Ban Professional Sports: Should We Take Precautionary Measures?

[Ivan Seeking]

It seems that watching sports may be too dangerous to be allowed to continue; at least based on the popular paradigm of banning all things bad.

... New research suggests that when serious sports fans are watching their team play in a big game, they face more than twice the risk of suffering a heart attack. While the study focused on the 2006 World Cup soccer matches in Germany, American football fans would be wise to take note of the findings.

"Viewing a stressful soccer match more than doubles the risk of an acute cardiovascular event," wrote the German researchers who conducted the study. "In view of this excess risk, particularly in men with known coronary heart disease, preventive measures are urgently needed." [continued]

http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/080130/super-bowl-fans-should-heed-heart-risk-finding.htm

Perhaps it would still be okay to allow bowling and darts.

In all seriousness, I have always been bothered by the primative and often violent instincts that sports seem to foster. I played a number of sports - was best at football and volleyball, and swam competitively - and enjoyed them immensely, but there is an element of devolution about the whole business.

There is nothing more disgusting that watching parents lose it and go into a rage at a little league game. Wasn't there even a case of one parent killing another one recently [within the last few years] in a little league hockey game? I've even heard of parents attacking kids on the opposing team.

 

[mgb_phys]

Couldn't they just put a 30sec delay so that the broadcasters can blank out anything exciting happening like a goal or a view of Janet Jackson's breast?

 

[lisab]

Ban pro sports?!? But where will we get our bread and circuses??

It's astonishing how much rage there is in people. Humans evolved under such difficult conditions (famine, war, slavery, etc.) that we used to need all that aggression. Now, we have all our basic physical needs met - and most of our "wants" met too. All that aggression has to go somewhere.

Pro sports is an accepted outlet for aggression. Not my cup of tea, but I think some people need it.

 

[Evo]

Maybe they could intersperse scenes from the Golf Channel during tense game moments.

 

[lisab]

Maybe they could intersperse scenes from the Golf Channel during tense game moments.

Or bowling. That used to be big when I was a kid - bowling matches on TV.

 

[turbo]

Maybe they could intersperse scenes from the Golf Channel during tense game moments.

Are you kidding?! Those can be the tensest moments of all! "Tiger has a 40-footer for Eagle and a one-shot victory over xxxx to avoid a play-off." I hate watching team sports, but I can watch a golf tournament, as long as it is being hotly contested. When you've got 3-4 players all within a stroke or two of one another, heading down the back nine, that can be quite exciting.

 

[LightbulbSun]

Watching professional sports is a serious hobby of mine. I get rather irritated with these kind of anti-sport sentiments because I could just as easily say that we should ban music because it increases aggression.

And I always love to point out to people how professional sports got me more interested in mathematics and statistics.

 

[Poop-Loops]

Wouldn't it be easier to just ban cardiovascular diseases?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I do think sports are taken way out of context. For one, why is steroid and other drug use by baseball players an issue for Congress? I was not aware that it is the job of Congress to regulate meaningless games. Isn't this why we have the police?

On another front, here is an interesting excerpt from Bill Moyer's Journal.

...DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: That's right. Irony is not dead. They derive, I show in Free Lunch, 100 percent of their profits from subsidies. In fact, if it weren't for these subsidies, the baseball, football, hockey, and basketball enterprises as a whole would be losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

BILL MOYERS: And the irony, as you say, is that at least 27 billionaires own major sports teams, all of which benefit from public subsidies.

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: In one way or another. Some much more than others. But they all benefit.

BILL MOYERS: You remember what Art Modell said back in 1996 when he was manipulating Baltimore and Cleveland into a bidding war for his football team? He was asked how he felt about taking money for his out of-- for his own pocket at the very same time library funds were being cut. Remember what he said?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Oh, yes. The pride of having a professional baseball team is worth more than 30 libraries.

BILL MOYERS: George W. Bush.

