The silliness of sports

A few years ago I was at a hockey game with a friend and out of the blue he said, "You know what? We just paid good money to watch grown men skate around and whack a piece of rubber with a stick." That made me laugh at the time, but today while watching the olympics I remembered him saying that and I started to look at each sport from that perspective, at the utter silliness of some sports.

I can understand the military origins of some of the older sports like the javelin and the various fighting sports, but most of them really are pretty silly. We're all here because we like to watch men hit a ball with a stick and run in circles. People around the world like to watch men run up and down a field and try to kick a ball into a net at the end and get quite fanatical about it. I enjoy hitting a little white ball only to have to walk after it and hit it again until I eventually, often with too many hits, manage to hit it into a hole in the ground. Have you ever looked at some of the sports you enjoy watching or playing and remarked to yourself or someone else how completely silly they are when you really think about it?

The other night I sat and watched competitive trampolining on tv. This past two weeks I have also watched ping pong and badminton. Enjoyed all 3/

A few years back I was visiting my brother in London and one night a Darts competition was on one of his 5 channels. I watched and watched. Towards the end the announcer proclaimed it was the greatest darts match he had seen in his 40 years in the sport. I guess if I had one to watch that I got lucky.

Interesting question ORH. I really think the same thing can be said for the majority of things we spend our time doing. Is it silly to pay to listen to your favorite musician, or to visit an incredible art museum, or to read a great piece of literature, or to go to a play, or see a movie, etc. Afterall, those things are just sound, lines on a canvas, words on a page, and people acting different than who they are...

I've thought about this before. I was discussing(with myself) how anti-climatic it seems in football, for the apex as a fan to be watching a person run across a painted line.

I feel the same way about auto racing..can't get into it at all..to me its watching fast cars go in circles for 4-5 hours..know its probably a lot more watchable in person but really at the end of the day its just that.fast cars driving in circles...no thanks...and then these drivers who walk around with 500 decals on their outfits--everyone thinks it looks so cool and I think they look idiotic..why not put 1 on your forehead too while you're at it..and the obsession one has with who is driving what number car?!?

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Originally Posted by BUTLER REDSFAN

I feel the same way about auto racing..can't get into it at all..to me its watching fast cars go in circles for 4-5 hours..know its probably a lot more watchable in person but really at the end of the day its just that.fast cars driving in circles...no thanks...and then these drivers who walk around with 500 decals on their outfits--everyone thinks it looks so cool and I think they look idiotic..why not put 1 on your forehead too while you're at it..and the obsession one has with who is driving what number car?!?

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They usually do put one on their forehead. Well as soon as they pull on the sponsors' hat.

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Originally Posted by Reds Freak

Interesting question ORH. I really think the same thing can be said for the majority of things we spend our time doing. Is it silly to pay to listen to your favorite musician, or to visit an incredible art museum, or to read a great piece of literature, or to go to a play, or see a movie, etc. Afterall, those things are just sound, lines on a canvas, words on a page, and people acting different than who they are...

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I agree. I actually find watching a sporting event less silly in a way than I do watching most movies and TV shows. At least in some baseball and football games I don't know before hand what will happen and I have the chance of being surprised.

On a related note, regarding the "silliness" of our pastimes--I was always dumbfounded by those who would ridicule others for watching "pro wrasslin'" but 15 minutes later gab about the latest developments on "Lost" or "ER"---its all entertainment--"allegedly"

But ... baseball is metaphor for life ...

http://www.redszone.com/forums/showt...of+our+village

I'm still waiting for little-paper-triangle-tabletop-football to become an olympic sport. I could've been a medalist back in high school study hall. And what about nickel pool? Anybody ever play either of these? Hey, if curling can be in the olympics...

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Originally Posted by macro

I'm still waiting for little-paper-triangle-tabletop-football to become an olympic sport. I could've been a medalist back in high school study hall. And what about nickel pool? Anybody ever play either of these? Hey, if curling can be in the olympics...

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Ah, paper football. As kids, my friends and I used to have a league where we kept track of game scores, standings, the whole bit. We'd even draw a logo on the "ball."