SPORT... a political beast or simply fun and games???

catefrances

it will come as no surprise to some of you that i come down on the sport is a political beast side of this argument. im curious about what you all think on the subject.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

For me, sport is a big part of my family's life.

Entertainment. Recreation. Health.

Beats sitting around, CNN, Trump's twitter feeds, and reality television.

oftenreading

The personal is political?

And not sure if you are mostly referring to professional sport or individuals playing sport. If you mean professional sport, then definitely. Political capital is made from that all the time.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

oftenreading said:

The personal is political?

And not sure if you are mostly referring to professional sport or individuals playing sport. If you mean professional sport, then definitely. Political capital is made from that all the time.

I think they are connected though- at various levels.

If you are passionate about your sport, it's only natural you follow it at the highest level (at least to some degree).

And yes... politics has its filthy hand in sport. It does in anything high profile- look at the music industry.

oftenreading

The two sports that I mostly engage in, I do so because I love them. I don't follow them at the "highest level", or really any level. I just enjoy my participation. That was what I meant by personal. Of course, neither are really high profile anyway, so there's that.

HughFreakingDillon

catefrances said:

it will come as no surprise to some of you that i come down on the sport is a political beast side of this argument. im curious about what you all think on the subject.

to me it becomes political when it reaches the international stage. but I'm not sure if there's any validity to it on the regional. but I'd be open to reading about it, as I may not be understanding your question fully.

unsung

I don't watch much anymore because I think they are designed to distract.

HughFreakingDillon

unsung said:

I don't watch much anymore because I think they are designed to distract.

distract from what? and who is designing it?

Thirty Bills Unpaid

unsung said:

I don't watch much anymore because I think they are designed to distract.

Man... you're pretty much goin with one theme these days, Unsung.

We get it... the government lies to us. But we're not going to be displaced from our homes any time soon and we all get to eat, drink, and be merry.

What would you have everyone do? What do you want to see from people that would make your world perfect?

RoleModelsinBlood31

It's only political if you choose or want it to be so. Sport is recreation to me anyway. I've played my whole life and continue to play and coach now in my 30's, and never thought it even could be political until I saw this thread. OP you say you land on one side of the debate, but is this even a debate people have?

No kid wants to play sports so they can get into politics, no one I've played with or coached anyway.

gimmesometruth27

it is absolutely political. us boycotting russian olympics, russia missing 1980 us olympics, munich massacre, iran banning us wrestling team later this year. sports on the international level are good for a few things.

1. stoking nationalistic emotions
2. creating rivalries or stoking tensions between countries.
3. can be used to push an agenda or can be used as a stage to protest something, etc.

catefrances

oftenreading said:

The personal is political?

And not sure if you are mostly referring to professional sport or individuals playing sport. If you mean professional sport, then definitely. Political capital is made from that all the time.

absolutely the personal is political. much like religion, without people there is no politics.

YOU RUN LIKE A GIRL...

lets think about that statement for a minute.

hands up if you dont think there is anything inherently wrong with that statement. hands up if you think its a compliment and is used as such? sorry, but if your hand is up you are mistaken. oh and your gender bias is showing.

sport has always had a very important role in the construction of masculinity. males that didnt play sports, or as is the case these days, watch sports were, and no doubt in a lot of places, still are seen as not quite as manly as those who spend their saturday afternoons with their head in a scrum or cheering those with their head in a scrum. females on the other hand seen historically as fragile and constrained by society's desire for them to be ladylike(whetever the hell that means) were not encouraged to play physical sports. they were restricted to calisthenics and tennis as a social pursuit rather than a competitive one. i know a lot has change since the days when these opinions held sway but it can not be denied that womens sport has never had equal standing with mens sport and this is manifested today with less media coverage, inferior sporting status and yes less prize money.

when i was much younger, around 11 years old or so it was my desire to one day play rugby league. now truth be told, i had only ever seen males play but that didnt stop me from not only wanting to play, but thinking that i could play with the boys... that i had every right to play. i voiced this desire to a grown up and was told girls dont play footy, but you can be a cheerleader. i thought that was total bullshit... why the heck would i want to be a cheerleader. and more importantly how is that even an alternative??? this incident was one of the defining moments of my gender politics education. i had no doubt i was just as good as the boys and i often proved it(to myself) by frequently beating my brother in goal kicking practice and general footy pick up games. in my mind and my very being, i never ran like a girl... i ran like the footy player i was as i sprinted down the field. however society had already deemed by virtue of me being female i couldnt play with the males... that i was too fragile, that girls dont play footy.. footy is a boys sport and in my stll developing mind the more physcally demanding sports are for boys. NO GIRLS ALLOWED. of course things changed over time and now girls playing rugby league in mixed junior teams is nothing out of the ordinary and we now have a national team. though womens teams in traditionally 'male' sports are often dismissed as novelty.

catefrances

unsung said:

I don't watch much anymore because I think they are designed to distract.

agree. how many times have you heard someone whine oh man cant we just watch the game? when someone wants to bring up something other than RBI or touchdown or scrums won or whatever.. turning sport into spectacle IS distraction. if 'we' make them focus on something else then we can squeeze them other ways and they will come to see those moments when theyre absorbed by a bunch of overpaid sport stars as an escape from their dull monotonous lives. they wont even notice as we chip away at their fundamental rights. and over time theyll become complacent and subordinate but thank goodness theyll have their sport.

catefrances

RoleModelsinBlood31 said:

It's only political if you choose or want it to be so. Sport is recreation to me anyway. I've played my whole life and continue to play and coach now in my 30's, and never thought it even could be political until I saw this thread. OP you say you land on one side of the debate, but is this even a debate people have?


