. He had another match with The Rock (The Big Rematch) at No Way Out 2003. Where once again, The Rock went over him.

Then, in a pretty big angle, he squared off with Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 19 in what could be considered as one of the biggest matches ever. Not one of the best matches ever. But considering their history of the 20 plus years prior, and what was going on leading up to the Mania encounter. Definitely one of the biggest and most anticipated matches ever. Which Hogan won obviously.

He did make numerous returns through the years following. Including being inducted into the HOF and also a dream match with HBK that he won.

I am not talking about any backstage circumstances or anything about any of these examples. My point was he had done plenty since 02.

 

[PhD]

Think about that one for a second and combine that with the fact that you weren't there to see what went down should tell you that all you are stating is speculation and not fact, if you passed this off as opinion I'd give you some props and reply to you with a little more tact. But since it seems you are trying to pass this off as fact labels you as a total smark that truly knows nothing about pro wrestling.

So in closing, I don't know what it is you have your PhD in, but it sure as hell is not professional wrestling.

I really don't see how you can dog me for speculating on the kind of person Hogan is when all you've done is just offer repeated apologies for the guy that are simply speculation of a different nature.

The original post was "has Hogan tarnished his legacy?" I say yes, and given that were constrained to speculative opinions in this case, that's where I stand. Perhaps you're familiar with the expression 'if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...' Sure, maybe Hogan isn't a total piece of shit, and he's been victimized by circumstances beyond his control, but it seems highly unlikely given the propenderance of circumstancial evidence to the contrary. Do you think anyone in the business would actually give Hogan the kind of impassioned defense you outline here?

And really, the fact that you have to resort to calling me a smark and hurling personal insults shows that you have nothing of substance to respond to my original claims. And to top it off, you leave me a negative rep, just because you disagree with me? Go blow it out your ass.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

I really don't see how you can dog me for speculating on the kind of person Hogan is when all you've done is just offer repeated apologies for the guy that are simply speculation of a different nature.

The original post was "has Hogan tarnished his legacy?" I say yes, and given that were constrained to speculative opinions in this case, that's where I stand. Perhaps you're familiar with the expression 'if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...' Sure, maybe Hogan isn't a total piece of shit, and he's been victimized by circumstances beyond his control, but it seems highly unlikely given the propenderance of circumstancial evidence to the contrary. Do you think anyone in the business would actually give Hogan the kind of impassioned defense you outline here?

And really, the fact that you have to resort to calling me a smark and hurling personal insults shows that you have nothing of substance to respond to my original claims. And to top it off, you leave me a negative rep, just because you disagree with me? Go blow it out your ass.

Nope, not apologizing for anyone or anything, just telling it like it is and calling out someone who can't think beyond the same old trash that everyone else likes to think they know. You haven't the faintest clue of what goes on behind the scenes in pro wrestling and neither do I for that matter. Hogan's backstage antics or anyone else's for that matter have no true bearing on what he accomplished in the ring and the success he helped generate for professional wrestling in the 80s, 90s, 2000s and to a smaller degree today. So Hogan's legacy which should be focused on within the ring and nothing more, has not been tarnished in my view. My only reason for presenting the argument is plain and simple, the character and the man behind the character are two different entities, and I already admitted here on this thread that the personal life and media circus that has exposed it have not painted the man in the best light, and for all I know he's probably someone I would not care to really associate with. But my basis as a fan is in regards to the Hulk Hogan character and not Terry Bollea the man himself, which you seem to want to spend more time attacking than anything else.

As far as insults and name calling go, you are the one that can take credit for getting that ball rolling bossman, after all if you have a problem with how Hogan handled himself backstage that's perfectly fine, but you clearly presented your argument in a totally negative fashion right out the gate, calling the man a self absorbed prick, while that may very well be true, if you want to have anyone with half a brain take your opinion seriously try to avoid the expletives. I know this isn't supposed to be a formal place per se, but at the same time, we really don't need to use derogatory terms, if you want to get your point across regarding your displeasure in something try to think of something a little more constructive, as far as airing out details on this thread about rep that is something that shows an extreme lack of tact on your part, and considering how disrespectful you were towards other posters on this thread by not giving a constructive argument and using vulgarity laden vocabulary you can definitely bet I am going to call you or any other user out. By my stating that I was not there to see what went down backstage during Hogan's career is being down the middle about something and being as close to unbiased as I can, but just the same, I realize that entertainment figures are probably the least likable people when you come down to it. Anytime something involves big money, you can bet the worst in people could come out. It's funny that you are only continuing to show vulgarity towards me when all I did was challenge something and in my opinion I showed plenty of substance in my statement, because how can any one of us on this forum claim to accurately describe people that we have only seen on television and don't truly know in an intimate sense. Answer that one for me, if you truly feel that I am wrong on anything I disagreed with you on.

