Ban Professional Sports: Should We Take Precautionary Measures?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the potential dangers of professional sports and whether precautionary measures, including a ban, should be considered. Participants explore various aspects of sports, including health risks, societal impacts, and the role of sports in providing an outlet for aggression. The conversation touches on both theoretical and practical implications of sports in contemporary society.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express concern over the health risks associated with watching sports, citing research that links intense viewing to increased heart attack risks.
  • Others argue that sports serve as a necessary outlet for human aggression, suggesting that banning them could lead to negative consequences.
  • A few participants propose humorous or alternative solutions, such as delaying broadcasts to avoid intense moments or interspersing calmer sports like golf during tense games.
  • Some contributors challenge the notion that sports should be regulated by authorities, questioning the role of Congress in addressing issues like drug use in sports.
  • There are claims that sports can foster interest in mathematics and statistics, countering the argument that they are purely detrimental to society.
  • Several participants express frustration with the idea that sports should be banned, arguing for the importance of moderation and the benefits of entertainment in life.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus; multiple competing views remain regarding the value and risks of professional sports. Some advocate for caution and potential bans, while others defend the importance of sports as a cultural and social outlet.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include varying definitions of what constitutes a health risk, differing views on the societal role of sports, and the subjective nature of entertainment value. The discussion reflects a range of personal experiences and opinions without resolving the underlying tensions.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to those exploring the intersection of health, society, and entertainment, as well as individuals concerned about the implications of sports culture in modern life.

  • #31
LightbulbSun said:
Are you looking forward to Super Bowl XLII? In fact, I hope this game goes on for 12 hours just "chasing the ball." Who do you think can chase the ball better? My bet is on Randy Moss.

Of course I'm looking forward to the game! I want the Pats to go for a perfect season! The superbowl party that I'm going to is hosted by some of our friends that are against the Patriots. So I'm going to paint my face and run into their door with a huge flag just for reactions :biggrin:.
 
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  • #32
Math Jeans said:
Of course I'm looking forward to the game! I want the Pats to go for a perfect season! The superbowl party that I'm going to is hosted by some of our friends that are against the Patriots. So I'm going to paint my face and run into their door with a huge flag just for reactions :biggrin:.

Stick a Patriots flag on their roof.
 
  • #33
I'm not a football fan by a long stretch, and only watch the Superbowl to get the quarterly scores so I can see if my wife won big bucks in her pool from work. It would be nice to see the Pats go perfect, though, just because so many of my friends and neighbors would freak! The Patriots are the nearest national franchise team, so lots of Mainers have adopted them.

You ought to ask around and see if you can borrow a tri-corner hat from some re-enactor or rent one from a costume shop. Wear that to the party - just make sure that it doesn't get stomped to little bits by grieving NY fans if Brady and Moss come through big.
 
  • #34
LightbulbSun said:
There are no sports I can think of where the objective is to just "chase the ball."

Lacrosse
Soccer
Football
Basketball
Baseball
Tennis
Polo
Volleyball

Are you sure you did any thinking here?

But hey, I already know what you're going to say (YOU NO CHASE BALL!), so I will retort with:

Oh RLY? Then how come when someone hits the ball in Baseball, people run after it?

How come when someone kicks the ball in soccer/football, people run after it?

How come when a ball comes to your side of the court in Tennis, you run after it?

The only sport that involves a ball where you don't chase it is Golf. There you casually walk after it.
 
  • #35
Poop-Loops said:
Lacrosse
The objective is to outscore your opponent by getting the ball into the goal.

Soccer

The objective is to outscore your opponent by getting the ball into the goal. The means for doing so is probably the closest thing to saying "chasing after the ball."

Football

The objective is to outscore your opponent by driving the football down the field and get the game ball across the end line. You don't chase after the ball at all. If you drop a pass attempt you gain nothing.

Basketball

The objective is to outscore your opponent by getting the ball into the basket which requires precision skills.

Baseball

So a baserunners objective is to chase after the ball on contact? So a hitter should be running at the ball when the pitch is thrown?

Are you sure you did any thinking here?

You should be asking yourself this question.


