rachel on 14/2/2010 at 20:00
Quote Posted by PeeperStorm
Right there you've summarized my entire attitude toward professional sports. I can't even manage any kind of Home Team enthusiasm since hardly any of the players on any given team are natives of the team's area. They're all hired guns from somewhere else.
Note, I would agree for most team sports but there's an exception for every rule.. When you have a 90+ ft long monster yacht sailing at 33 knots and leaving barely any wake, it's so graceful you just shut up and enjoy the moment.
Inline Image:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/USA-17-flying-cropped.jpg/435px-USA-17-flying-cropped.jpg:thumb:
I'll concede that it's not the most popular sport around and to that I say, IT'S A DAMN SHAME.
theBlackman on 14/2/2010 at 20:58
In the overall, sexual mistakes are an egoist foible with many highly public figures. Need I mention the politicians over the last few months or years?
Mistresses are too common to even consider as a problem. But with the moral structure as is it dissolving in society, such antics are just a bump in the road. They merely illustrate the illusion of invincibility that is the mindset of movie stars and other high visibility figures.
Phelps, the swimmer, was stupid enough to get on tape with some marijuana. Public figures talking to a live mike about sexual conquests etc. Happens all the time. The common sense factor seems to be getting bred out of the herd.
But, gangsta rappers who shoot the competition. Sports figures who drive drunk, and actually cause the death of an innocent bystander. Animal and drug abuse and other such antics seem to be rewarded instead of punished.
If it were me or fett, or Starfall, we'd be in prison for life.
The America's Cup is my favorite also. Are you watching re-runs? I can't find a channel that is broadcasting it that I can bring in.
Renault on 14/2/2010 at 21:34
Quote Posted by fett
It drives me insane that people will stop listening to a certain band because "it's not even the original guys anymore.
That complaint is probably secondary to the more important realization that the music itself just sucks.
Btw, this is the worst thread ever. Is it such a surprise that high profile celebrities are making piles of cash for doing things other than winning the Nobel prize? Cmon.
Vivian on 14/2/2010 at 21:54
Name one good band who replaced more than one original member and didn't become shit / turn into essentially a different band because of it.
Zygoptera on 14/2/2010 at 22:08
Quote Posted by raph
I'll concede that it's not the most popular sport around and to that I say, IT'S A DAMN SHAME.
They need to have boarding parties or torpedoes or something similar to make the AC more popular with the plebs. Glad Ellison won, not just because I find his resemblance to Ken Levine amusing but because Bertarelli was a gigantic douchebag. I don't think it was even covered live here this time, and we used to have the stuff (and test cricket for that matter) on in prime time.
Namdrol on 14/2/2010 at 22:17
@Vivian, Hawkwind
rachel on 14/2/2010 at 22:32
Nothing live on TV here either. I only learned that the races had started on saturday but managed to catch the reruns on the America's Cup website directly. I watched the second race live in streaming from there as well.
frozenman on 14/2/2010 at 23:56
Quote Posted by fett
WHAT THE FUCK IS A FOOTBALL TEAM? You're cheering for a jersey color, an icon, a town where you probably don't live and will never visit. WHY DO YOU GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHETHER THEY GET THE BALL IN THE HOOP MORE THAN THE TEAM OF OTHER GUYS YOU DON'T KNOW EITHER? Someone, please, explain this to me like I'm five because either it's fucking retarded, or I am. Possibly both.
Games, of whatever make or scale, are a profoundly human manifestation. As profound as, say, literature or music (I've been racking my brain trying to find the difference between 'to play' music and 'to play' a game). I think it's unfair to say that sports are worthless any more than a symphony or a book is worthless, in both you find expressions of humanity.
Now I'm not a huge meat-head, but I can't deny the excitement of a really close basketball game. Sports aren't fucking retarded, and neither are you, perhaps you just have different tastes?
Does anyone know any good books regarding the anthropology of sports? I've been thinking about things like this for a bit.
Muzman on 15/2/2010 at 01:20
(Dammit, I sorta remember one. There's a few sociology books too, but I can't recall them yet either)
Yer not wrong there but I think to most of us there isn't going to be the level of devotion to, say, the music business or a genre that you find to a given team sport. There is a parallel, sure. But it seems more fundamental to 'love the game, support the team' for some reason and that's generally where it becomes dumb, for my money. Admire displays of skill and human endeavour? Fine (and that's where most people sit and it's why basketball's been looking for another Jordan for years; to bring the casual fans back). Beyond that, it's rather silly. Sports people shouldn't even be considered role models in the first place anyway (although I think the whole focus on role models was always completely overwrought and misplaced as far as develomental psych goes and we should let that go as well).
CCCToad on 15/2/2010 at 04:10
Quote Posted by frozenman
Games, of whatever make or scale, are a profoundly human manifestation. As profound as, say, literature or music (I've been racking my brain trying to find the difference between 'to play' music and 'to play' a game). I think it's unfair to say that sports are worthless any more than a symphony or a book is worthless, in both you find expressions of humanity.
Its a good point, but many people look at sports and find some of the worst expressions of humanity, such as debauchery and meaningless, insane violence. They don't think of Babe Ruth inspiring children, they think of Tiger Wood's numerous affairs. Nor do they think instead of how a sports team can bring kids together: they think of European soccer riots where rabid fans attack and kill fans of rival teams. Neither view is more or less valid than the other.
