THE SPORTING SCENE I am absolutely amazed at the importance of sports in our culture. Do you know what a sport is? There is some debate on the subject. I once heard one of those commentators, I think they're called color commentators, say that he didn't believe that figure skating was a sport. And then again you have fishing being called a sport and driving cars real fast and (are you ready or this?) lately ESPN has taken to broadcasting poker championships! Poker! Have you ever looked up the word "sport" in the dictionary? I have. Here it is:
1 a : a source of diversion : RECREATION b : sexual play c (1) : physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2) : a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in 2 a : PLEASANTRY, JEST b : often mean-spirited jesting : MOCKERY, DERISION 3 a : something tossed or driven about in or as if in play b : LAUGHINGSTOCK 4 a : SPORTSMAN b : a person considered with respect to living up to the ideals of sportsmanship <a good sport> <a poor sport> c : a companionable person 5 : an individual exhibiting a sudden deviation from type beyond the normal limits of individual variation usually as a result of mutation especially of somatic tissue synonym see FUN
I took this directly from the online Merriam Webster Dictionary. I hope they won't mind a little sport with their website. I'm going with the very first definition: a source of diversion. A sport is nothing more than a diversion. In case you have any doubts about what that is, here's the defintion:
1 : the act or an instance of diverting from a course, activity, or use : DEVIATION 2 : something that diverts or amuses : PASTIME 3 : an attack or feint that draws the attention and force of an enemy from the point of the principal operation
This time, I'm going with number two: pastime. The bottom line is simple. A sport is something extra, over and above that which is necessary; stuff like food, clothing and shelter. And the very fact that we spend so much time (and money!) on something that isn't necessary is proof positive that we've got a lot of time on our hands, all dressed up and no place to go, so to speak. Do you know what really gets me? The color commentators I mentioned. They get paid millions of dollars to do nothing more than talk about the sporting activity being broadcast. And we wonder why the rest of the world hates us? In case you don't see what I'm getting at, let me spell it out. We spend millions and millions of dollars on something that isn't even necessary, a diversion, a pastime, a form of recreation, while countless millions all over the world are lacking in the necessaries I mentioned; you know, little things, like food, clothing and shelter. As if that weren't enough. We seem to have no qualms whatsoever about virtually raping the planet to carry on like this. The last time I checked, Americans were by far the most aggressive consumers in the entire world. And what do you think it is that we're consuming? In a word, resources, a lot of which don't come from our own back yard. And all the while we keep talking about how free we are! But this is what we do with our precious freedom? Immerse ourselves in sporting activities? If freedom is so precious why don't we do something precious with it? Maybe it's just me, but somehow I have a hard time thinking of a sporting event as something precious. When I channel surf and come across one it just doesn't feel like an activity that's worthy of that kind of esteem. Precious? Somehow, I don't think so. The only thing I see is a lot of people with disposable income and time on their hands, time that they have no better way of filling than to watch someone else participate in a pastime. Spectator sports. Aptly named. Basically, I see a lot of people who don't have a life of their own. They've been given a life to live (now there's something I'd consider precious), but they haven't quite figured out what to do with it. It's like they've given up on the whole thing and completely immersed themselves in someone else's life. They watch other people at play, and talk about other people at play, even talk about the way other people (commentators) talk about it. We send our irreplaceable (and quite often finest) young men and women off to die in some foreign land to defend our right to waste our time in the pursuit of vicarious pleasures and pay color commentators millions of dollars every year to do nothing more than talk about activities that are totally unnecessary. What's wrong with this picture? Yeah, sounds like something I'd be willing to sacrifice my life for.
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