On the contrary, Mr. Rossi, what we are seeing is the very essence of sportsmanship. Whether it's the exacerbation of national rivalries that you want—as in Africa this year—or the exhibition of the most depressing traits of the human personality (guns in locker rooms, golf clubs wielded in the home, dogs maimed and tortured at stars' homes to make them fight, dope and steroids everywhere), you need only look to the wide world of sports for the most rank and vivid examples.
Yes, yes, I know about Invictus and am a slight friend and strong admirer of the author of the original book. But it was the use of rugby and other sporting cults to reinforce and exemplify apartheid that had been the problem in the first place. And no clear-eyed observer of the South African scene thinks that the Invictus moment was any more than a brief pause in the steady decline of friendship between the country's ethnic groups: a decline that has much to do with sporting rivalries and the idiotic loyalties and customs on which such allegiances depend. So here's something so toxic that it's even Mandela-proof.
Meanwhile, the sponsorship racket means that a string of thugs and mediocrities is regularly marketed and presented for "role modeling" purposes, and it's considered normal for serious programming to be postponed or even interrupted if some dull game goes into (the very words are like a knell) overtime.
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Hitchens said:
I can't count the number of times that I have picked up the newspaper at a time of crisis and found whole swaths of the front page given over either to the already known result of some other dull game or to the moral or criminal depredations of some overpaid steroid swallower. Listen: the paper has a whole separate section devoted to people who want to degrade the act of reading by staring enthusiastically at the outcomes of sporting events that occurred the previous day. These avid consumers also have tons of dedicated channels and publications that are lovingly contoured to their special needs. All I ask is that they keep out of the grown-up parts of the paper.
Or picture this: I take a seat in a bar or restaurant and suddenly leap to my feet, face contorted with delight or woe, yelling and gesticulating and looking as if I am fighting bees. I would expect the maitre d' to say a quietening word at the least, mentioning the presence of other people. But then all I need do is utter some dumb incantation—"Steelers," say, or even "Cubs," for crumb's sake—and everybody decides I am a special case who deserves to be treated in a soothing manner.
Noticed how the sign of a bad high school getting toward its Columbine moment is that the jocks are in the saddle?
He loved to scream "what is the #1 priority of this university, education or sports? Sports!"
He was so angry at then UH football coach June Jones for making $800,000 a year, that he blamed EVERY problem in Hawaii on the coach's salary (which by the way, is chump change compared to what coaches at Alabama, Florida, USC, Oklahoma and even SMU [June Jones' current school] make) When the video projector wasn't working ... guess what he blamed it on? The school spending "too much" on the coach's salary! Your car got broken into? "It's because the cops not making enough money because we spend too much on the coach's salary! " (He actually said something like that, I'm not making that up!)He even blamed "sports" for teen smoking & teen drinking because tobbacco & alcohol companies advertise at sports venues!
And this complaining about UH spending too much $$$ on sports is Bull-Nonsense! The UH's athletic budget is chump change compared to the athletic budgets of Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame, Florida, etc.
3) So why all the hating from Christopher Hitchens and Gordon Knowles?
Here are comments to Hitchens' editorial
http://www.newsweek.com/id/233007/output/comments
Posted By: mfohl @ 02/15/2010 1:32:49 PM Mr. Hitchens has exactly the mentality he decries in sports fans. He is violently opinionated, and has all the facts to back up his opinions. Take it easy, fella. It's better to yell at, or against, a sports entity than it is to yell at something "more civilized".
Posted By: hamlet7 @ 02/15/2010 1:22:39 PM Mr. Hitchens would be well advised to heed the wisdom of the late Earl Warren. When asked why so important a person read the sports pages before he read the front page the Chief Justice replied,"I want to read about man's achievements before I read about his failures."
MPosted By: Kutzscher @ 02/15/2010 2:57:03
Mr. Hitchens, You have rightfully staked your claim as the ultimate naysayer and curmudgeon over many years, and I enjoy your informed point of view immensely. On the subject of the Olympics, however, you have missed the mark. You sound like the nerdy kid in class who just wished that the jocks would go away so you could finally be popular. Your dislike of sports is your own choice, but you are clearly writing on a subject about which you are clueless. I just hope that my faith in you, my assumption that you are well informed when you give your contrary points of view, is otherwise justified.
Posted By: newsweekandsportsfan @ 02/12/2010 3:41:54 PM Dear Chris: Sorry you got picked last to play dodge ball in grade school and were the first to get ???tagged??? out. You should try your best to get over those days; you???re an adult now. Besides, the world needs drama queens like you just like it needs sports heroes. Glad I won???t have to fight you for a spot in front of the big screen at my local sports bar!
The last point is something I want to address!
Anybody who was in my PE class knows I sucked at sports. Slow runner, slow reflexes! But I could never understand why people would hate somebody just because they're good at something they suck at!
I mean, even if I was unathletic, I still respected the athletic skills of Micheal Jordan, Deion Sanders, John Elway, Hakeen Olajuwon, Ken Griffey, Evander Holyfield, Oscar De la Hoya, and other stars who were at the top of their game when I was growing up
Even at a young age, I understood it's better to focus on what you're good at, instead of having hateful envy at those who are good at other things!
It's called maturity!
4) I earlier mentioned that sports allow people of cultural groups to get along!
It also gives tough guys from hard backgrounds an incentive to strive for something that is legal!
I mean, if you're on a school sports team, and you gotta make the grades, you have an incentive to actually study and stay out of trouble! Especially if you want a college scholarship!
I'm not saying sports make people perfect. Arts, sciences, and math don't make anyone perfect either!
But many can say being on a sports team gave them an opportunity to get a college scholarship and do something with their life, even if they don't make it to the big leagues!
The haters will point out some college athletes who flunk or commit crimes! That's stereotyping! Besides, even the astronauts at NASA have gotten into trouble with the law! Doesn't mean they're all going to get in trouble with the law!
The haters will also whine "why is it that people in the ghetto focus only on sports for a chance to make it out of the ghetto, what about those who are unathletic!"
The answer is to expand opportunities for both the athletic and the non-athletic!
Sure, not every kid is interested in sports, but not every kid is interested in the arts or the sciences either!
5) Enough hating already!
Just find something you're good at, and focus on that!