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Well, this is one-- this is a great irony. George Bush owes almost his entire fortune to a tax increase that was funneled into his pocket and into the use of eminent domain laws to essentially legally cheat other people out of their land for less than it was worth to enrich him and his fellow investors.

BILL MOYERS: By building this stadium in Arlington, Texas

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: For the Texas Rangers.

BILL MOYERS: --baseball team-- Texas Rangers.

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Right.

BILL MOYERS: That's right.

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: One of the key sources I quote is a prominent Republican lawyer married to a United States senator who is the expert in Texas on municipal finance. The subsidy, he says, is $202.5 million. And Bush and his partners captured about 168 million of it.

BILL MOYERS: Bush, you say, used eminent domain to claim the land on which the stadium was built, right?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Right.

BILL MOYERS: And Bush advised his investors, his co-investors this is a sweet deal …

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Oh, yeah. He said that I mean, here's this money losing team. It's got this little stadium. It can't make money. But if we can get a stadium built, it'll be worth a lot of money. And that's going on all over the country. All you have to do is get the stadium built and we'll-- you'll be rich. [continued]

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/transcript1.html

 

[LightbulbSun]

I do think sports are taken way out of context. For one, why is steroid and other drug use by baseball players an issue for Congress? I was not aware that it is the job of Congress to regulate meaningless games. Isn't this why we have the police?

On another front, here is an interesting excerpt from Bill Moyer's Journal.


http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/transcript1.html

I don't think there's enough moderation in life. Bleeding idealists will scream about how sports are not beneficial for society, and propose a model of how to live that basically says "ban all forms of entertainment." I love learning, but reading textbooks on hard topics 24/7 would give me a headache. My brain and my eyes need a break. So this is where sports come into play.

It's such a strawman when people tell me not to get so worked up over a sporting event because it's not life and death. And to this I say "what?" Only an idiot would put sports into such a grand context. And I know most sports fans aren't inspired in this manner, but there are a lot of sports fans who delve into statistical analysis because of sports. I've already mentioned it, but because of sports I became more interested in mathematics and statistics.

So to say sports are a hinderance and a health risk is just such an ignorant statement to make. Where's the criticism for music then? Surely those same bleeding idealists don't see a beneficial factor for music in society.

 

[RonL]

Couldn't they just put a 30sec delay so that the broadcasters can blank out anything exciting happening like a goal or a view of Janet Jackson's breast?

I have that on tape :!)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I don't think there's enough moderation in life. Bleeding idealists will scream about how sports are not beneficial for society, and propose a model of how to live that basically says "ban all forms of entertainment." I love learning, but reading textbooks on hard topics 24/7 would give me a headache. My brain and my eyes need a break. So this is where sports come into play.

The idea that we should actually ban sports was sarcasm. I was speaking to the inane but popular notion that we should control or ban anything that can be bad for a person.

It's such a strawman when people tell me not to get so worked up over a sporting event because it's not life and death. And to this I say "what?" Only an idiot would put sports into such a grand context. And I know most sports fans aren't inspired in this manner, but there are a lot of sports fans who delve into statistical analysis because of sports. I've already mentioned it, but because of sports I became more interested in mathematics and statistics.

So to say sports are a hinderance and a health risk is just such an ignorant statement to make. Where's the criticism for music then? Surely those same bleeding idealists don't see a beneficial factor for music in society.

Actually, the health study concluded that sports can be dangerous to one's health, not me. So it sounds to me like you are refusing to accept a fact [or what appears to be a fact] based on your opinion. Also, there is nothing wrong with being willing to recognize that there are problems even if you feel that something like sports can be a real positive. I agree; I too enjoyed sports. In fact I probably could have gone pro as a kicker for football, but that doesn't take away from the fact that sports are given far too much importance in our society.

The pride of having a professional baseball team is worth more than 30 libraries. - George W. Bush.

