The Olympics

[David Nevin Friedman]

I agree.  Sports is far more important to a healthy mind and bosy than 
any erudition.  I'll take Michael Jordan's athleticism over Descarte's 
lazy intellectualism any day of the week.  So, a lot of people DO give a 
fuck about sports, be they professional or not.  Myopic attitude towards 
sports are as silly as Mao's myopic views of intellectualism and 
culture.  Nice company to keep, don't you think? 

David Friedman
namdeirf at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu

Ignorance breeds complicity.

On Tue, 6 Aug 1996, Teen Age Riot wrote:

> > 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!"
>