This is going to be the last post about Sports. But first, I have a massive confession to make:
I watched the Superbowl.
I not only watched it, I thought it was completely awesome. Perhaps it was the magnitude of the championship game, and the fact that so many others were watching, gripped to the results of the outcome. I have so many friends from Pittsburgh and knew that most, including President Obama, were pulling for Pittsburgh. I wanted President Obama to be happy. I especially wanted my trio drummer, Matt, a massive Steelers fan who yells at the TV during games, to be in a good mood. We had a rehearsal the next day.
In the second half, as both teams seemed to be the victor at different points, especially towards the end, I could feel the nail biting excitement. I suppose that’s what this whole sports thing is about. I can’t imagine feeling that kind of intensity all season long, as many do. But for this one special game, I can honestly say I got it. Then again, not all games are like this one.
For a non-sports fan, I seem to have luck catching these once in a lifetime games. There is much talk about how this was the ‘Best Superbowl Ever.’ And when I was much younger, I would occasionally join friends attending the local UC Berkeley college football games. The last one I went to, when I was fourteen, ended with one of the most famous plays in sports history, forever known as ‘The Play.’
Ironically, it involved musicians screwing everything up. The Stanford marching band walked on the field, assuming the game was over and their team had won. They got knocked down by the Cal football players, who made a last minute a touchdown. Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Play
It didn’t make me a lifelong sports fan, but I’m proud to have been at a history making game, one that friends who are much younger and much more dedicated sports fans have all heard of. I think it was at that point when I realized I’ll never see a better play and never went to another football game afterwards.
On that note, here is the last installment in my ‘sports series.’ Thanks for bearing with me on this three part epic blog. From this point on, we change subjects!
It’s A Sports World (Part III)
Recently I’ve been wondering something: how did sports take over our society? Not only is it all anyone talks about in the street, you can’t escape it in the media. Every news program has a sports update. Every newspaper has a sports section. The latest sports scores flash across our TV screens, even during major events such as national emergencies and Presidential news conferences. Do we really need to know who’s winning what at all times? Is this even ‘news?’
In case all that isn’t enough, cable TV has generously provided us with the sports fans wet dream: ESPN where you have 24/7, round the clock sports coverage, seven days a week. And as if that wasn’t enough, they’ve added ESPN II, ESPN III, ESPN classic and more.
“And why not?” you may ask. After all, music has its outlets too. There’s MTV, MTVII, VH1, VH1 Classic etc…
But there’s a big difference: you can count on the sports channels showing sports while music channels play less and less music. And the little music that is covered is limited to a handpicked selection of watered down, mainstream pop.
It’s all a reflection of the dumbing down of the United States. I’m not saying people who like sports are stupid. Case in point: my father, a respected sociology professor with a PhD from Yale. He’s as much a football junkie as my metalhead friends (in fact, last year he came over and we watched the Super Bowl together). It’s just that too much of our population is overly obsessed with sports and ignorant of other fields, especially arts. In other countries, especially those in Europe, arts are encouraged, supported by the government and media and consequently appreciated by the population. And it’s not as if people abroad don’t like their sports, either. Look at the popularity of European football (soccer), rugby, the Tour De France etc… they just have a better balance between arts and sports.
In the US, it’s a different story. American high schools and universities spend millions on on brand new football stadiums, yet plead poverty when it comes to art and music programs. This makes no sense whatsoever. Arts not only add color to an otherwise drab, grey existence, they are proven to develop life skills. Remove the arts from society and everyone suffers.
Many star athletes are tragic examples of this, having been shuffled through school, barely passing their exams and thrown into high profile sports careers. No wonder so many of them are making news, not for their high scores, but for their criminal trials.
I envision a world in which music, literature, painting, dance and other under appreciated art forms hold the same place in our society that sports does. Imagine if, instead of the constant sports updates we had arts updates. On TV, you could watch a Pa Pei player live from China on one channel, flamenco dancers and guitarists from Spain on another, modern dancers on another, throat singers from Tuva on another etc… There would be an entire channel devoted to the life and work of Frank Zappa. On another channel, you’d have live book readings and Q and A sessions with Phillip Roth, Erica Jong, Tom Wolfe, David Sedaris and Tom Robbins and perspectives on other essential books by late authors like Henry Miller and Kurt Vonnegut.
In this utopian vision of mine, you could have your sports but guys like me would have our interests get equal time. People on the street would be bonding over arts the way they do sports. Life wouldn’t be just about ‘the game’ but also ‘the concert,’ ‘the album,’ ‘the book,’ ‘the painting, etc…. If life we’re more like this, I could avoid being a ‘sports freak’ without feeling like such a freak.