I agree that sports fandom, sitting around all day watching other people do things, is bad. Especially if those people are thugs and lowlifes that hate you (as is the case in the NFL, NBA, etc).
Sports betting is obviously an actual epidemic these days.
But I depart strongly on the idea that playing sports is bad. I can’t think of a more healthy activity that one could be doing. It’s good for the body and soul and social connections. At least at the amateur level where it’s kept in proportion.
Most sports fandom I’ve seen seems to come as a way for bored office workers to shoot the shit with one another. It’s better than small talk.
I agree that playing sports is a lot better than watching them. Playing sports can be a way to stay in shape. But there are still way too many people who take it too far. For many people, sports becomes their entire childhood and adolescence. When taken as far as the average American sports player takes it, it’s a vice.
Yes, being a sports fan can be a ridiculous waste of time and energy but it also provides some of the rare opportunities for men to spend time with each other in a modern world that tries to destroy every male space and turn us all into docile little girls.
Thats exactly how I read it. the conclusion does a great job not at convincing you sports should be banned, but that other suoernormal stimuli (eg porn / drugs) should be legal
Modern professional sports - as entertainment, rather than as participatory athletics - can be viewed through the lens of Juvenal's ancient Roman concept of "bread and circuses" (panem et circenses), which of course refers to the strategy of pacifying the populace with superficial distractions to divert attention from more pressing social, political, or economic issues.
Professional sports, with their high visibility and emotional engagement, often serve as a significant distraction for the masses. The enthusiasm for sports can overshadow public discourse on critical issues like economic inequality, political corruption, or environmental degradation. The regularity of sports seasons, the drama of playoffs, and the spectacle of major events like the Super Bowl or the World Cup provide continuous content that can captivate public attention. Sports can unify diverse populations under a common banner, fostering a sense of community and national pride. This unifying power can be seen in how countries rally around their national teams during international competitions - especially the Olympics and the World Cup. In short, they provide distraction from socioeconomic issues and can be tools for patriotism/nationalism and cultural unification.
The concept of bread and circuses suggests a mechanism of control where the populace is kept content and passive. Sports events can act similarly by channeling public energy into cheering for teams rather than agitating for social change, thus maintaining the status quo.
The extensive media coverage of sports, with its pervasive advertising and sponsorship deals, ensures that sports remain at the forefront of public consciousness. This saturation not only promotes consumerism but also shapes public discourse, often competing with other important news. Similarly, alignment of sports with corporate interests further entrenches this role. Sponsorships and partnerships mean that sports are not just about athletic competition but also about promoting brands and ideologies that might not necessarily serve the public interest - and can extend into the political space as well; star athletes are de facto celebrities.
In short, it seems implausible that there will be be a groundswell of support for banning sports - these days perhaps more than religion, sports is the opiate of the masses; it is the modern circus in the "bread and circuses" sense of the term and there is significant entrenched interest in seeing things remain as they are.
Yes plus while it's an astonishing waste of time...once I discovered how much time some people spend watching sports I was truly appalled...it also probably keeps a bunch of guys from just running around chopping each other's heads off and lighting things on fire. One might even argue that the insanity of the summer of 2020 was precipitated, or at least made much worse, by the fact that all professional sports had been suspended for months. People lost their primary form of enjoying sublimated violence.
This is definitely a controversial post, but as an athlete and sports fan myself I think it makes some good points. If I had traded every hour I spent practicing, playing, and watching sports studying math I could have gotten a 4.0 in high school and placed well in math Olympiads. Had I done that, I could have been a math major at an elite school and would be making hundreds of thousands per year as a quant.
Instead I graduated with a 3.5 in CS at a mediocre school and am currently underemployed. Could have avoided that fate if I played my cards right.
Excellent point, one I’d bolster with the observation that team sports also brings some of the worst traits out in people - hooliganism, alcoholism, fractious rivalries of no good end, and all for the enrichment of the managers mainly of some people shepherding bits of leather around a fake field.
There’s also the ludicrous state of Football (Soccer to Americans) in which gaming the penalty and foul systems is part of the main game itself, resulting in players obviously faking injuries like creepy little wusses, setting a terrible example for our young people. And there’s the history of sports stadium disasters, where many injuries and deaths could have been prevented had thousands not felt compelled to crowd into over-tight stalls and pens. And there’s the crass celebrity lifestyles of big name footballers, typically the stupidest, drunkenest and most infidelious players to gossip about in an unseemly way - this pulls in women as well as men. And so on.
In the name of balance - no, nerd hobbies like DnD, or endlessly looking up and discussing trivia about fictional settings, isn’t any better. These are a waste of our finest minds to the same extent that sports all is a waste of our finest bodies. Fine in moderation, healthy as a way to keep fit and promote those virtues, but horrible once “optimised” into a draining, all-consuming “spectacle” with an industry bent on capturing people whole.