But hey, I already know what you're going to say (YOU NO CHASE BALL!), so I will retort with:

Oh RLY? Then how come when someone hits the ball in Baseball, people run after it?

I'm not sure what version of baseball you're watching, but this is far from the truth.


The only sport that involves a ball where you don't chase it is Golf. There you casually walk after it.

So are we just going to ignore the basic objectives of a game and just continue to say "see...see you're not stationary so therefore you just chase after the ball!?"

I deal with this ignorance on a constant basis because people don't even bother to understand the basics of a sport before arguing against it.
 
  • #36
So nobody goes after the ball in any of those sports is what you are saying?

Like, when Basket Player X has the ball, the other team doesn't try to get it back?
 
  • #37
Poop-Loops said:
So nobody goes after the ball in any of those sports is what you are saying?

Like, when Basket Player X has the ball, the other team doesn't try to get it back?

Yes, you're right. The other team wants to be in possession of the ball so they can score, and ultimately outscore their opponents. But the means for doing so is different in each sport so each sport has a different skill set. Of course there's some form of running involved. I don't know of a sport which requires remaining stationary. However, you simply took this and equated it as sports= chasing after a ball, which is simply an ignorant statement to make.
 
  • #38
But at the very core, that's what you do. When the ball is on the ground, lying there, people are running for it. That's running after the ball. When some guy grabs the ball, everybody else now runs after him, to get the ball. That's still chasing the ball.
 
  • #39
Poop-Loops said:
But at the very core, that's what you do. When the ball is on the ground, lying there, people are running for it. That's running after the ball. When some guy grabs the ball, everybody else now runs after him, to get the ball. That's still chasing the ball.

I wouldn't define it as such because that omits a lot of events and would confuse someone trying to learn a sport. I would define it more as the defense trying to "stagnate/hinder ball movement" and ultimately reverse ball movement in their favor. While the offense is trying to progress ball movement. Baseball is a little bit different in terms as the pitcher is trying to reduce contact and reduce advancement of baserunners while the batter is trying to increase contact and advance bases and baserunners to ultimately score a run.
 
  • #40
LightbulbSun said:
But the means for doing so is different in each sport so each sport has a different skill set.

The problem I have is that there is ZERO skill required to sit on a couch and watch a game on TV. That's the part I don't understand. I can certainly understand people going out and playing the sport, I can even understand having your mom show up to the game to cheer for you, it can be fun to play, good exercise, develops skills like hand-eye coordination, promotes socialization and teamwork, etc., but I cannot understand what is so fun about watching someone else play a game, or why anyone gets so worked up about it to the point of increasing their cardiovascular risk (the subject of the OP). If that's what you enjoy for entertainment, then fine, whatever floats your boat, but it seems ridiculous if it gets to the point where people are having heart attacks over it (though, not having read the full article in the OP, I wonder if it's necessarily the game itself, or all the drinking and junk food eating).
 
  • #41
Moonbear said:
The problem I have is that there is ZERO skill required to sit on a couch and watch a game on TV. That's the part I don't understand. I can certainly understand people going out and playing the sport, I can even understand having your mom show up to the game to cheer for you, it can be fun to play, good exercise, develops skills like hand-eye coordination, promotes socialization and teamwork, etc., but I cannot understand what is so fun about watching someone else play a game, or why anyone gets so worked up about it to the point of increasing their cardiovascular risk (the subject of the OP).

Well why do you watch a musician perform? Because you enjoy the act of them showcasing their musical skill set in the form of songs. It's the same with watching sports. Because you enjoy the act of top athletes showcasing their physical skill set in the form of games. I'm not the one to get worked up over a game, unless it's an elimination game in the postseason of course :-D. For example, I know that one game of a baseball regular season is less than 1% of the total season so one loss by my favorite franchise isn't going to stress me out as a fan.

Now this doesn't apply to every sports fan, but there are a lot of sports fans out there who also watch for the statistical analysis aspect of the game. There's a lot of math and physics you can learn just by analyzing a sport, and I don't think anyone would disagree with me saying that can be beneficial.

I do want to mention the strategy aspect also. There's a lot of strategy involved in progressing or stagnating ball movement.
 
