Chris' Response to Super Sports entry

I missed this in my inbox before I sent the last call for respones....

[edited for length, but great perspective. I expected Chris to chime in with a fun, crazy
send-up of the whole issue, but he provided a fans-eye view, which is great]

Howdy Chad,
I read you and Tim's Super Bowl blogs. I'm not a blogger, as I was not, at one time, a disk golfer [? - chad] but I think you hit on some interesting points. I grew up in a place where there was not a professional football team any where close. So, I have never had the opportunity to form an allegience to a Football team. My college team was never that great and I always thought that the best(and cheapest) seats were at home. I was able to form a connection with the one professional sports team that did exist in my home town and became a devoted fan. Each of the two straight years that I watched the Utah Jazz make their way to the finals, I was on a month long high. Just counting the hours until the next playoff game. Watching these games in Alaska in mixed company, I was actually involved in brawls that were the result of passionate fans having objecting view points on different calls and plays. This was great!
I loved feeling so much a part of a team, just as a fan. I actually felt I could will them good energy and perhaps even sort of pray for them in a sense. Even Though Jordan stopped the Jazz both championship bids. (everyone knows he pushed off on Russel to get open on that last
second winning shot) [hell yeah, he did - chad] I derived an immense amount of pleasure from these contests. I imagine if I had grown up in Seattle or Pittsburgh, I would have gotten a lot more out of the Super Bowl than I did. Super Bowl Sunday is like another holiday to me, a holiday in which we celebrate the importance of spending time with good friends, eating good food, enjoying the excitement of a good contest and laughing at our own silly commercial culture. I could care less how much those money those athletes make or how blond that commercial chick's hair is.

If You Win, You Win

Following the thread here, and appreciating Doc for his comments. With more great opposing viewpoints like that we could have some real fun on these blogs. I think I got you on points today though, Doc.

First, big schools who win big games do get TV revenue and indeed may help buoy academic programs at those schools, but small schools (read: most schools) are forced to try to compete, often at the expense of academics.

Athletic spending grows as academic funds dry up - USA Today 2-18-2004

As far as your statement, Doc, "Do you think if there was no NFL, that all the kids in America would be playing sandlot football all the time? Probably not."

And being very smart-assed and satirical here, but I'm glad mass-mega-national sports came along in the last 50 years to give children the motivation to play sports, which they had been doing in some form for thousands of years.

In addition, I think pro athletes are very, very poor role models in general, except for rare players with respect and civic-mindedness like David Robinson. I think the Rasheed Wallaces of the pro ranks often lead children to throw away plans for a real, sustainable, satisfying life in favor of a shot at a dream that even 98 percent of college athletes fail at, according to one source.

I'm with you on the giant shuffleboard, I mean curling. That shit is dope, yo. It may be that it has been the only Olympic sport on when I get home from work, but I like it a lot. Here's a page on curling terminology. Link

Peace.

Response to Super Sports blog entry

This is a response from my buddy John "Doc" Peery of Sac-Town, CA. to the last entry.

"I think you are ignoring the benefit of college sports in promoting the image of the school, generating revenue for recruiting, and fostering school spirit. I may be wrong but I think most of the football programs in the US college system are self supporting and I think they also generate enough revenue to pay for the less popular sports programs, which wouldn't exist otherwise. So they don't take money away from academics - and I don't think money is the whole problem in academics anyway, but that is another debate.

"I think you also ignore how the pro sports give kids athletic motivation. Do you think if there was no NFL, that all the kids in America would be playing sandlot football all the time? Probably not. It is the role models, and I use that term loosely, that give kids something to shoot for. Watching pro sports, in all their overhyped glory drives us all to want to do something physical. It is our own fault if we choose not to.

"Aside from that, I was totally bored and unimpressed with the superbowl. It was so anticlimactic.

What about the Olympics? I love the olympics. I am obsessed. I've watched every minute of coverage so far. Yeah Tivo. I am looking for a place to get into Curling, but it is hard to find a place to go for that. Too bad most of our athletes are such prima donnas though. I still love it. I almost cry every time I see us on the podium with the national anthem playing.

Later,

JP"

Super Sports?

On Tim's blog, he recently expressed apathy about the outcome of the Super Bowl, and I'd have to agree, I think. I have gone back and forth on this a bit, because I do see that sports bring some joy into people's lives. But what I have decided is that the focus should be on sports participation, sportsmanship and mature sports appreciation. I get more of a kick out of city league softball than from watching the best NFL or MLB players in the world. I also, of course, get more exercise. I think the frenzied mass fanaticism of national football or whatever leads to bad sportsmanship and its just so commercialized I can't enjoy it anymore. Watching the Syuper bowl this year, I also realized something about commercials. My friend Candice was groaning about a commercial with a big-breasted brunette losing her shirt strap, and I initially thought she was being overly sensitive because these images are ideals, like the guys on the field, who are bigger and more muscular than I am, but I don't care. But then I thought if it was reversed and the commercials were all about muscular guys flexing their muscles and women going goo goo for them, I might find it pretty disgusting and feel like my society was ignoring the beauty of the normal person. So there's that also. But I think I'm even over the whole Beavers vs Ducks thing. It's all just taking away money from academics and I think I will be focusing on getting money for education for the rest of my life. So that's quite a lot of mixed-up issues, but that's where I'm at.