Sport is life writ small, as is every day and everywhere observed in the sports pages. A glorious way to waste one's time. A worthy way to cultivate virtue. When we talk about sport, even when we are reading a joyous piece of provocative silliness like Simon's essay, we are talking about how we should live.
Why are you frittering away your time chiding ppl for enjoying a rather benign pastime instead of working*, building things, raising a family, being charitable, and fighting evil?
*Writing little evanescent throwaway articles on a social media site isn’t work.
"Men should spend their time working, building things, raising families, performing acts of charity, and fighting against the forces of evil."
How do you think sports fans compare to non-sports fans for...
1. Home ownership
2. Building things like sheds and fences and personal gardens
3. Marriage rate
4. Number or children
5. Amount of money they give to charity
6. How likely they are to be part of the military or police forces
I don't know what the answer to this be, but this is much of the *practical* aspect of what you're referring. My own *personal experience* is that adult sports fans are more likely to also be into handyman activities, more likely to be married, more likely to be parts of tight-knit families, and more likely to be supportive of the military and police. Anecdotal, I know, but it's something I've seen pretty consistently in my life.
I would certainly be curious in seeing any government surveys done on this. I *do* think that pro sports love is common enough, and big enough an impact on people's lives, that it might be worthwhile to see what sort of lifestyles pro sports fans tend to have compared to the rest of the population.
My suspicion - again, just a suspicion - is that pro sports didn't exist, it would mainly just result in more people playing video games and more people watching action movies in theaters.
If nothing else, pro sports love seems to be an useful social ice-breaker, something that can allow strangers to quickly get on friendly terms, more interesting than talking about the weather, safer than talking about politics.
I think we should distribute iPads pre-loaded with NFL Sunday Ticket and free access to FanDuel to the Gaza Strip.
I agree that sports fandom, sitting around all day watching other people do things, is bad. Especially if those people are thugs and lowlifes that hate you (as is the case in the NFL, NBA, etc).
Sports betting is obviously an actual epidemic these days.
But I depart strongly on the idea that playing sports is bad. I can’t think of a more healthy activity that one could be doing. It’s good for the body and soul and social connections. At least at the amateur level where it’s kept in proportion.
Most sports fandom I’ve seen seems to come as a way for bored office workers to shoot the shit with one another. It’s better than small talk.
I agree that playing sports is a lot better than watching them. Playing sports can be a way to stay in shape. But there are still way too many people who take it too far. For many people, sports becomes their entire childhood and adolescence. When taken as far as the average American sports player takes it, it’s a vice.
Watching sports is like being a peeping Tom. Playing sports is peak male behavior and should be encouraged
Yes, being a sports fan can be a ridiculous waste of time and energy but it also provides some of the rare opportunities for men to spend time with each other in a modern world that tries to destroy every male space and turn us all into docile little girls.
This is a great case against prohibition in general.
Thats exactly how I read it. the conclusion does a great job not at convincing you sports should be banned, but that other suoernormal stimuli (eg porn / drugs) should be legal
I'm unclear if this is tongue in cheek, but it's great either way.
Modern professional sports - as entertainment, rather than as participatory athletics - can be viewed through the lens of Juvenal's ancient Roman concept of "bread and circuses" (panem et circenses), which of course refers to the strategy of pacifying the populace with superficial distractions to divert attention from more pressing social, political, or economic issues.
Professional sports, with their high visibility and emotional engagement, often serve as a significant distraction for the masses. The enthusiasm for sports can overshadow public discourse on critical issues like economic inequality, political corruption, or environmental degradation. The regularity of sports seasons, the drama of playoffs, and the spectacle of major events like the Super Bowl or the World Cup provide continuous content that can captivate public attention. Sports can unify diverse populations under a common banner, fostering a sense of community and national pride. This unifying power can be seen in how countries rally around their national teams during international competitions - especially the Olympics and the World Cup. In short, they provide distraction from socioeconomic issues and can be tools for patriotism/nationalism and cultural unification.
The concept of bread and circuses suggests a mechanism of control where the populace is kept content and passive. Sports events can act similarly by channeling public energy into cheering for teams rather than agitating for social change, thus maintaining the status quo.
The extensive media coverage of sports, with its pervasive advertising and sponsorship deals, ensures that sports remain at the forefront of public consciousness. This saturation not only promotes consumerism but also shapes public discourse, often competing with other important news. Similarly, alignment of sports with corporate interests further entrenches this role. Sponsorships and partnerships mean that sports are not just about athletic competition but also about promoting brands and ideologies that might not necessarily serve the public interest - and can extend into the political space as well; star athletes are de facto celebrities.
