destroy our society? Nuclear weapon proliferation, AIDS, poverty,
global warming, and the impending fuel crisis are commonly known
threats to society. However, there is a rot in our society that has
gone completely unnoticed. It is aggressively unhealthy, wasteful,
and useless. It is our obsession with sports. It floods the media,
drains our time, and all it does is fuel more devotion to sports.
It's not that sports are inherently unhealthy, but the fact that, as a
nation, we are obsessed. When Rome fell, it collapsed around the
Colosseum.
It is undeniable that our modern society has a sports addiction.
Every major city in America has erected sports stadiums. The
tremendous ticket sales pay the multimillion dollar salaries of the
athletes and coaches. TV networks and cable stations cover the games
live, and news programs review the results and highlights. Newspapers
discuss and comment on the games the next day, and the cycle repeats
itself.
This media bombardment has a visible effect on the American
population, dangerously consuming our emotions and brainpower. Sports
are a central topic for conversations and arguments everywhere in
America. The commentator's words are like the Word of God; the
statistics he mentions are unquestioningly quoted word for word by
anyone debating the topic. Fans (short for fanatics) often know the
whole history of their favorite team, and know countless random
statistics. Can you imagine how much time and money is wasted each
year on the media publicizing sports? Can you imagine how many
problems we could solve if we spent a fraction of that time and money
educating the public on the importance of healthy eating or the
dangers of substance abuse?
It's true that sports have redeeming qualities. They teach
discipline and teamwork, and that results come from sweat and hard
work. But for all the time and money invested into sports, what is
the result? What purpose does it serve? No matter how many times a
sports team grabs the national championship; they'll never grab the
cure for cancer. Regardless of how many millions of dollars spent, or
how many hours they train, they'll never fix the hole in the ozone
layer. America's fixation with sports tragically drains our energy
and talents, and it wastes our potential to really make a difference
in the world.
This is an article that I wrote a while back. It got published in the Palatine Countryside newsletter that goes out to the whole city of Palatine, Illinois. Tell me what you think!
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40 comments:
hey kevin, are you trying to start some kind of revolution?
heh, i'll have to agree with you. the article definitely deserved to be widely publicized, because it really got me thinking.
sports will never die. when the economy crashes, baseball and football will still go on...that's reality of life.
I don't see anything wrong with sports inherently, the problem arises when it becomes such a huge obsession for such a large number of people. It's OK in moderation, but I know people who know every single vague statistic and factoid about the history of their team. Isn't that excessive?
You miss the pressing issue, sports are entertainment and offer escapism, nothing more, nothing less. Of course there are more pressing matters in the world, but you act as if every single person in the business is wasting their time.
Sports also provide civic pride, have you ever seen a Euro Match? I don't even like soccer, but hell they are nuts over their teams. My question to you is, why can't we have sports and find a cure for cancer/ other detriments. The answer is we can.
You also forget that every single major sports entity has some sort of charity that raises billions of dollars; and the fact that athletes serve as role models.
Have you noticed why cities build stadiums? They can house events, festivals, and attract major sporting venues that bring in large amounts of money. For example, the 2006 Superbowl generated over $300M that all went to the city of Detroit.
Another thing that bothered me, you imply that no one pays attention to the major problems in the world, but you fail to realize that sports and "problem fixing" aren't mutually exclusive. No one is saying that sports should take precedence over larger issues.
tl;dr version: you're making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Let me ask you this.
Is escapism the right solution to our problems? The ostrich would say yes, but I think it's better that we confront our problems head on, rather than diverting what precious little attention and precious resources towards some form of 'escapism.'
When Rome was collapsing, it fell for two reasons. One was obviously external, but the other reason is that the populace was made into apathetic sheep. The masses were entranced by gladiatoral matches, and wasted all their time and energy cheering on gladiators rather than taking care of pressing issues.
Sports brings in money, but it doesn't "generate wealth." It produces nothing.
And although you think otherwise, it is either or, not both. Sports competes with actual issues for air time in every major news broadcast, for newspaper space in every major newspaper, and replaces important subjects in conversations.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with sports. I'm saying there's something wrong with the excessive passion and devotion and time and money we give to it.
