the american male's sports-obesession

has it always been like this? is it a cultural thing? do YOU think it's become so big, and with sooo much funding, to create a distraction from, let's say, issues that actually AFFECT people? what are your thoughts?


it's certainly something I don't understand whatsoever...WHY are grown adults paid tens of millions of dollars...so other adults can watch them run around a field/court throwing a ball? Its been said by others, but I've always felt this way- WHY do people rally over such trivial shit and say WE WON! ...when the team they associate themselves with, wins?


Sports are FUN- ok, I get it. competition is fun too, i agree. But how has this become the focal point of an entire nation? Even on days like today-Thanksgiving- most people think *food and football*


It's also worth noting that there seems to be a stereotypical "identity of masculinity" that ties into this equation too...as if it's considered manly by our culture to watch sports while drinking beer and telling the wife/gf to "leave us alone, the game's on." It seems to me like the average american male's obsession with sports is really a fantasy about "masculine ideals"- living vicariously through these sports figures to imagine the empowerment one must feel to be bigger, stronger, faster, etc than others. I watched an interesting documentary about steroids in america that tied in with this theme nicely...i actually think it was called "bigger, faster, stronger" or atleast that was in the title


...I remember as a kid, having to "fake my interest" in sports when my peers would discuss them, JUST so I felt like I could fit in. As an adult, I obviously feel no need to fit into the sports scene anymore just to be social




perhaps there are some RIU members from outside the USA who can let me know how much of this sports spectacle is just an american thing...and I want to hear other opinions on this subject too

Wish I had an answer, i like to play sports more than watch. And I don't play often. Watching a sport game is sort of boring to me, much like watching nascar. I just constantly think I could be doing something else or learning something.

Dunno, mang.

It's all about entertainment, and, the guys writing these players' checks are making the most money. If no one was going to make money, they wouldn't spend any money on the players. You could also ask, why does an ex-Meth addict felon and his family have a show about hunting bail skippers? Entertainment that somebody profits from.

Think of this also, and it's just like any business that makes a profit, it's nothing to spend a few million per month on a star player to hop around on the court when you'll be taking in a few hundred million on the aftermath. Ticket sales, endorsements, memorabilia, clothing and everything else that has the name of your player or team puts earnings in your pocket.

Everything you see on the "tell-lie-vision" is designed as a distraction. There are different programs for different peoples of all cultures. The truth that they are hiding is the fact that we are all slaves to a corporate oligarchy.

I haven't watched TV for 6 years, I might catch a movie once in awhile, or see what the latest news programs are presenting as "truth" now and again but overall most people watch more TV in a week than I do in a Year.

I can't stand to watch team sports, some of the individual stuff like in the Olympics is more to my taste.


TV is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFvT_qEZJf8&feature=related

Embedding was disabled, so click the link

agreed, the europeans and south americans dont even have a sport to watch....oh wait, they call it futball....it sucks! but those guys do it for free right? oh wait, no they get paid handsomely too. and when we have a foul, we dont wave some stupid little yellow card in a guys face. we actually have consequences like free throws, or yardage gains or penalty shots. not like a bunch of fags runnning around a ridiculously large field for no apparent reason, for several hours, just to figure out we have another 1 to 1 tie. how faggish.

and by the way you european snobs, we dont kill our athletes when they lose, we dont cause stampedes at stadiums and we dont have those stupid fucking horns that kids in the states used to play with in the 60's when we were ten years old.

ps you stupid fucks have pro b-ball leagues ? american. baseball leagues? american. so take your little pretty colored ball and kick it where the sun dont shine.

pss check the world wide tv ratings during the world series or superbowl. even the faggy nations watch...

jeff f said:

agreed, the europeans and south americans dont even have a sport to watch....oh wait, they call it futball....it sucks! but those guys do it for free right? oh wait, no they get paid handsomely too. and when we have a foul, we dont wave some stupid little yellow card in a guys face. we actually have consequences like free throws, or yardage gains or penalty shots. not like a bunch of fags runnning around a ridiculously large field for no apparent reason, for several hours, just to figure out we have another 1 to 1 tie. how faggish.

and by the way you european snobs, we dont kill our athletes when they lose, we dont cause stampedes at stadiums and we dont have those stupid fucking horns that kids in the states used to play with in the 60's when we were ten years old.

ps you stupid fucks have pro b-ball leagues ? american. baseball leagues? american. so take your little pretty colored ball and kick it where the sun dont shine.

pss check the world wide tv ratings during the world series or superbowl. even the faggy nations watch...

