I´m sorry Agassi fans, but he´s a sell out.

[Fee]

Originally Posted by Love Game

yep. missed 'em all. so thx for filling me in.

Guess that means his kids wont be playing pro tennis!

If he hated tennis so much, he could have admitted the truth about the meth at the time it was discovered. It's a very unflattering fact about him that he was willing to throw somebody ELSE under the bus by lying and claiming that assistant had spiked his drink. Too bad he was willing to throw an innocent man under the bus with lies in order to keep on playing the sport he says he hated.

What's wrong with that story?

A multi million dollar contract with Nike is what's wrong with that story. Although tennis is a solo sport, Agassi was (and still is?) a brand, an image, a CEO of Agassi, Inc, if you will. Nike had invested so much in him, including the jet and I believe a few staff people to handle his fan mail. If he had been suspended for his meth use, the damages would have rippled out far beyond one tennis player. I don't think it was just fear of his father that made him sit down and write that lying letter to the ATP. Perhaps he felt the weight of many lives on his shoulders. But that's just a guess on my part.

[8pNADAL]

"open" is going to go down as the most successful autobiography of all-time according to reviews, so thank you agassi for deciding to write it

[Morrissey]

Originally Posted by Ripster

Yeah right, because he's really revealing all this information to sell a book. Agassi is set financially for life he doesn't need the additional income from this book. Plus he's already sacrificed much more time and money for charity than Sampras ever has. Get off your high horse.

I respect Andre even more - not for doing meth obviously, but for having the guts to come out and tell everyone when it would be so easy to keep it secret.

It' not about the money for him. He's always been an attention getter. This type of thing brings him back to the spotlight, which he never has enough of. If it means selling other people out, then that's a line he has no problem crossing.

[Morrissey]

Originally Posted by Joe Pike

If he puts a big amount of it - as he surely does - into his charities then that's OK with me.

How many millions have you spent for charity?
Not even one?
How comes it then that you have such a big mouth here?

It doesn't matter what I did, do you know what I do? Do you know what cause I stand for? No you don't. This is an open forum and I said my peace about Agassi. I'm not making false accusations in here like some of you are with another player. I'm going based on what is documented and giving my fair opinion. Don't like it? **** off. How about that?

[Morrissey]

Originally Posted by Cindysphinx

^^ :soft chuckle:

You know, I don't think I'll take the time to explain things to you.

Really, who cares?

Cindy -- amused that anyone could say that "we're all FAR better off for knowing the truth" but glad that Datacipher's life now has more meaning because Agassi blabbed this stuff

Yep, that's pretty much it. A life story and the ATP being dissed for 30 bucks.

[Morrissey]

Originally Posted by fps

there is not a chance that the timing of this admission has been planned without the intention being to do what is best for andre agassi financially. he could have admitted his failed test was his own fault in 1997, at any point afterwards in his career, or at any point since he retired, but he kept it to himself and will now profit from it at the time in his life when it suits him to come clean, because he has no more money to make from the tennis circuit, but DOES have a product to sell with the whole juicy episode served up inside.

every autobiography has some of its juiciest details leaked to the press to build hype around the book so it sells more copies. it's part and parcel of promoting the book.

That was well put. I couldn't have said it better. Good stuff.

[Hypatia]

Originally Posted by Datacipher

Agassi bowing to pressure from a publisher is quite different than Agassi worrying about being "embarrassed" from slow sales. LOL. Of course the publisher worries about sales. I find a few of the other "explanations" plausible, though I think you are all doing the typical TW grasp at straws to explain something that really doesn't need explanation. Agassi decided to reveal a couple "bombs"......

Well, it's not that different. Agassi could have accepted a smaller advance, but he didn't. He would have known what was expected of him for such a big chunk of change. In addition, it's common practice to submit a proposal to prospective publishers, and had Agassi done so, that proposal would have outlined what he was prepared to write about. I'm sure Agassi realized that a book with personal revelations was likely to have broader appeal than a book that focused on the tennis court.

[big ted]

i am surprised so many ppl are upset with him for exposing what is the truth... if he was as self serving as some say, he would wait until AFTER his Hall of Fame inductment to come clean or not come clean at all ....

[35ft6]

Originally Posted by Morrissey

Bash me all you want. The guy is a media *****. Why does he reveal this now that he´s retired? Simply because he needs something controversial to sell books. I guess telling the truth comes at a price of 30 bucks a copy. I´m just voicing my opinion but I have to express how I feel despite your reactions. He threw the game of tennis under the bus for his personal gain. After hearing all the stuff that he´s revealed so far from the book, I´ve lost alot of respect for the man. I guess I underappreciated Pete for simply being himself and just being true to who he was and not trying to play up to the media. Agassi put himself above the game of tennis when the sport possibly let him off the hook for what he did. Now he called them out for the favor they gave him by not suspending him. That´s low.

This makes absolutely no sense to me. I believe he has sincerely changed quite a bit. I think he's coming clean for whatever reason and I don't see why anybody should be condemned for telling the truth especially when it makes them look bad. You really think this is going to hurt tennis? In what way? All the sports have survived drug scandals. They're thriving.

[CCNM]

Some folks take sports WAY too seriously....

[some6uy008]

It is amazing how some people are so butt hurt by his confessions. People are taking personal offenses on what he has done. Lets put things back in perspective; he is a tennis player, he didn't exactly sell Government secrets to the Russians, or embezzled billions of dollars of employee pension. If anything, his life decisions affected him and his family.

I don't understand why some people are are so dismayed over this.

[TheTruth]

Some people view him as a hero.

Some people view him as a sellout.

What's so hard to understand?

Everyone has a right to their opinion.

I'm in the sellout group.

[Mick]

selling out is dangerous business.
the crazy guy who killed john lennon, killed him because he thought lennon had sold out (after he had read the book the catcher in the rye)

[SquashPlayer]

I think never before from the Tennis world have we gotten a bunch of poseurs like we've gotten in the aftermath of the Agassi "confession" to using Meth. The Royal Poseur award goes to Navratilova, who compared Agassi to Roger Clemens. Well.

I was a Navratilova fan when it wasn't in vogue, when she played the role of the villain opposite the people's hero, Chris Evert. I could care less that she is gay, and I felt for her given her tortured career. I admired her work ethic and intellect.

No more.

It wasn't just the Agassi comment. She's been chipping away at respectability for a while now. Now she's put the nail in it.

Observe:

1) the details revealed of her private life don't reveal a giving considerate person, she apparently discarded her last partner like trash

2) in recent years, observing her combative commentary on the air, it's really grated on me. It's not that she's not entitled to her opinion, it's just that she's frequently dismissive of her broadcast partners (maybe like her private life partners)

3) now, the Agassi comment

Out of left field. Makes you wonder what kind of relationship was there beforehand that she so quickly took the opportunity to pounce.

Comparing Agassi to Clemens ? Lets see, she fails the intellect test there.
Clemens was a starting pitcher when he took performance enhancing drugs, and that is alleged. Agassi ? Out of the top 100, the drug he took wouldn't help him crush any backhands, far from it. I wonder if Agassi's religious beliefs are what is at the heart of this attack.

I'm done with Navratilova. She's an aging, self-absorbed poseur