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Spectator Sports: Do We Really Need Them In Our Lives?


Principled Man
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It depends how you define 'spectator'

 

if you’re watching/listening to other people play sports, then you’re a spectator, be it on television, on the radio, or in person.

 

My question is: Do you “need” it in your life? If your favorite sports stopped for good, would it cause any real harm to you?

Nope.

 

I generally just catch highlights from time to time on YouTube, and really only get interested during the playoffs (or major events for golf, tennis, world soccer...). Big salaries, longer games and over-exposure pushed me away from my boyhood fascination with pro- and college sports.

 

It also seems to me that most popular sports in the US have morphed into something almost unrecognizable. An abandonment of fundamentals across the board.

 

Entertaining the mob/crowd has become far more important than playing the game well.

 

All that matters is scoring more and more points/runs, players doing larger on-field celebrations, Kiss Cams, and of course, the Patriot Games (anthems, soldier family reunions, jet flyovers, etc.).

Edited by Principled Man
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What LABT said: no one really "needs" spectator sports -- I'd imagine that for most of history, most people haven't had it...

Bread and circus has a long tradition, no?

 

1bb232152b1c40b30032c4f260b0320c.jpg

 

A long, intermittent history, yes, which is why I used the word "most!" The "gladiator" period of Rome wasn't even the whole duration of the Republic or Empire, and then it went away (even the lions eating the Christians, if you can imagine!). Every culture has had sports, but as a routine featuring large-scale spectatorship? Less so.

 

You're right to point to Rome, though, since the bread and circuses were designed to keep people from noticing too much how much their daily lives sucked. Very similar, really.

 

very similar indeed. imo it seems that spectator sports and their die hard fans are a modern day type of tribal warfare.

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It depends how you define 'spectator'

 

if you’re watching/listening to other people play sports, then you’re a spectator, be it on television, on the radio, or in person.

 

My question is: Do you “need” it in your life? If your favorite sports stopped for good, would it cause any real harm to you?

Nope.

 

I generally just catch highlights from time to time on YouTube, and really only get interested during the playoffs (or major events for golf, tennis, world soccer...). Big salaries, longer games and over-exposure pushed me away from my boyhood fascination with pro- and college sports.

 

It also seems to me that most popular sports in the US have morphed into something almost unrecognizable. An abandonment of fundamentals across the board.

 

Entertaining the mob/crowd has become far more important than playing the game well.

 

All that matters is scoring more and more points/runs, players doing larger on-field celebrations, Kiss Cams, and of course, the Patriot Games (anthems, soldier family reunions, jet flyovers, etc.).

 

and in some cases, sticking it to the tax payers!

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It depends how you define 'spectator'

 

if you’re watching/listening to other people play sports, then you’re a spectator, be it on television, on the radio, or in person.

 

My question is: Do you “need” it in your life? If your favorite sports stopped for good, would it cause any real harm to you?

Nope.

 

I generally just catch highlights from time to time on YouTube, and really only get interested during the playoffs (or major events for golf, tennis, world soccer...). Big salaries, longer games and over-exposure pushed me away from my boyhood fascination with pro- and college sports.

 

It also seems to me that most popular sports in the US have morphed into something almost unrecognizable. An abandonment of fundamentals across the board.

 

Entertaining the mob/crowd has become far more important than playing the game well.

 

All that matters is scoring more and more points/runs, players doing larger on-field celebrations, Kiss Cams, and of course, the Patriot Games (anthems, soldier family reunions, jet flyovers, etc.).

 

and in some cases, sticking it to the tax payers!

 

Well, since the mob needs so badly to be entertained, shouldn’t they pay for all the coliseums?

 

;) ;)

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What LABT said: no one really "needs" spectator sports -- I'd imagine that for most of history, most people haven't had it...

Bread and circus has a long tradition, no?

 

1bb232152b1c40b30032c4f260b0320c.jpg

 

A long, intermittent history, yes, which is why I used the word "most!" The "gladiator" period of Rome wasn't even the whole duration of the Republic or Empire, and then it went away (even the lions eating the Christians, if you can imagine!). Every culture has had sports, but as a routine featuring large-scale spectatorship? Less so.

 

You're right to point to Rome, though, since the bread and circuses were designed to keep people from noticing too much how much their daily lives sucked. Very similar, really.

Relatively speaking, their lives were great compared to the masses enduring life on the planet during that time. It's the paradox of peace, I think.
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There's another angle, though, isn't it? Are spectator sports in some ways actively harmful? Principled Man already mentioned gambling, and while fan violence in the US is rare, there are the occasional dumbasses -- like that Alabama fan (who just died) who killed a stand of famous trees on Auburn's campus with herbicides.

 

I can think of a certain NFL team with some obnoxious fans that have done goofy things in at least the last few years. You probably know who I am talking about here.

 

But like any art, it enriches our lives.

 

Can you explain this further? Seriously. I don`t see how sports enriches lives or adds any value. I only see problems it causes.

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But like any art, it enriches our lives.

 

Can you explain this further? Seriously. I don`t see how sports enriches lives or adds any value. I only see problems it causes.

 

Maybe! Sports is a kinetic, tactile performing art; it provides an appreciation for movement and coordination and form. It provides metaphors for so many struggles in life; organized sports often give young people some structure or motivation in lives that otherwise lack them; it provides a sense of community (the good kind, in addition to the mob kind); it is an entry point for conversation; and it is a mirror for learning about our society (Houston, we've got some problems).

 

Sometimes I think of that line from City Slickers when the Daniel Stern character is trying to explain to the super-attractive Helen Slater about the obsession with baseball, and he says that as a teenager, when he and his father couldn't talk about anything, they could still talk about baseball. And even though I get that's a fictional character, those lines were written by real people who probably knew that real feeling. And if they were anything like some people I know, sometimes, when they were talking about baseball, it wasn't just baseball, if you see what I mean.

 

Would people (men, mostly) be better off dealing more honestly with their emotions, rather than sublimating them through sports? Probably. But that doesn't mean that sports are not also a legit means of relationship building.

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There's another angle, though, isn't it? Are spectator sports in some ways actively harmful? Principled Man already mentioned gambling, and while fan violence in the US is rare, there are the occasional dumbasses -- like that Alabama fan (who just died) who killed a stand of famous trees on Auburn's campus with herbicides.

 

I can think of a certain NFL team with some obnoxious fans that have done goofy things in at least the last few years. You probably know who I am talking about here.

 

But like any art, it enriches our lives.

 

Can you explain this further? Seriously. I don`t see how sports enriches lives or adds any value. I only see problems it causes.

 

There is the obnoxious side of sports fans but I think of all the games I have attended and how I have made friends I never would have met but for our love of the team. How many great plays I saw (even though I was freezing in the stands) seeing teams go undefeated and to a bowl game. Getting to go to watch a bowl game on my tenth wedding anniversary. Watching minor league hockey teams win championships over many years, it has all been worth it.

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