  • #42
I don't know how much this sort of thing goes on now, but when I played football, during hell week we had to do our daily 8 hours in full gear. The day often concluded with us running, often in 90 degree temps, until we threw up or passed out. I think maybe two or three people could actually finish the run without dropping.

My guess is that this was not really good. But God help yuh, a real man will try his damnest to finish, even if it kills him.
 
  • #43
LightbulbSun said:
Well why do you watch a musician perform? Because you enjoy the act of them showcasing their musical skill set in the form of songs.
Well, I really don't care to watch musicians perform either. I enjoy listening to music, mostly when I can sing along (whether or not anyone else enjoys that, I won't say) but could care less about the person performing it, and I'm certainly not jumping up and down giving myself a heart attack over their performance.

Now this doesn't apply to every sports fan, but there are a lot of sports fans out there who also watch for the statistical analysis aspect of the game. There's a lot of math and physics you can learn just by analyzing a sport, and I don't think anyone would disagree with me saying that can be beneficial.
That seems to be quite a reach. I don't think your average beer-guzzling, nacho consuming football fan is thinking about statistics or physics when they're screaming at the TV.

I do want to mention the strategy aspect also. There's a lot of strategy involved in progressing or stagnating ball movement.
Again, a good thing to learn IF you're the one playing. But if someone is just sitting on a sofa, there's no strategy for them other than seeing what the strategy was after-the-fact.

But, I'm not saying don't watch sports or anything like that. If it's fun for you, go ahead and enjoy it. It's not fun for me, but then I enjoy going to art museums and looking at pretty pictures I didn't paint and you might not. On the other hand, I'm not having a heart attack getting myself worked up over whether or not Jackson Pollock's splatters are or are not art (about the biggest argument I've seen recently break out among art fans).
 
  • #44
On CNN they just reported the results of a poll that asks: Are you more excited about the Super Bowl, or Super Tuesday.

Super B 40%
Super T 37%
Neither 22%

They should have followed-up by asking which one matters the most.
 
  • #45
The fact that Congress actually stepped into address the drug problem in baseball because of the effect that it was having on teenagers who were emulating their paper heros [some died], it is difficult, no, impossible to argue that sports have an entirely positive influence, even when people are participating directly.
 
  • #46
LightbulbSun said:
Now this doesn't apply to every sports fan, but there are a lot of sports fans out there who also watch for the statistical analysis aspect of the game. There's a lot of math and physics you can learn just by analyzing a sport, and I don't think anyone would disagree with me saying that can be beneficial.

I'm sorry. Did you actually type this with a straight face?
 
  • #47
As a coach of nine years at Nevada Union High School and a general sport enthusiast, I am dismayed at the state of affairs in sports today.

You can't turn on ESPN or the nightly news without hearing about the latest star vehemently denying any wrong doing, only to confess down the line that their medals, their records, their very star power was one of ill repute.

And when caught they still try to make excuses, shift the blame, even accuse others to help water down their offense.

The scene is the same in every sport with just about every type of drug, but by the time they become professionals it is generally some sort of performance-enhancing drug. Then there are the brawls, and the cheating that's not only accepted, but encouraged.

And what are these athletes punishment for their offenses? Not much. [continued]
http://www.theunion.com/article/20080201/SPORTS/425073288
 
  • #48
Moonbear said:
That seems to be quite a reach. I don't think your average beer-guzzling, nacho consuming football fan is thinking about statistics or physics when they're screaming at the TV.

I'm not talking about those morons. I despise them as much as you do. They aren't real sports fans in my opinion.


Again, a good thing to learn IF you're the one playing. But if someone is just sitting on a sofa, there's no strategy for them other than seeing what the strategy was after-the-fact.


There are a lot of great websites out there that have some good stuff on strategy backed up with statistical analysis. It definitely gives your brain a good workout. I'm sure your view of the sports fan would change drastically if you read up on this and make you realize that not all of us just sit there and blindly watch games in a daze.
 
  • #49
Poop-Loops said:
I'm sorry. Did you actually type this with a straight face?

Yes.
 