In short, it seems implausible that there will be be a groundswell of support for banning sports - these days perhaps more than religion, sports is the opiate of the masses; it is the modern circus in the "bread and circuses" sense of the term and there is significant entrenched interest in seeing things remain as they are.
Yes plus while it's an astonishing waste of time...once I discovered how much time some people spend watching sports I was truly appalled...it also probably keeps a bunch of guys from just running around chopping each other's heads off and lighting things on fire. One might even argue that the insanity of the summer of 2020 was precipitated, or at least made much worse, by the fact that all professional sports had been suspended for months. People lost their primary form of enjoying sublimated violence.
Being cooped up for months did not help! Whether the correct prescription was opening the gladiatorial pits, well, it might have been cathartic...
These would apply to board games like chess, Risk and Stratego as well wouldn’t they?
Yes
chess as the exception here. Most people do not build their lives around Risk or Stratego.
Shove this nerd in a locker
Sports fandom is well organized, industrial scale cuckery.
Why are you wearing a shirt with another man’s name on it?
Stop.
This is definitely a controversial post, but as an athlete and sports fan myself I think it makes some good points. If I had traded every hour I spent practicing, playing, and watching sports studying math I could have gotten a 4.0 in high school and placed well in math Olympiads. Had I done that, I could have been a math major at an elite school and would be making hundreds of thousands per year as a quant.
Instead I graduated with a 3.5 in CS at a mediocre school and am currently underemployed. Could have avoided that fate if I played my cards right.
Excellent point, one I’d bolster with the observation that team sports also brings some of the worst traits out in people - hooliganism, alcoholism, fractious rivalries of no good end, and all for the enrichment of the managers mainly of some people shepherding bits of leather around a fake field.
There’s also the ludicrous state of Football (Soccer to Americans) in which gaming the penalty and foul systems is part of the main game itself, resulting in players obviously faking injuries like creepy little wusses, setting a terrible example for our young people. And there’s the history of sports stadium disasters, where many injuries and deaths could have been prevented had thousands not felt compelled to crowd into over-tight stalls and pens. And there’s the crass celebrity lifestyles of big name footballers, typically the stupidest, drunkenest and most infidelious players to gossip about in an unseemly way - this pulls in women as well as men. And so on.
In the name of balance - no, nerd hobbies like DnD, or endlessly looking up and discussing trivia about fictional settings, isn’t any better. These are a waste of our finest minds to the same extent that sports all is a waste of our finest bodies. Fine in moderation, healthy as a way to keep fit and promote those virtues, but horrible once “optimised” into a draining, all-consuming “spectacle” with an industry bent on capturing people whole.
A very brief complementary dictionary entry:
https://jclester.substack.com/p/sport-abuse-a-libertarian-viewpoint
Sport is life writ small, as is every day and everywhere observed in the sports pages. A glorious way to waste one's time. A worthy way to cultivate virtue. When we talk about sport, even when we are reading a joyous piece of provocative silliness like Simon's essay, we are talking about how we should live.
This is insane cope. Sports are not life writ small. They’re just a silly hobby.
LOL… NERD!!
Why are you frittering away your time chiding ppl for enjoying a rather benign pastime instead of working*, building things, raising a family, being charitable, and fighting evil?
*Writing little evanescent throwaway articles on a social media site isn’t work.
Haha a noble quest indeed. Good luck, Sir Lancelot.
I am fighting against the evil of sports addiction.
"Men should spend their time working, building things, raising families, performing acts of charity, and fighting against the forces of evil."
How do you think sports fans compare to non-sports fans for...
1. Home ownership
2. Building things like sheds and fences and personal gardens
3. Marriage rate
4. Number or children
5. Amount of money they give to charity
6. How likely they are to be part of the military or police forces
I don't know what the answer to this be, but this is much of the *practical* aspect of what you're referring. My own *personal experience* is that adult sports fans are more likely to also be into handyman activities, more likely to be married, more likely to be parts of tight-knit families, and more likely to be supportive of the military and police. Anecdotal, I know, but it's something I've seen pretty consistently in my life.
I would certainly be curious in seeing any government surveys done on this. I *do* think that pro sports love is common enough, and big enough an impact on people's lives, that it might be worthwhile to see what sort of lifestyles pro sports fans tend to have compared to the rest of the population.
My suspicion - again, just a suspicion - is that pro sports didn't exist, it would mainly just result in more people playing video games and more people watching action movies in theaters.
If nothing else, pro sports love seems to be an useful social ice-breaker, something that can allow strangers to quickly get on friendly terms, more interesting than talking about the weather, safer than talking about politics.