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lol!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey jeff! I hope you had a happy thanksgiving!

doc111 said:

lol!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey jeff! I hope you had a happy thanksgiving!

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had a great day doc. thanks for the well wishes. pretty normal thanksgiving though, a turkey took one for the team, i ate too much, and lions got killed...simply majestic!

oh yes, and somewhere there is a pig walking around missing a ham.

has it always been like this? is it a cultural thing? do YOU think it's become so big, and with sooo much funding, to create a distraction from, let's say, issues that actually AFFECT people? what are your thoughts?

I don't think it was set up to distract people, it seems like it just ended up that way as a consequence of, particularly, the American education system. Couple that with the glorification today's top athletes enjoy. Other nations have better education systems, so that leaves less recreational time to enjoy things like sports on the same level Americans do. America is wealthy, or was, so we also have the luxury of developing a culture based on sports.

it's certainly something I don't understand whatsoever...WHY are grown adults paid tens of millions of dollars...so other adults can watch them run around a field/court throwing a ball?

Agreed. Could you imagine we incentivized things like teaching, firefighting, saving lives in the fields of medicine, creating new technologies to help develop space exploration, etc. like we do sports? The possibilities are limitless.

Today what we have is athletes who sometimes get recruited from High School, know next to nothing in the way of history, science, math, ect., can barely speak a coherent sentence in proper English, have zero critical thinking skills, and get multimillion dollar contracts... Wonder what they do with all their money...

This doesn't apply to just athletes though, that should also be pointed out. Most anybody famous today falls into this category.

Its been said by others, but I've always felt this way- WHY do people rally over such trivial shit and say WE WON! ...when the team they associate themselves with, wins?

jeff f said:

and when we have a foul, we dont wave some stupid little yellow card in a guys face. we actually have consequences like free throws, or yardage gains or penalty shots.

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It's also worth noting that there seems to be a stereotypical "identity of masculinity" that ties into this equation too...as if it's considered manly by our culture to watch sports while drinking beer and telling the wife/gf to "leave us alone, the game's on." It seems to me like the average american male's obsession with sports is really a fantasy about "masculine ideals"- living vicariously through these sports figures to imagine the empowerment one must feel to be bigger, stronger, faster, etc than others. I watched an interesting documentary about steroids in america that tied in with this theme nicely...i actually think it was called "bigger, faster, stronger" or atleast that was in the title

jeff's whole post can attest to that. He proved your point wonderfully.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigger_stronger_faster

I don't get it either. Every time I see coworkers and friends watching the game or discussing the game I can't help but think how I have a laundry list of important things to do that never ends. I have no problem relaxing and wasting time, but on sports? Watching people I don't know play against other people I don't know in a sport I no longer play? And PAY exorbitant amounts of my hard earned cash to have the privilege of watching? I can't think of much that would be less fun, or a bigger waste of time. The game is inconsequential and doesn't affect my life in the slightest. I don't understand how it's entertaining. I get concerts, or movies, or tv shows. I do not get sports. I do have to feign interest though as EVERYONE is fucking obsessed. I would say without a doubt the favorite and most watched station of males I know is ESPN. By a long shot.

if you saw the mighty PHILADELPHIA EAGLES come back in the fourth quarter of todays game, you would never have asked such an assinine question. E-A-G-L-E-S

The Denver Post recently had an article about how poorly the economy is affected when the Denver Broncos are losing. Nobody here is better than their coworkers because they "have more important things to do."

What I am really having trouble grasping is how you all don't realize that the human craving for competition and seeing the worlds best athletes compete dates back to ancient times. Athletes in the past were treated as royalty, just as they are now. Same in other countries with other sports. How many of you all enjoy MMA? Surely none of you people "waste your time" with that. There are definitely bigger issues though, so why start this thread?