The fact of the matter is that while what you say may be true, it doesn’t really matter. It’s not as if the government or anyone can actually do anything about it. It’s worst than complaining about how English majors don’t really contribute to society. Also, everything that you said can be applied to every service industry in America (they don’t actually produce anything, people just pay them for a service), sports just happen to be more popular than most other industries.
Everyone has a hobby; I don’t see how you can say that people whose hobby is sports and know a lot about sports are wasting any more of their time than people with different hobbies.
James, you're absolutely right about the fact that the argument can be used on many people's hobbies. And I really hope that people look at themselves and thing about where all their time is going? Sports fanaticism is an easy target, because it is our nation's biggest, most well-organized, and most wasteful form of escapism.
Also,
do you really think that no one can do anything about it? This is not a gargantuan physical task, like building the Pyramids. This is simply about changing people. Whatever happened to the pen being mightier than the sword? People die, but ideas are immortal. If you agree with me, then help spread the idea to others.
Also, James, you can't compare sports to service industries. Service industries provide real, tangible services to a person.
If you want to compare sports to something, compare it to supermarket tabloids and celebrity gossip. People's actual lives are consumed by their dedication to following every move of their favorite players and teams. Whole newspaper sections and whole TV channels watched by millions aren't dedicated to any service industries I'm familiar with. People are filling their brains with tons and tons of knowledge they'll never use, unless they play Trivial Pursuit. Can't you see how tragic this all is?????
1. Sports is a service industry, it provides entertainment to people. Also, I think you're also ignoring the fact that it creates jobs and gives a lot of advertising opportunities.
2. Are you saying that we should abolish the entire service industry and hobbies in general? I'm sorry Kevin, I just don't see your argument. Sports is no more wasteful than TV, movies, or most any other hobby/service to the individual participating in the activity.
3. By the way, I said that the government can't change it because that would be socialism, and that no individual can because it's too big and doesn't actually hurt anyone.
4. The fact that whole sections of the newspaper is dedicated to sports means that it helps support the news. If it wasn't there, newspaper sales would drop drastically.
James, I repeat, how can you not see the tragedy of it all? Just because other people are doing other things just as bad doesn't mean we should wave our hands and surrender!
OMG, stop burying your head in the sand, and pretending all the problems don't exist! As we speak, children around the world are being orphaned by HIV. Their parents are dying! As we speak, there are women around the world who are forced to sell themselves to feed their dying children and their dying parents.
Can you imagine that ever happening to you? How would you like it if that happened to you, and you begged and pleaded someone, anyone to help you? And instead of helping you, they said, "Hey shut up, I want to watch my favorite sports team play a game against a team they've already played 100 times in the past, again!"
And you're worried about "hobbies"????? ????? ????? ????? How much I would bet that the gang-rape victims of war-torn Africa would give anything in the world to live a single day of your whimsical life, where the only care is that you have is your "TV/movies/hobbies."
I hate to be Debbie Downer, but the reality is the reality. I simply cannot understand.
How you can excuse and be complacent with this gross injustice!
I don't understand why you are not angry!!!
I don't understand why you are not mad as hell!!!
And to top off the grand tragedy, isn't it funny that the United States, the sports fans' paradise, has some of the highest obesity rates in the world! How interesting is that? The one societal benefit that sports could reasonably provide, has clearly failed.
"OMG, stop burying your head in the sand, and pretending all the problems don't exist! As we speak, children around the world are being orphaned by HIV. Their parents are dying! As we speak, there are women around the world who are forced to sell themselves to feed their dying children and their dying parents."
ZOMG, QUICK, SOMEBODY CALL THE NATIONAL GUARD.
Dear Mr. Toaster, get of your pedestal :-P
The problems do exist, but you are forgetting that we already have groups that help others and you are forgetting that you can have both. Jeez if you're so self-righteous, why arent you in Africa right now instead of ranting on a blog.
get off**** your pedestal
I don't think kevin is being self-righteous. he has his indulgences too, but his point isn't necessarily to criticize sports only. what i got from it is that people don't quite grasp the reality of the problems in this world, and this naivety is further shrouded by our obsessions.
also, i'm sure kevin will enter his profession performing work heavily centered about philanthropic ideals, so he's not one to say something without walking the talk.