 

[CH David]

Does a bear shit in the woods? I don't see the point in all the semantic quibbling over what it means to "tarnish" a "legacy." The fact of the matter is that Hogan hasn't done a damn thing for the business of wrestling in the last 10-plus years. He hasn't put anyone over, he hasn't worked any good or meaningful matches, and he hasn't contributed really anything of value, entertainment or otherwise, to anyone who works in, watches, or gives a shit about professional wrestling.

Other than The Rock, he never really put anyone over in 20 years. Is he an egotistical ass? Sure. But his legacy as the greatest professional wrestler of all time is still intact.

What has Hogan done then you may ask? Had an ugly divorce that makes pro wrestling look like a completely white-trash enterprise, shown that he has idiotically squandered the greatest fortune ever amassed by a single wrestling performer, made himself and his family look like a bunch of jackasses on his absurd reality show, and nearly permanently crippled himself by continuing to milk his legacy for every last penny.

What does his personal life have to do with his professional life? Not a damn thing. Hogan didn't tarnish his wrestling legacy because of Hogan Knows Best or his divorce.

While acknowledging what he's meant to the business in his long career, it would be foolish to argue that his twilight years have not tainted his public persona at least moderately. Regardless of what the man on the street thinks about Hogan, wrestling has always been a marginal enterprise, and esteem among the hardcore community actually does matter. Do you think the fact that most people don't know Stone Cold was a wife-beater doens't tarnish his legacy?

Public persona and legacy are two different things. My view of Hogan's public persona is he is an egotistical cunt. My view on his legacy is he is the greatest professional wrestler ever. His wrestling legacy isn't tarnished even if public perception is because no matter what, he was the man to launch the WWF and pro wrestling at WrestleMania III, and he launched WCW in '96 with the nWo.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Other than The Rock, he never really put anyone over in 20 years. Is he an egotistical ass? Sure. But his legacy as the greatest professional wrestler of all time is still intact.

I think The Rock was the best of some of the major stars he lost to in that 2002 run. It was similar to Andre losing to Hogan 15 years earlier. If Brock Lesnar had stuck around in WWE, I think Hogan's loss at his hands would have been just as prominent but alas we knew what happened there. But despite my fandom and defense of my points in previous points, I definitely can't argue with the egotism, I think a lot of that speaks for itself.

What does his personal life have to do with his professional life? Not a damn thing. Hogan didn't tarnish his wrestling legacy because of Hogan Knows Best or his divorce.

Absolutely on the head there with that point, and besides if anyone else in the wrestling biz was offered that gig, they'd take it in a New York Minute. I have to admit though, as a Hogan fan, I LOATHE Hogan Knows Best, but that's only because I am not a reality TV fan to be honest, but for someone in his position that could not wrestle full time anymore it was the only logical move, because let's be honest I don't see New Line Cinema greenlighting Mr. Nanny 2 anytime soon.

Public persona and legacy are two different things. My view of Hogan's public persona is he is an egotistical cunt. My view on his legacy is he is the greatest professional wrestler ever. His wrestling legacy isn't tarnished even if public perception is because no matter what, he was the man to launch the WWF and pro wrestling at WrestleMania III, and he launched WCW in '96 with the nWo.

