Should Babble have a ":Sports" forum?

I think we already accept too much, and uncritically, the current state of the sports industry, including sports marketing, the gendered nature of sports marketing, and sports spectatorship in general, and to have a forum dominated by "yay, team!" type discussions, imo, would go against the principles of this board.

Sports spectatorship is the opiate of the (largely gendered) masses.

Michelle wrote:

I've long felt that rabble.ca itself should have sports columnists or reporters or bloggers.  There is lots of progressive politics and analysis that can be had when it comes to sports.

I agree! I was happy when rabble added Left Hook to its blog roll -- although they haven't posted for a while. And there is the occasional sports-related podcast. There's not a lot currently...but this could change in the near future!

As for the proposed babble forum, no I don't think it's required or desirable.

Nah, and not a "sport" section either.

I certainly don't mind sport threads, but I think they work just fine under humanities or body and soul.

It's not just that I'm not a sport fan, and question why it is the only demographic which is so important that it gets to push the national news around during the playoffs. There is also a great deal about the culture - particularly team sports - which is decidedly un-progressive, and does a hell of a lot of damage, and thrives by appealing to blind faith.

http://exigenomicon.typepad.com/exigenomicon/2012/07/the-innumeracy-of-t...

We don't even have a designated music section . I can't see why sports somehow need special recognition.

Yeah, as for babble, I'd also say that sports is easily captured by humanities and culture - wherever other pop culture threads go, sports threads can go, since it's also popular culture.  Otherwise we'd need a music forum, a drama forum, etc. etc.  The forum list could go on forever.

I sat down for coffee with two older Euro-Canadian guys who worked with my dad years ago. They started it not me. We talked politics and highlights of history since WW II. Through their still thick accents came words of wisdom and knowledge I never thought possible for two old guys who don't know a URL from a postal code. Eventually we realized it's hopeless to even try to move the most significant roadblocks to real democracy. They segued off into talk about Portuguese footy, and so I decided to get back to running errands. It was raining, and I was a fool on foot to my car at the other end of the parking lot.

jas wrote:

Sports spectatorship is the opiate of the (largely gendered) masses.

Actually, I took the kids to a Blue Jays game yesterday. It was a wonderful family outing and Jose Bautista knocked in a winning run in extra innings to clinch the victory!

Mr.Tea wrote:

jas wrote:

Sports spectatorship is the opiate of the (largely gendered) masses.

Actually, I took the kids to a Blue Jays game yesterday. It was a wonderful family outing and Jose Bautista knocked in a winning run in extra innings to clinch the victory!

lighten up, Jas: people find it fun and entertaining, a great stress-reliever, too;

we await the definitive analysis of the appeal of sports, but it is some kind of projection of social drama and conflict onto a field/rink/pitch.... whatever, I have a beer and a laugh with it all;

someone called it "drama without consequences", good enough for me

Sineed wrote:

jas wrote:

I think we already accept too much, and uncritically, the current state of the sports industry, including sports marketing, the gendered nature of sports marketing, and sports spectatorship in general, and to have a forum dominated by "yay, team!" type discussions, imo, would go against the principles of this board.

Sports spectatorship is the opiate of the (largely gendered) masses.

I had a similar thought initially, but a critique of the points you mention could be part of the babble sports forum: the veneration of callow millionaires in their early twenties, the staggering sexism and homophobia of the mainstream professional sports, the separation of fitness from performance at the elite levels, how spectacles divert attention from ongoing injustice a la Chomsky, and suchlike.

Yes I've thought of the same but not quite so critically I suppose. I mean, why should we revere elite athletes and venerate them as ideal human beings? Are elite athletes a normal reference for human beings and what everyone should strive to in society in general? I think everyone realizes that this is unrealistic, and so why should we should even try to emulate this non-normal standard for people in general? I certainly can't relate to even the least talented NHLer or PGA golfer. This is like god-worship and even sports occultism on a Saturday afternoon. We should get real and demand a basic and attainable standard of fitness for Canadians of every age group and act on it- pressure governnments to make fitness mandatory part of education and the work place. We were designed to be in motion. We are physical beings afterall and should revolt over being chained to desks and  made idle without pay. We should demand working mens and women's exercise clubs with free memberships to gymns open 24/7. Fuck those guys making millions - I want that guy across the street sat awake all night losing self-respect under the "blue glow"to be able to live the good life not become a liability to national health care before his time. Obesity and poor health are neoliberal insults to us all.