And the bit linked from Bill Moyers shows that the system is corrupt. If you really value sports, then you should also support correcting problems where they exist. Do you think it's fair that we effectively subsidize pro sports team, or really their rich owners, through the use of sleezy laws?

 

[LightbulbSun]

The idea that we should actually ban sports was sarcasm. I was speaking to the inane but popular notion that we should control or ban anything that can be bad for a person.

I'm sorry if my post was worded in a way as to be directed at you. I do feel like sports is used as a scapegoat when things are going wrong.

Actually, the health study concluded that sports can be dangerous to one's health, not me. So it sounds to me like you are refusing to accept a fact [or what appears to be a fact] based on your opinion. Also, there is nothing wrong with being willing to recognize that there are problems even if you feel that something like sports can be a real positive. I agree; I too enjoyed sports. In fact I probably could have gone pro as a kicker for football, but that doesn't take away from the fact that sports are given far too much importance in our society.

I'm not ignoring the study, but I feel like this study has more to do with the grunting fan rather than the group of fans who have their interests in mathematics and statistics peak because of sports.

I agree that sports are given way too much importance in society, but so are a lot of things. Singling out one is just showing off a bias.

And the bit linked from Bill Moyers shows that the system is corrupt. If you really value sports, then you should also support correcting problems where they exist. Do you think it's fair that we effectively subsidize pro sports team, or really their rich owners, through the use of sleezy laws?

One idiotic statement made by an idiotic person is all the fuel needed for anti-sports people to create strawman arguments about how the typical sports fan treats a game like life and death. A lot of sports fans would disagree with this sentiment, but of course most will take this quote and run with it like it's the disposition of all sports fans.

 

[Evo]

I don't understand people that are into sports, but I don't care that they do. It has gotten to the point of being deadly though, as in soccer in Italy, and was banned to spectators.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=20312

I honestly wouldn't miss pro sports at all. Getting rid of pro sports has nothing to do with people actually playing sports. Do people really NEED to see other people play? I don't think so. Does that 250lb sedentary guy need to be cramming his face full of food while screaming at the tv?

 

[Moonbear]

Wouldn't it be easier to just ban cardiovascular diseases?

:rofl: I like your idea best.

 

[Poop-Loops]

I don't understand people that are into sports, but I don't care that they do. It has gotten to the point of being deadly though, as in soccer in Italy, and was banned to spectators.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=20312

A lot of the times it's punks looking for trouble who do it, not actual fans. I remember this happening a few times in Poland when I lived there. The smaller (i.e. not international) games would attract idiots who would mask their faces and go on rampages after the game.

I honestly wouldn't miss pro sports at all. Getting rid of pro sports has nothing to do with people actually playing sports. Do people really NEED to see other people play? I don't think so. Does that 250lb sedentary guy need to be cramming his face full of food while screaming at the tv?

Yeah, I know what you mean. I really HATE the "we" mentality people get from sports, too. Said 250lb guy on the couch goes around screaming "We won!" after what? He didn't lift a finger to help the team. He didn't do ANYTHING.

But hey, if someone wants to watch grown men run around chasing balls, then that's their choice, you know?

 

[LightbulbSun]

I don't understand people that are into sports, but I don't care that they do. It has gotten to the point of being deadly though, as in soccer in Italy, and was banned to spectators.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=20312

I honestly wouldn't miss pro sports at all. Getting rid of pro sports has nothing to do with people actually playing sports. Do people really NEED to see other people play? I don't think so. Does that 250lb sedentary guy need to be cramming his face full of food while screaming at the tv?

Do people really NEED to go to concerts? Do people really NEED to read what other people write?

 

[LightbulbSun]

But hey, if someone wants to watch grown men run around chasing balls, then that's their choice, you know?

What a meaningless simplification. We could do this to a lot of things.

 

[Poop-Loops]

You make it sound so easy and yet don't give any examples.

 

[LightbulbSun]

You make it sound so easy and yet don't give any examples.

