What is the attraction of spectator sports? A good friend challenged me to write about professional sports and the role they play in today’s society. So, this is a question that I have been considering for some time now. In my lifetime I have gone through different phases:
Now, I doin’t have the patience for the in-period commercial breaks that ruin the flow of a good hockey game. It takes hours to watch the last two minutes of most basketball or NFL games. There are far too many boring in-season games in all sports. I am just embarrassed that I wasted my time watching golf and curling. Just how long does it take to play a baseball game?
Don’t get me wrong, though. I still like spectator sports. However, I am much more selective. While hockey’s in-period commercial breaks still drive me crazy, the Stanley Cup playoffs are the greatest spectacle of all major league championships anywhere, period. International rugby is my new favourite thing to watch! I will take time to watch other-worldly athletes such as Patrick Mahomes or Faf DeKlerk, perform their magic. The Euro and the World Cup of Football provide hours of dramatic entertainment.
Also, I would never miss an opportunity to:
It seems that I have answered the question from a personal perspective. However, there have to be many more reasons for the plethora of sports channels and streaming services dedicated to professional sports. And
So, what is the attraction of spectator sports?There is no one answer. It brings hours of escape from the trials and worries of everyday life. Athletes personal dramas are shared, their great accomplishments lived vicariously. I have chosen to write this piece now as disaster has befallen my friend’s favourite sports team. Twenty-five members of the Vancouver Canucks entourage have been diagnosed with Covid19.
The Canucks were having a tough season but it is a club with much future promise. Every game played was important in the development of that promise. In a way this event is a metaphor for pandemic life. The social development of children, the engagement of youth with the world, and the peaceful passage of life has been put on hold.
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
Karl Marx
Sports is the new religion.
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