I'm with OP on this one I just don't get the whole sports fanaticism thing. Furthermore try going to a kids hockey or soccer game and just watch some of the parents. Should give you a pretty good idea of where these "super athletes" come from. Of course there are stereotypes associated with these athletes as well since they are not always dumb as a bag of hammers. Has all of this happened in the last 20 years? Seems to me I used to enjoy things like hockey, baseball, Stock Car Racing....20-30 years ago.....The Edmonton Oilers in the early 80's,,,,1979 first televised Daytona 500 now that was a race. My theory is that television has actually ruined organzied sports at least for me. Turned it into nothing but a giant coorporate advertising whore that's full of disease.

canuckgrow said:

I'm with OP on this one I just don't get the whole sports fanaticism thing. Furthermore try going to a kids hockey or soccer game and just watch some of the parents. Should give you a pretty good idea of where these "super athletes" come from. Of course there are stereotypes associated with these athletes as well since they are not always dumb as a bag of hammers. Has all of this happened in the last 20 years? Seems to me I used to enjoy things like hockey, baseball, Stock Car Racing....20-30 years ago.....The Edmonton Oilers in the early 80's,,,,1979 first televised Daytona 500 now that was a race. My theory is that television has actually ruined organzied sports at least for me. Turned it into nothing but a giant coorporate advertising whore that's full of disease.

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gotta say, that last sentence is precisely what i was thinkin when i made this thread


and to whomever said "sports are the heart of human competition, we've always had em, blah blah"...my need to compete in sports/hobbies fullfills my desire to compete and feel like a winner. I don't understand being a spectator of it though...last time I cared to watch a sports game was when I was a kid and needed others to constantly look up to.

jus sayin

cool good thread! what I really can't stand is that the most boringest sports are the most popular, not that I am or have ever been a sport fanatic. But come on, watching a ball being chased from one end of the field to the other, basketball, soccer, baseball, football, ect its all the same damn game. Hey I got an idea how bout everyone give me a 100$ fill up a stadium and you can watch me play with a laser pointer, you could bet on which side I'll point on. and it doesn't end there you either, you could chart how many shits I take a year. and trips to the fridge ect, and bet on that also.

Boxing and MMA on the other hand I have respect for, those guys work very hard for their paycheck, not to mention ther is more skill involved. and more intense training.

Although no sport should ever get so big, that they start to influence politics.

weedman82 said:

cool good thread! what I really can't stand is that the most boringest sports are the most popular, not that I am or have ever been a sport fanatic. But come on, watching a ball being chased from one end of the field to the other, basketball, soccer, baseball, football, ect its all the same damn game. Hey I got an idea how bout everyone give me a 100$ fill up a stadium and you can watch me play with a laser pointer, you could bet on which side I'll point on. and it doesn't end there you either, you could chart how many shits I take a year. and trips to the fridge ect, and bet on that also.

Boxing and MMA on the other hand I have respect for, those guys work very hard for their paycheck, not to mention ther is more skill involved. and more intense training.

Although no sport should ever get so big, that they start to influence politics.

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you have obviously never been on a football team, or any succesful sports team, if you think that mma guys are the only ones who work hard. go to the nearest shopping mall. walk around and pick out the biggest, fastest, strongest guy there. one over 250 pounds. have him run down the isle as fast as he can and knock you on your ass. then multiply your pain by 40. thats what it feels like to get hit by the kicker!

now strap hard plastic all over the guy and name him ray lewis and let him hit you. that or just stand on the train tracks until the next locomotive hits you. same results.

unless you played one of these sports, the average person has no idea the level of skill that these athletes possess, and the amount of punishment that the average NFL hit administers, or how tough it is to get a rebound, or hit a 100 mph fast ball that tails into your hands.

people who have played these games appreciate the necessary preparation and work at honing these skills. thats why we watch and are completely mesmorized by the level of play. its not the game, its the level of skill that professionals possess at playing that game thats keeps us glued to the screen.

Football/hockey players may train hard, and get hit hard and risk blowin out a knee or a concussion or somethin...but how about special forces people in the military, or anybody in the military for that matter? Could guarantee their training is 10x more intense, and their jobs are also 10x as dangerous...getting blown up, shot, captured and tortured, on a daily basis...yet, their pay is more than 10x less.

Athletes make way too much fuckin money already, and they still bitch about their multimillion dollar contracts.