Wednesday, February 06, 2008

A Superbowl Challenge - this one's for Jeff J.


I couldn't care less about the superbowl. I had forgotten it was last weekend until Thursday when someone at work mentioned it, and I had to ask who was playing. I had no idea that the NY Giants were even contenders. I think they get slightly overshadowed by the Yankees in this town. I haven't watched a Superbowl in years, and I didn't have any intention of watching it this year except some good friends of ours were having a party for the occasion. We stopped by about 30 minutes before the end, and I spent about 20 of those minutes in the kitchen talking to my friends Celeste and Emily commenting and laughing about the guys' reactions with every play. It was the most exciting part of the game, I hear. The Patriots were favored to win, but they didn't. The Giants won, there was shouting and celebration and disappointment. Then we walked outside and the world was the same as it always had been. I pretty much forgot about the whole thing within nanoseconds, but our good friend Jeff challenged me to write something about the Superbowl in the Muse. I haven't mused yet this week, but I figured this was close enough.


I have often pondered the fascination with professional sports and find myself somewhat bewildered by it. I don't really care about baseball although I do enjoy a Yankees game every so often just for the experience and usually the company I am with. I haven't watched professional basketball since my dad lived in California and it was the game of all games between the Celtics and the Lakers. I don't follow hockey or soccer, and although I am a triathlete I don't really follow the professionals or the various Ironman races. It's not that I don't enjoy sports or that I am not athletic. I am just not obsessive about it. Or maybe because I am mildly disgusted at how much money these people make and how much publicity they get and how little money and recognition other worthy causes and professions get. It seems so backwards to me. I believe there are a lot of talented athletes out there who have accomplished some very admirable things, but I do not necessarily consider them role models for the younger generation. I think Lance Armstrong is an amazing cyclist, and his perseverance and determination in the face of challenges and opposition is commendable not to mention his charity work, but actions sometimes speak louder than words and character can become compromised by seemingly trivial things. As it seems with most of these celebrity athletes. Not to mention, how much time is wasted on watching sports on television... ludicrous amounts... embarrassing amounts of television. It robs us of time to do more important things.


I just wonder how much good could be done in the world with even a fraction of the money that goes into events like the Superbowl or that is paid out as bonuses and salaries to athletes with inflated egos who often fail to deliver. How much better would our education system be if we took some of that money and used it for schools or other educational programs? I'm all for male bonding, healthy competition and friendly rivalry, but perhaps on a smaller, less guilt ridden scale.

5 comments:

Mumsy said...

I couldn't agree with you more.

Beth, Cody, Morgan, Pepper, Hazel said...

I also don't quite get the whole sports thing and even though my husband is a big sports guy he's not crazy obsessed (except for the rugby world cup) so for that I am grateful. I do see how they are role models in the sense they work hard, achieve goals, learn fair play and the value of working together to achieve something. Not bad traits they just don't need to get paid salaries equal to a small countries annual budget!

Rachel McEwen said...

I too did not know anything about the superbowl until Justin said that he was going to watch it. Sports is not my thing and the time wasted on them is ridiculous. I can not tell you how much stuff I got done while Justin sat on the couch for 5 hours. I am a bah humbug when it comes to sports.

Rebecca Smylie said...

What do you mean you walked outside and the world was the same? Is your end of the street that different from my end of the street? Because I was at home, not watching the game, the outside world (drunken New Yorkers) made it very clear that SOMETHING big had happened. And it wasn't long before we all knew that the something was the Giants.

nikki said...

I happened to be walking down Lenox and there wasn't much happening there. Maybe what I should have said is my world was pretty much the same.