  • #50
LightbulbSun said:
Now this doesn't apply to every sports fan, but there are a lot of sports fans out there who also watch for the statistical analysis aspect of the game. There's a lot of math and physics you can learn just by analyzing a sport, and I don't think anyone would disagree with me saying that can be beneficial.

But the other 99.9999% wants bragging rights.
 
  • #51
LightbulbSun said:
I'm not talking about those morons. I despise them as much as you do. They aren't real sports fans in my opinion.

But I think they are in the majority, and I suspect they are the ones the article in the OP is talking about...the ones who have cardiovascular events as a result of watching a game on TV. It seems way worse than when I was a kid too. People seem to go more and more overboard about sports.
 
  • #52
Moonbear said:
It seems way worse than when I was a kid too. People seem to go more and more overboard about sports.

I think that argument is just as fallacious as someone telling me that 50 years ago people ate healthier when it has more to do with the fact that proportion sizes were vastly different.
 
  • #53
LightbulbSun said:
I'm not talking about those morons. I despise them as much as you do. They aren't real sports fans in my opinion.

Okay, this is where it gets weird. Who in your opinion is a REAL sports fan, then? Because 90% of the people who watch sports do it to RELAX with some food and something to drink.


There are a lot of great websites out there that have some good stuff on strategy backed up with statistical analysis. It definitely gives your brain a good workout. I'm sure your view of the sports fan would change drastically if you read up on this and make you realize that not all of us just sit there and blindly watch games in a daze.

Just stop. This isn't making me think that the average sports fan is smart, it's making me think you just have a thing for numbers. It's okay, I do too, but in a different way, that's why I get drawn to RPG's so much.

Anyway, it's boring. I highly doubt the average fan cares about the statistics as much as you do. Something like a batting average maybe, you know, the obvious ones, but as soon as you have to apply some thinking, they quit. Because that's not what they watch sports for.
 
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  • #54
Moonbear said:
But I think they are in the majority, and I suspect they are the ones the article in the OP is talking about...the ones who have cardiovascular events as a result of watching a game on TV. It seems way worse than when I was a kid too. People seem to go more and more overboard about sports.

Nah, it's not because fans are going overboard, it's because even 20 years ago people exercised (either by just walking from place to place or what not) more often and didn't eat as unhealthily as they do now.
 
  • #55
Poop-Loops said:
Okay, this is where it gets weird. Who in your opinion is a REAL sports fan, then? Because 90% of the people who watch sports do it to RELAX with some food and something to drink, not to masturbate over numbers.

The antithesis of the grunting sports fan.




Just stop. This isn't making me think that the average sports fan is smart, it's making me think you just have a thing for numbers. It's okay, I do too, but in a different way, that's why I get drawn to RPG's so much.

Why haven't you simplified RPG's in a meaningless manner yet? Oh wait, is it because it's something you enjoy doing? Just a guess, you know?

Anyway, it's boring. I highly doubt the average fan cares about the statistics as much as you do.

You're right. Because all they care about is grunting.

Something like a batting average maybe, you know, the obvious ones, but as soon as you have to apply some thinking, they quit. Because that's not what they watch sports for.

Honestly, I never expected to be in a philosophical debate over someones hobby. I have a feeling this has more to do with the overexposure of sports more than anything else.
 
  • #56
Poop-Loops said:
Nah, it's not because fans are going overboard, it's because even 20 years ago people exercised (either by just walking from place to place or what not) more often and didn't eat as unhealthily as they do now.

No, people did not eat healthier 20 years ago. That has more to do with proportion sizes drastically increasing.
 
  • #57
LightbulbSun said:
Why haven't you simplified RPG's in a meaningless manner yet? Oh wait, is it because it's something you enjoy doing? Just a guess, you know?

Close, but no cigar. The reason I didn't simplify them is because they don't need simplifying.

Exhibit A:

http://www.dungeoncrawl.org/

I think that's about as simple as you can get.

Honestly, I never expected to be in a philosophical debate over someones hobby. I have a feeling this has more to do with the overexposure of sports more than anything else.

So what is your definition of a sports "fan" then?
 
  • #58
This thread needs to be locked, and has already been reported once. This is really stupid to fight over this pointless crap.
 
  • #59
Agreed, the thread is just an argument now.