A harsh assessment to be sure, but at the same time you backed it all up man with strong points and an argument at least in my view. I respect that you have backed up your points with evidence and things that we can't deny unlike what I've read from other posters. You also acknowledge the difference between Hogan's wrestling persona and persona life/cross-over celebrity status. Not many people have been open minded enough to continue the discussion in that vein. Good posting dude.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

First thing, I don't think there's much of anything that can truly destroy his legacy. Hulk Hogan is the single biggest drawing wrestler in history, that will always be something to crow about and something extremely significant to crow about at that. No matter how much he may have sucked inside the ring, no matter what we've learned in the past 15 years through internet stories or interviews or DVDS or tell all books, the sheer numbers will always render Hogan a legend and that can't be denied.

However, I do believe that his legacy has been tarnished to some degree. I think one big reason why it's been tarnished is because we've come to find out about some of Hulk Hogan's behavior backstage. We've heard all the stories about him using his spot to hold guys down, we've heard about him making some downright outrageous demands at times, we've heard how WCW was basically his own personal playground for most of the time he was there and a million other things. It has changed my perception of Hulk Hogan to some degree. I guess, for me, it's kind of like learning that there's no Santa Claus or hearing that Superman refused to save the world if he didn't get paid 1.8 million bucks for a single fight. It's going to affect how you look at things.

I do believe that there's a place for Hulk Hogan still in wrestling. The problem is that the man simply does not want to let go of the spotlight and I do think it's hurting him to some degree. I would say for about 70% of 2010, Hulk Hogan has been the central figure of TNA Wrestling when it comes to overall on screen storyline involvement and that simply shouldn't be. I'm glad that he hasn't tried to be even an occassional wrestler as Ric Flair has been so that's one good thing at least. Jeff Hardy should be the "top heel" in TNA right now and he isn't, Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff are. I would love for Hogan to just step back.

I think something else that's caused people to have something of a more negative view about him has been all the stuff with the reality shows and the circus his divorce has been and the whole thing where he supposedly exposed himself on camera while Brooke was in the room. It does seem kind of unfair, on one hand, to view the guy outside of the ring when looking at his wrestling legacy. Generally speaking though, I'd probably agree with that assessment if Hogan hadn't courted the world and invited it into his life outside the ring.

 

[realoldskoolfan]

i'm not going to get into an argument about this because i am not a Hulk fan, never have been, never will be, and i have a strong opinion about his place in TNA. all i will say is i watched the documentary about him last night,"Finding Hulk Hogan" and he says in there that he needed to come back for one more match and he needs to be out there on TV because its whats best for TNA. he goes on to state if he could, he'd be the top guy in the company and have the belt. then he goes on to say he doing this for money since hes lost all his to Linda in the divorce. this should about sum it up. IMO after hearing these comments, hes tarnished.

 

[Rasha]

Here's one thing that always crackes me up about Hogan critics... this knock on him for "never putting people over." Tell me, when was the last time that The Undertaker put someone over? How about Steve Austin during his run? How about Sting? The truth is that the legends in the business, more often than not, are not spending a lot of their time putting others over. Yes we have some grand examples like Andre putting Hogan over or Flair giving the rub to Sting, but those are more exceptions than the rule. And unfortunately for Hogan, he's simply not one of these guys who can have an hour-long match and put someone over even while winning in the end. It's a limitation that has nothing to do with his attitude; just reality.

Also, don't these guys have bosses? Don't you think Hogan's dominance has been largely due to the direction of McMahon and Bischoff? Think about it... nobody wanted to see Hulk Hogan lose. We can retrospectively bash Hogan for always winning, but the truth is that THAT's WHAT THE PEOPLE WANTED back when he was on top. And during his WCW run, the guy had almost disappeared from relevance before the heel turn and the nWo. Bischoff was the guy who flipped the script and made him a dominant force again. Maybe Hogan used some political power to keep it going longer, but he didn't stride into someone's office in 1996 and say "I WANT TO DOMINATE AGAIN!"

I'm not trying to be an apologist, but I just think it's become cheap and easy to bash Hogan and it's pretty ridiculous sometimes. He's the reason many of us are even on this board having this debate right now.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Here's one thing that always crackes me up about Hogan critics... this knock on him for "never putting people over." Tell me, when was the last time that The Undertaker put someone over? How about Steve Austin during his run? How about Sting? The truth is that the legends in the business, more often than not, are not spending a lot of their time putting others over. Yes we have some grand examples like Andre putting Hogan over or Flair giving the rub to Sting, but those are more exceptions than the rule. And unfortunately for Hogan, he's simply not one of these guys who can have an hour-long match and put someone over even while winning in the end. It's a limitation that has nothing to do with his attitude; just reality.