I like kevin's article. It's a totally different point of view than what people normally think of everyday
ThankTank, making fun of me isn't going to win you this argument.
I may be the Boy Who Cries Wolf, but the Wolf is freaking here already. Did you hear me? The Wolf is freaking here, and all the baseball statistics in the world aren't going to save us.
I'm sorry I've only skimmed the comments after my most recent one, but how do sports contribute less than people that research English literature? From what I can tell, any system of thought that considers sports a drain on society would also consider those a waste, and would somehow restrict those too. You can't objectively say that "intellectual pursuits" are more noble than money making, job creating, entertainment. I'm not actually against English literature Ph.D.'s, I'm just trying to show you how extreme and impractical your argument truly is.
Mr. Toaster I hope you didn't get too mad, not trying to make fun of you. Just lighten up, bud. However,when you talk about sports and other issues competing for time. I just don't see it. Every major outlet will put the biggest news story, no matter what it is, on the front page. If you're mad that there's a sports section, just remember that newspapers are a business as well and follow the "give the people what they want" mantra (whether you agree/disagree with this is another story).
Another thing, you can have all the people that spend their time spending their resources on cures for cancer etc., but the problem for all of these research topics isn't manpower, but funding.
Plus, why do you hate sabermetrics so much? I find it fascinating b/c its another application of math. Sports also let us try new medical procedures (TJ surgery, orthopedics, the frozen saline treatment that can lessen the effects of neck injuries that can lead to paralysis).
If people know every vague stat/record about their team, doesn't that just show that they're dedicated to something they love? I am sure that you would remember everything important to you, so why can not fans? What I am saying is, who is to judge what is excessive and what is not? Are these super-fans endangering themselves or their loved ones?
Once again, no one is stating that there are no world-wide problems, but you are putting the blame on the wrong entity/act.
Just to nitpick, "'Hey shut up, I want to watch my favorite sports team play a game against a team they've already played 100 times in the past, again!'" I know you are joking, but seriously making fun of rivalries or sports season b/c teams play each other more than once is just asinine. Not every team is the same from one game to the next.
hm, dunno if this has been brought up. We believe in lengthening the lives of people and heightening the quality (food, medicine/drugs). But I sincerely believe that for many people, sports is able to help bring in an aspect/quality of life that other things can't fill. Take an arthiritic old baseball fan (ThankTank when he's older). You can make him happier by spending a lot of money curing his arthiritis, or maybe you can just turn on the game =P.
James,
No one reads or writes about "English Literature" except a small few. No one erects giant, expensive monuments as a testament to the greatness of "English Literature". No one devotes entire weekends of their life to and memorizes everything about "English Literature."
If, for some reason, our whole nation were more obsessed the "English Literature" than with sports, I would have criticized that instead.
I don't expect to change all your minds today. I can't tear down someone's whole worldview right away.
But I hope that I've planted the seeds. One day, I think that you'll see what I see.
that sounds so insidious ^^
And Joey, I think that void your talking about is easily filled with altruism. Easily.
nah, not everybody got a passion for altruism...it doesn't satiate bloodlust (...need for adrenaline) like shouting at a television, other fans, and celebrating without a shirt while memorizing stats.
Could we get one instance in our times when sports/hobbies prevented us from helping the world? Did 18-1 mean that we no longer care for our fellow beings? I guess everyone was distracted watching and forgot about HIV/AIDS. Sounds like this article is pointing the finger at he wrong source of these problems.
Look at Rome. What happened to that empire?
"Could we get one instance in our times"
Look, the sports obsession of America is very, very recent. It's only been like this for the past 40 years or so. That's why there are no historical examples. You're wanna know what damage sports and TV addiction does to society? You're looking at it. We're living in it right now.
