The Olympics

[Teen Age Riot]

> Frankly, who gives a fuck about what a bunch of obsessive nerds do to
> mutate their bodies into the contortions required to achieve some
> patheticly stupid and pointless goal concocted by equally obsessive
> and nerdy mutants. By all means let them do what gives them their
> kicks but to consider it worthwhile as anything other than a personal
> experience?  And even though at a personal level it may have some
> value, at what cost?  It's hard to respect an endeavour which not only
> twists your body but also your mind - in evidence of which consider
> the pathetic immaturity of most pro tennis player, the fairies at the
> bottom of the Olympic garden path.

I'm not sure what was meant to bear the brunt of your attack: sports TV 
or sports themselves.  Cuz while there is certainly a helluva lot wrong 
with the corrupt promotion and marketing of sports, the games themselves 
are not to blame, and your ranting and raving over their value strikes me 
simply as someone who has "missed the point.  Entirely."  Who gives a 
fuck about sports?  Frankly, a lot of people. I like watching pro sports on 
TV, and I like watching them in person even more, for the same reasons I 
like going to my little brother's soccer games, or watching two strangers 
play chess in the park: they are games, and they are designed to offer an 
entertaining conflict.  Sports don't need television's sappy melodrama to 
poke at your emotions, the rules themselves are designed to stimulate 
you, offer suspense, anticipation, and climax.  This is clearly true 
not just on a personal level, but to spectators as well.  

But I'm not simply talking about the armchair quarterbacks.  Billions 
enjoy athletics on some sort of a competitive level, and truthfully, I 
can think of few purer pursuits, less tainted by media and commercial 
manipulation.  Ignoring American Gladiators for the moment, game rules 
are generally designed without regard to capitalism, and without intent 
to benefit any party other than the participants.  They are simply another 
set of rules for human interaction, and while they may be contrived, they 
are kept pure. Sports are generally just a boffo good time, and if you 
can't appreciate this fact for yourself, at least acknowledge that 
it is true for others.

Professional sports simply filled a need, a desire for the public to 
watch games.  As far as it being corrupted by greed, what do you dare say 
ISN'T these days?

Batter up,
Al


PS- are we forever going to associate any activity that builds to a 
climax as "sexual"?  Why not just admit that most entertaining things DO 
that, and simply recognize sex as one of such, an "entertaining thing"?

__________________________________________
al wang
http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~alwang/home.htm
talk request at: alwang at random.resnet.upenn.edu

"What's My Solution?" 
"Noise Pollution!"