DaveW wrote:

lighten up, Jas: people find it fun and entertaining, a great stress-reliever, too;

we await the definitive analysis of the appeal of sports, but it is some kind of projection of social drama and conflict onto a field/rink/pitch.... whatever, I have a beer and a laugh with it all;

someone called it "drama without consequences", good enough for me

Well, it would be interesting to study the appeal of spectator, esp team, esp arena sports. Especially for men. The similarities and correlations to martial battle, nationalism, jingoism and other blood sports cannot, imo, be ignored.

For the record, I too enjoy watching (and participating in) sports. Skiing and tennis on tv, team sports live. It's the culture that has been built around some of it that I find disturbing. Why NHL hockey dominates so many conversations, private and public. Why we have to have TV screens blaring it at us in every pub from October to June. Why taxpayers have to subsidize teams when we can't seem to afford other basic necessities. Why spectator participation has to be so absolute as to be almost cultish. Why such fanaticism is accepted uncritically by otherwise progressives.

On NHL hockey in particular, I enjoyed what writer had to say here:

Quote:

Overwhelmingly, the category of the indifferent-to-hostile includes women, but there are others who feel the same way. There is absolutely nothing comparable within the realm of what is acknowledged as of particular interest to women, populated by women, chewing up everybody else's primetime, pushed as somehow universal. I sometimes kiddingly opine that we'll know there's gender equity when quilting bees get as much coverage as these tedious grunt fests.

...

Maybe there are other, better, reasons so many of us are just not that into it. And that we'd kind of like to see something else get as much time and space as this recurring cultural feature. 

I'd say the nice thing about sports is that it unites people from all walks of life. The President of teh United States and a kid on the South Side of Chicago both care about the fate of the White Sox.

There are probably few things in Toronto that are enjoyed by such a broad section of society than the Maple Leafs. Of course, actually attending a game is probably out of reach for most working class folks.

I love watching sports for the cool corporate sponsorship ads. I see them so often I sometimes forget that it's a hockey game. Man they are good.  I'm watching.  Occasionally I find myself associating beer and underarm deodorant to being an elite athlete It goes without saying. If I just slather on more hair goop and Old Spice, and buy the latest cell phone with bells and whistles,  and slip me into a new VW or Dodge Ram, it might satisfy my insane lust for material goods and baubles. I realize now after watching the playoffs than I am just a walking sack of unmet material needs and wants. Sometimes I feel naked without brand name gear.

I have been told, more often than I like, that "sports teaches us valuable lessons". I am still wondering how important/valuable these lessons are when they have to be repeated so often, or is it just that they are THAT forgettable?

I have been told, more often than I like, that "sports teaches leadership skills". I wonder how that is, it seems to me that it teaches much more about obedience than it does leadership... if it taught about leadership, how come they never seem to break out in new directions?

I have been told, more often than I like, that "sports builds/contributes to community spirit". I am left wondering how antipathy towards other communities qualifies as community spirit?

I have been told, more often than I like, that "sports is a harmless diversion". I don't wonder about this, I just remember how it was much safer not to go south of Sherbrooke Street down by the old Montreal Forum on game nights, I am sure the same applies to the routes passing soccer/football stadiums in lots of other cities.

Do we need a sports forum? Well, maybe if we are going to examine it critically... but if the fanboys and fangirls want to talk about last night's game, couldn't they just go to a bar?

Baiting? Pish. It was full fledged chumming. But I consider it playful rather than sporting. Surely playful intentions count for something? But thanks for the shadow moderating.

bagkitty wrote:

Baiting? Pish. It was full fledged chumming. But I consider it playful rather than sporting. Surely playful intentions count for something? But thanks for the shadow moderating.

No problem, bk. Babblers misrepresenting the arguments of other babblers is just par for the course.