Subject: an article for the dojo
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 13:29:46 EDT
From: ODariani@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Wizards of the Coast loves Mike Long and the 'Long' school of Magic.
Otherwise, with as much evidence of bad sportsmanship and cheating as they
have, he would have been banned years ago.  Besides his obvious infractions,
Mr. Long keeps an air of obnoxiousness about him while playing, evinced in his
'mind games' designed to disrupt an opponent's strategy or even the counting
of his graveyard or library.  The charges are well documented; I won't delve
into them here.  To summarize for anyone that may not know, his reputation is,
at best, dishonest.

        So why has this man won more money than any other Magic player has?  Why is
he able to get away with warnings instead of game losses and match losses
instead of disqualifications?  On the surface, the easiest answer is to
denounce the DCI for starmaking.  They don't want to discredit their star
player as, face facts, Mike Long is the biggest Magic name there is.  No one
wants to admit our pride, the man that made the national team three times, won
a Pro Tour and a Grand Prix is a cheat.  It is as irreverent as impeaching the
U.S. President; it has never been done before.

        The timidity of judging staffs is another place of blame.  Judges are,
sometimes, afraid to rule against Mike Long, who is notorious for tantrums and
shouting.  At PTQs and smaller events the level I judges and, even, the head
judges are worried that Long, who has played longer than most and knows the
rules backwards and forwards, might be able to prove them wrong, discrediting
and embarrassing them.  There is no excuse for this at the professional level,
where judges are picked both for their ability to handle uncouth players and
to spot and punish cheating.  Why did Long get away with only a match loss
when the judges found an essential card in his lap?  If I did it, they would
have thrown me out face-first.  I'd have been banned from the DCI for a year.
But not Mike Long.  Why does he deserve such special treatment?

        Is it a respect thing?  I've seen him bring his dog to tournaments in
buildings that disallow pets.  They cheerfully allow exceptions in exchange
for the publicity they get, saying "Mike Long was here."  This, in the same
place he was disqualified three years ago for playing all alpha lands and no
other alpha cards in a Type One tournament.  Why the exception for him?  Why
does the Magic community forget his past transgressions whenever it is
convenient?  Is he really that well liked?  That's not what I've heard.  There
were applause at Nationals when he lost in the Finals.  Were the applause
really for Matt Linde's win and National Championship (congratulations, Matt)
or Mike Long's loss?  If Long won, would the applause and congratulations have
been there for him?  Would the fans boo him off at the awards ceremony?

        The true reason the DCI keeps Mike Long  around is far more disturbing.  Any
institution as large and influential as the DCI could easily find an excuse to
ban Mike Long a hundred times over.  But they don't.  The psychological motive
behind it is great.  They keep him around for the same reason Big Brother, in
1984, keeps Emmanuel Goldstein 'around.'  They keep him around for the same
reason Batman and Robin never killed the Joker.  They keep him around for the
same reason that professional wrestling keeps the N.W.O. in the story:
everything needs a good bad guy, someone people can love to hate.  Long fits
this card perfectly.  He is a ruthless, ingenious player willing to break
rules and discredit the game in order to win money.  On top of those features,
he is a masterful player that, if he played honestly, wouldn't be that far
from where he is now.  The key is the choice, willful and freely, to be the
bad guy, fully knowing that public scrutiny will damn him in the eyes of his
peers.

        When the DCI looks at him, they don't see the cheating, the disrespectful
attitude or the scoffing of sportsmanship.  They see the average player
gunning to, one day, face off and beat Mike Long, the dream opponent and the
arch-nemesis of 'good' Magic players everywhere.  They see the kids
daydreaming of beating Mike Long and being carried off in a procession of
cheering and applause, as Matt Linde was.  They see kids dreaming these dreams
and buying the booster packs to make it happen.  They see more people coming
to PTQs to take a crack, for twenty dollars, at possibly winning a chance to
possible beat Mike Long on the Pro Tour.  They see empty shelves and lined
pockets.  The 25,000$ they shell out to call Mike Long Pro Tour Whatever
Champion comes back to them from players, in the interest of defeating him.
Yes, the amount of product Mike Long sells makes him worth the small amount of
flack they take for not cracking down on him.  After all, we can all afford to
make a few exceptions for this ambassador of the game, our superstar.