No kid wants to play sports so they can get into politics, no one I've played with or coached anyway.

who said anyting about kids playing sport to get into politics?


and yes people have this debate.

and yes i agree sport IS recreation to just about everyone who does it. however that doesnt mean their are no political underpinnnings to sport.


horse racing isnt called the sport of kings for no reason.

Degeneratefk

unsung said:

I don't watch much anymore because I think they are designed to distract.

So the NFL, MLB, NHL, and nascar are all pawns of the government used to distract us dumb folk from the goings on of the world?

unsung

gimmesometruth27 said:

it is absolutely political. us boycotting russian olympics, russia missing 1980 us olympics, munich massacre, iran banning us wrestling team later this year. sports on the international level are good for a few things.

1. stoking nationalistic emotions
2. creating rivalries or stoking tensions between countries.
3. can be used to push an agenda or can be used as a stage to protest something, etc.

Dang, that looks like something that I would type.

unsung

Degeneratefk said:

unsung said:

I don't watch much anymore because I think they are designed to distract.

So the NFL, MLB, NHL, and nascar are all pawns of the government used to distract us dumb folk from the goings on of the world?

TV is called programming for a few reasons.

Have you guys been under a rock?

The NFL admitted to taking payments from the govt to let them advertise at events, all of those flyovers, all of those special soldiers on the field... Kinda makes you forget about those weddings that got hit by drone strikes.

Degeneratefk

Smh. So the government is paying for advertising. We must all be hypnotized.

HughFreakingDillon

unsung said:

Degeneratefk said:

unsung said:

I don't watch much anymore because I think they are designed to distract.

So the NFL, MLB, NHL, and nascar are all pawns of the government used to distract us dumb folk from the goings on of the world?

TV is called programming for a few reasons.

Have you guys been under a rock?

The NFL admitted to taking payments from the govt to let them advertise at events, all of those flyovers, all of those special soldiers on the field... Kinda makes you forget about those weddings that got hit by drone strikes.

haha, oh please. it's called programming because the very definition of the word is "to schedule".

yes, of course american sports have been infiltrated by the government's mandate to recruit soldiers. I always have said how odd it is that no one questions:

-military at sporting events
-singing the national anthems before playing a game

the two just don't go together for me. But, I also have zero patriotism, so it makes sense that it doesn't jive for me. But people just eat it up like it's no big thing.

and as gimme mentoined above, I always laugh when there's a beef between countries, politically or militarily, and the response from the west is always "FINE, then we won't play soccer with you in 2 years!".

unsung

HughFreakingDillon said:

unsung said:

Degeneratefk said:

unsung said:

I don't watch much anymore because I think they are designed to distract.

So the NFL, MLB, NHL, and nascar are all pawns of the government used to distract us dumb folk from the goings on of the world?

TV is called programming for a few reasons.

Have you guys been under a rock?

The NFL admitted to taking payments from the govt to let them advertise at events, all of those flyovers, all of those special soldiers on the field... Kinda makes you forget about those weddings that got hit by drone strikes.

haha, oh please. it's called programming because the very definition of the word is "to schedule".

yes, of course american sports have been infiltrated by the government's mandate to recruit soldiers. I always have said how odd it is that no one questions:

-military at sporting events
-singing the national anthems before playing a game

the two just don't go together for me. But, I also have zero patriotism, so it makes sense that it doesn't jive for me. But people just eat it up like it's no big thing.

and as gimme mentoined above, I always laugh when there's a beef between countries, politically or militarily, and the response from the west is always "FINE, then we won't play soccer with you in 2 years!".

What type of spoon do you prefer to be fed by?

HughFreakingDillon

unsung said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

unsung said:

Degeneratefk said:

unsung said:

I don't watch much anymore because I think they are designed to distract.

So the NFL, MLB, NHL, and nascar are all pawns of the government used to distract us dumb folk from the goings on of the world?

TV is called programming for a few reasons.

Have you guys been under a rock?

The NFL admitted to taking payments from the govt to let them advertise at events, all of those flyovers, all of those special soldiers on the field... Kinda makes you forget about those weddings that got hit by drone strikes.

haha, oh please. it's called programming because the very definition of the word is "to schedule".

yes, of course american sports have been infiltrated by the government's mandate to recruit soldiers. I always have said how odd it is that no one questions:

-military at sporting events
-singing the national anthems before playing a game

the two just don't go together for me. But, I also have zero patriotism, so it makes sense that it doesn't jive for me. But people just eat it up like it's no big thing.

and as gimme mentoined above, I always laugh when there's a beef between countries, politically or militarily, and the response from the west is always "FINE, then we won't play soccer with you in 2 years!".

What type of spoon do you prefer to be fed by?

thank you for that wildly informative and well thought out post.