Music instruments are just pieces of plastic and wood.
Food is just ingredients meshed together.
A computer is just made of parts and chips.
A book is just ink on pieces of paper.

 

[binzing]

Hey, its one of the few forms of natural selection left! Besides, maybe if the study gets publicized widely enough, it'll get some of these lardass fans up and on their feet actually playing the game they love so much! How novel.

 

[Poop-Loops]

Music instruments are just pieces of plastic and wood.
Food is just ingredients meshed together.
A computer is just made of parts and chips.
A book is just ink on pieces of paper.

I wonder what it's like to get paid yearly more than I will make in a lifetime to run around after a ball.

My dog does that.

 

[LightbulbSun]

I wonder what it's like to get paid yearly more than I will make in a lifetime to run around after a ball.

My dog does that.

Couldn't think of a refutation for my examples?

And the only sport I see where people run around after a ball is soccer.

 

[devil-fire]

i was just watching a show about football hooliganism in argentina. they were talking about one match where the losing team's fans went into a riot and got the game called off. the way the fans looked at it, they were part of the team because they prevented their team from officially losing

i think professional sport is perfectly ok, but when fans riot, flip cars, smash shops, throw rocks at the players and trample people then its about time to reevaluate the role of sport in society.

mind you, i don't have much value for the sports that have caused riots to begin with so i guess I am biased about judging the value of most professional sports. i only watch mixed martial arts and climbing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnD_pC-aP40&feature=related)

 

[LightbulbSun]

i think professional sport is perfectly ok, but when fans riot, flip cars, smash shops, throw rocks at the players and trample people then its about time to reevaluate the role of sport in society.

Yeah, those are the grunting fans. I don't consider them actual fans.

 

[Poop-Loops]

Couldn't think of a refutation for my examples?

Your examples were horrible. I simplified an action, you simplified a bunch of objects. If you had said "Music is just making noises" or "Cooking is just throwing ingredients together", it would have made some sense.

Except, you now, listening to music evokes emotions, and watching someone cook teaches you a bit about cooking. Watching someone chase a ball does what? Make your heart race? "OH SNAP! IS HE GOING TO GET THE BALL OR IS SOMEONE ELSE GOING TO?"

And the only sport I see where people run around after a ball is soccer.

Right. Because in Basketball they just sit down and take turns holding the ball. Same in Football and Baseball. It's not like they go after whoever has the ball, and if it falls on the ground, they run after it. That never happens.

 

[LightbulbSun]

Your examples were horrible. I simplified an action, you simplified a bunch of objects. If you had said "Music is just making noises" or "Cooking is just throwing ingredients together", it would have made some sense.

Except, you now, listening to music evokes emotions, and watching someone cook teaches you a bit about cooking. Watching someone chase a ball does what? Make your heart race? "OH SNAP! IS HE GOING TO GET THE BALL OR IS SOMEONE ELSE GOING TO?"

Actually watching top athletes show off their skills evokes emotion and inspiration.

Right. Because in Basketball they just sit down and take turns holding the ball. Same in Football and Baseball. It's not like they go after whoever has the ball, and if it falls on the ground, they run after it. That never happens.

There are no sports I can think of where the objective is to just "chase the ball."

 

[Math Jeans]

Go Patriots!

 

[NateTG]

Except, you now, listening to music evokes emotions, and watching someone cook teaches you a bit about cooking. Watching someone chase a ball does what? Make your heart race? "OH SNAP! IS HE GOING TO GET THE BALL OR IS SOMEONE ELSE GOING TO?"

Actually, people who compete do watch pro sports so they can emulate the skills and improve their game. In sports like wrestling, people also copy techniques.

 

[LightbulbSun]

Go Patriots!

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.

 

[Math Jeans]

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 .

 

[LightbulbSun]

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 .

Stick a Patriots flag on their roof.

 

[turbo]

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.

 

[Poop-Loops]

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.

 

[LightbulbSun]

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.