Also, don't these guys have bosses? Don't you think Hogan's dominance has been largely due to the direction of McMahon and Bischoff? Think about it... nobody wanted to see Hulk Hogan lose. We can retrospectively bash Hogan for always winning, but the truth is that THAT's WHAT THE PEOPLE WANTED back when he was on top. And during his WCW run, the guy had almost disappeared from relevance before the heel turn and the nWo. Bischoff was the guy who flipped the script and made him a dominant force again. Maybe Hogan used some political power to keep it going longer, but he didn't stride into someone's office in 1996 and say "I WANT TO DOMINATE AGAIN!"

I'm not trying to be an apologist, but I just think it's become cheap and easy to bash Hogan and it's pretty ridiculous sometimes. He's the reason many of us are even on this board having this debate right now.

At least the last couple posters on this topic have shown some sense and tact, Rasha, you made some VERY good points on what you just mentioned about Hogan. The truth is you are right that is what people wanted, and there were only so many people you really wanted Hogan to lose to back then as well. Hogan was a different type of persona that you just couldn't have lose to just ANYBODY. Hell when you think about it Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund had that same aura to them as well as Steve Austin later on when he hit it big in the WWF. And at least you are not judging these people's personas based on their real life scandals or whom they may be outside o the ring, because none of us know who these people are and what really makes them tick. Idol worship I notice tends to convolute many people's arguments on these boards. Which in turn I think causes threads like this to be created in the first place, however the OP did start a really good topic though and it's a very credible idea for a thread, it's just that some posters on here went and said some groundless things that were just plain ridiculous.

A good point you mentioned about Hogan was that he could not have hour long matches, very good point, Steve Austin I don't remember had many of those either in his WWF heyday. In fact very few big time stars in the promotion with the exception of the workhorse technicians like Michaels and Hart can admit to going in for the long haul like that. Although Triple H and The Rock who are definitely different in that respect style wise did an AWESOME job of that ten years back. It's possible that we could have gotten that out of Hogan in his early days in WCW where he was considerably leaner after his WWF heyday, he might have been able to pull off a marathon match with Ric Flair at that point, but for someone of his style a 20 minute plus match like his WCW debut had been was pretty impressive. So yeah, I don't think we can deny Hogan used politic power, that's never what this argument has been about, but he sure as hell couldn't have been the only one and even he couldn't get his own way all the time if we all go back and remember what WCW was like in its last couple of years.

Plus you make a great point about the influence of McMahon and Bischoff, while I can't deny that if you are in the position of stardom like Hogan is, you do have a lot of leeway, but considering the reputation we hear that Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff have where they like to control a lot of things, I can't help but to wonder, why people are so quick to think that Hogan could boss Vince McMahon around of all people, especially considering that Vince is the guy that runs the show. I can see the argument about his WCW stint because I have no doubt that his prior stardom wrote his ticket, but as we saw later on in his stint, when he was supposedly the prime suspect in WCW's demise, he must not have had too much control. Because think of it, if Hogan really controlled everything in WCW, how the hell did David Arquette ever get to be WCW Champion? Hogan still had some time left in WCW to intervene on that, and somehow even he couldn't stop that Russo booking move. It just makes you wonder what really goes on behind the scenes.

But anyway, as great a forum the internet is to communicate with people it also has the ability to make us read and believe a lot of the stuff that's posted out there, and a few people will believe Hogan's tarnished his legacy, realoldskool did make a strong albeit brief point about his anti-Hogan stance and from his perspective I can't argue with him, I may not agree entirely with it. But he made a good point, the fact that Hogan's personal life keeps coming up on television shows and what not, it may not speak too well on his image, but then again this is what show business is about and Hogan's merely playing a game that he put himself into the position of playing, despite how grotesque a media circus this whole thing has been for the past few years. So I can see how the media circus surrounding his family tragedies can be a tarnishing of his legacy but in no way should backstage politics accusations should be, at least in my opinion. Anyway man, good posting, look forward to hearing more from you!