One of the things you keep bringing up, HotLikeAToaster, is that the Roman Empire fell because of an obsession with gladiatorial games. I think that's a very, very simplistic view of the end of the Roman Empire. There are so many factors in its fall. Are you seriously just placing the blame on sports? Where's the overwhelming historical evidence for this assertion?
You're right, there were many factors that contributed to its fall. But why did the public not do anything about these factors? Is it possible that it's because they were entranced by sports?
Rome was not a democracy. The vast majority of people hovered around or below what we would consider the poverty line today. I don't think they didn't do anything to prevent the fall of the empire because they were to entranced with sports - they were too busy trying to survive. The imperial government was no longer effective because of a decadent lifestyle cultivated by generations of easy living in the upper echelons of society. The army no longer had the same discipline as Julius Caesar imposed in the first century BC.
You can't place the living standards of the populace in today's industrialized countries within the context of the late Roman Empire. Attitudes towards societal problems then were totally different from today's because the general populace didn't have the means to know about them. Supposedly, spectator sports were a means of "distracting" the masses from the problems around them. I don't think that's the case nowadays. Politicians don't point to sports and say, "Look!" in order to distract people from political and societal problems.
I agree that more energy could be spent in solving today's problems. But like someone said, part of the problem is funding, not manpower. I personally think it is fear and apathy that stops us from dealing with global problems. It's a fear of not surviving which produces that apathy - we all have our own personal problems to deal with; why should I care about the person who is suffering in Africa, let alone the person who sits next to me in class? If we could collectively transcend that fear, that selfishness, and begin to think about the community of humanity and begin to love one another as we love ourselves - then we can begin to hope to bring an end to the problems of this world.
That sounds really idealistic - but that's what I believe.
Some sad things to note, but they do show how important sports are, whether you dislike/like them:
No one would have ever heard of ALS if it weren't for Lou Gehrig.
Many people would still believe HIV/AIDS only effects homosexuals if Magic Johnson didn't reveal that he is HIV+.
Both of these instances have directed attention towards these illnesses. Sports can't be all that bad....
Good point. But are the upsides worth the downsides?
Let me apply your argument to something more closer to each of us:
If it weren't for George Bush being in power for 8 years, we wouldn't have Barack Obama and the Democrats.
Is that a good reason to praise George Bush?
hahahha i showed this article to my roommate... a pretty big sports fan... he got all defensive about it hahahahhaa
he said you should stop complaining and write something to try to innovate somethin rather than trying to get people who like sports entertainment to stop watchin sports hahaha
but i got him dont worry. My neutral argument won. =P
lol what's your "neutral argument"?
"Supposedly, spectator sports were a means of "distracting" the masses from the problems around them. I don't think that's the case nowadays."
Then explain for me, why is it that cities are so generous in tax-breaks for sports teams to build massive stadiums? Why is it that cities compete to be the home of any given professional sports team? Why is it that all of our public schools spend so much of our tax dollars in our children's sports and coaches, rather than our children's books and teachers? I'm not against funding it at all, but paying a high school football coach $250,000 a year seems excessive. We would never pay a music, art, or English teacher that much.
"I'm not against funding it at all, but paying a high school football coach $250,000 a year seems excessive. We would never pay a music, art, or English teacher that much."
Except at IMSA, and except for Casey :-P
lol that douchebag
i agree, but we shouldn't talk bout martias like that...
hehe jkjk
heh, this is a bit late, but i found this saved as a draft on my account today...
so my take on sports:
sports is an easy way to flaunt power and might, look at the 2009 summer Olympics in China, billions of dollars were not only spent on building a brand new stadium, but also on the ridiculously extravagant open ceremony. through the Olympics, China is flaunting her physical strength through the athletes, and power in her mere numbers, money, creativity, technology, along with many others. think about everyone working in the sports industry. they are not all athletes and coaches. sports provide opportunities for journalist, film makers, actors, doctors, and even lawyers. how many people would lose their jobs if the sports industry went down?
i think sports is a way of showing the inherent animal part of us. rather than battling, we engage in fair games. to me, obsession with sports will never die because it satisfies our animal-like craving for strength and power. it's a way of life for many.
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