"The athletic arena is the one thing that unites us.
It takes away racial and religious affiliation." --
Phladelphia Eagles defensive tackle Corey Simon, quoted
in The Washington Post 2003-10-03.
Corey Simon has no idea how little some people care about sports. It doesn't unite me with anything. If anything, it divides people like me from the people who do care about sports.
Super Bowl XXXVII TV audience: Last year's game was the most watched program ever with 138.9 million viewers. The 10 most-watched programs in TV history are all Super Bowls.
Given that some of those people don't care about sports, and are watching to see the halftime show or the commercials, I suppose that counts as a unifying effect. But that's less than half the US population.
I'd like to see Corey Simon go best two falls out of three in an intellectual sudden-death cage match with Noam Chomsky on this one. The linguist extraordinaire, who actually is a sports fan (unlike myself), says the opposite (in Harper's and in Secrets, Lies, and Democracy). Sports are inherently divisive practices -- it's always Us against Them (go Team!).
The snarky half of me wants to append to the pithy thentiment "...unless you're Rush Limbaugh, in which case racially-motivated comments about athletes are par for the course, even on national television." Would that be mean?
Okay, here I go. Again. Professional sports unite no one except the people making money from them. Owners, players, bookies, advertisers, ticket scalpers, and I don't know who all else. And they don't like each other. They're all just trying to get as big a cut of the cash cow as they can. The players play (admittedly united) against another team hard because if they win or do something clever on the field they might get more money next year, or trade up to a better team that will pay more. Fans sit there and actually care, (admittedly united in rooting for their side and therefore against the other), vicariously scoring a shared victory or defeat of some sort, to feed the cow. 18:18
I suppose the practice of sport helps bleed off some excess energy that might become aggressive tendencies among those so constructed for it. (Oh yeah, well, we don't know what_hasn't_happened. I seem to recall violence problems with various players from all sports except maybe tennis.) And for watchers, again vicarious struggle. Those who can't do, buy a ticket.
Then there are sports among the youth leagues. Can't we teach them to put their energy into cleaning up a riverbank or building a playground in a low income area? Heave go the dead tires. How far and how many can_you_toss? Bang go the nails. "That's all you've finished? Look at this." All that young energy and those young minds harnessed to human good instead of beating another team.
It probably has to do with my being small, lacking depth perception, and just not being interested in running around with a ball when there was a book somewhere waiting for me that wouldn't be a source of humiliation.
My old boyfriend and I used, every year, to take a walk around and look at the blue glows in the windows of houses where the Superbowl was on. And wonder, and laugh at the people who thought it was worth watching. We'd listen to the hush. I no longer mock overtly, but I do still wonder. Maybe someday I'll understand. Maybe someday I'll be less cynical. Yeah, right, sure.
So no, I don't think sports unite much of anyone, not really. Except maybe teammates who aren't trying to be better than each other or everyone else.
I'm not going to make wild claims about sports uniting everybody, but in the US, professional sports were integrated earlier than a lot of other things.
It unnerving to think that sports is one of the few parts of life where people sometimes care enough about competence to make it a deciding factor.
See also _Moneyball_ (about the intelligent application of statistics to baseball by Billy Beane of the Oakland A's)--a combination of focus and lack of money led to recruiting players who were too short, fat, old, and/or crippled to be of interest to the other teams--and got a very respectable win percentage by choosing players by their records rather than by how they looked.
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QoD
Does anyone *really* believe that? "Oh, we're all so unified...except the gay player. He has to shower alone..."
blinders
Super Bowl XXXVII TV audience: Last year's game was the most watched program ever with 138.9 million viewers. The 10 most-watched programs in TV history are all Super Bowls.
Given that some of those people don't care about sports, and are watching to see the halftime show or the commercials, I suppose that counts as a unifying effect. But that's less than half the US population.
Phhhhft!
The snarky half of me wants to append to the pithy thentiment "...unless you're Rush Limbaugh, in which case racially-motivated comments about athletes are par for the course, even on national television." Would that be mean?
--?!-
Howdy...
We've met a few times over the years (on the 'net, at Arisia in 93, couple of FanTeks) and I've always thought you were pretty cool.
Sports & Unity
18:18
I suppose the practice of sport helps bleed off some excess energy that might become aggressive tendencies among those so constructed for it. (Oh yeah, well, we don't know what_hasn't_happened. I seem to recall violence problems with various players from all sports except maybe tennis.) And for watchers, again vicarious struggle. Those who can't do, buy a ticket.
Then there are sports among the youth leagues. Can't we teach them to put their energy into cleaning up a riverbank or building a playground in a low income area? Heave go the dead tires. How far and how many can_you_toss? Bang go the nails. "That's all you've finished? Look at this." All that young energy and those young minds harnessed to human good instead of beating another team.
It probably has to do with my being small, lacking depth perception, and just not being interested in running around with a ball when there was a book somewhere waiting for me that wouldn't be a source of humiliation.
My old boyfriend and I used, every year, to take a walk around and look at the blue glows in the windows of houses where the Superbowl was on. And wonder, and laugh at the people who thought it was worth watching. We'd listen to the hush. I no longer mock overtly, but I do still wonder. Maybe someday I'll understand. Maybe someday I'll be less cynical. Yeah, right, sure.
So no, I don't think sports unite much of anyone, not really. Except maybe teammates who aren't trying to be better than each other or everyone else.
That was one provocative quote.
(no subject)
I'm not going to make wild claims about sports uniting everybody, but in the US, professional sports were integrated earlier than a lot of other things.
It unnerving to think that sports is one of the few parts of life where people sometimes care enough about competence to make it a deciding factor.
See also _Moneyball_ (about the intelligent application of statistics to baseball by Billy Beane of the Oakland A's)--a combination of focus and lack of money led to recruiting players who were too short, fat, old, and/or crippled to be of interest to the other teams--and got a very respectable win percentage by choosing players by their records rather than by how they looked.