What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - Printable Version
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What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - BostonCard - 03-02-2021
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/what-pandemic-revealed-about-sports/618157/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
That's the argument here:
Quote:Since that fateful night in Oklahoma City last March, the sports world hasn’t been the escape that some fans desperately needed it to be. It has simply mirrored the chaos the entire country has experienced. During a deadly pandemic, a lot of people just couldn’t bring themselves to enjoy the distraction that sports traditionally provide.
To be honest, I don't totally disagree; I'm enjoying the sports that are being played, but I would also be ok if they weren't being played.
BC
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - gailtate - 03-02-2021
(03-02-2021, 05:14 PM)BostonCard Wrote: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/what-pandemic-revealed-about-sports/618157/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
That's the argument here:
Quote:Since that fateful night in Oklahoma City last March, the sports world hasn’t been the escape that some fans desperately needed it to be. It has simply mirrored the chaos the entire country has experienced. During a deadly pandemic, a lot of people just couldn’t bring themselves to enjoy the distraction that sports traditionally provide.
To be honest, I don't totally disagree; I'm enjoying the sports that are being played, but I would also be ok if they weren't being played.
BC
Sports are supposed to be fun. They're supposed to make you happy. I can honestly say the last thoroughly happy sports experience I had occurred more than five years ago in Pasadena, at the 2016 Rose Bowl. Triumphant moment in time, despite the venture capital schmuck who crashed the the post-game TV moment. From that time on, the college game began to abandon me. And I really didn't care. Still don't. The NFL left me decades ago. But sports in general? I enjoyed my grandson's Little League Baseball games. He's pretty good. It's pure fun. Makes me happy. No dance-cam. No night games. No screaming idiots on the sidelines flogging whatever. No entitled moochers at my tailgates. No tailgates! No BS. And: It's. All. Free.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - BobK - 03-02-2021
I need sports. Period
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - chimera - 03-02-2021
I would have been fine if no sports had been played during the pandemic, even though I have enjoyed watching WBB this season. Given how many games were cancelled and how many pauses there were, and also now that some bad luck can knock a team out of the post-season, we can't really say things have gone smoothly for college basketball.
I have mixed feelings generally about sports these days, and not just due to the pandemic. Overall I enjoy sports but I also find they stress me out a bit too much. Winning can feel like a relief more than fun. It is easier to watch a game where I have no stake in the outcome, but I also don't enjoy watching teams I know little about. Sometimes I almost dread a big match-up because I know it will make me nervous and I will be bummed (very briefly but still...) if we lose. I don't know how to stop that. Going to a game is better than TV. At a game I can yell and cheer, chat with friends, etc. that take away some of the angst. TV is harder.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - winflop - 03-02-2021
(03-02-2021, 05:14 PM)BostonCard Wrote: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/what-pandemic-revealed-about-sports/618157/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
That's the argument here:
Quote:Since that fateful night in Oklahoma City last March, the sports world hasn’t been the escape that some fans desperately needed it to be. It has simply mirrored the chaos the entire country has experienced. During a deadly pandemic, a lot of people just couldn’t bring themselves to enjoy the distraction that sports traditionally provide.
To be honest, I don't totally disagree; I'm enjoying the sports that are being played, but I would also be ok if they weren't being played.
BC
It's behind a paywall so I can't read the article, but I would not be OK if sports weren't being played, and I look forward to being able to attend events in person Soon™
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - crackpot - 03-02-2021
(03-02-2021, 06:29 PM)chimera Wrote: At a game I can yell and cheer, chat with friends, etc. that take away some of the angst. TV is harder.
This. I so dearly miss my seatmates and the chalktalk folks. Heck, even in the post-season when I've been seated near strangers has been much more fun (and/or cathartic) than watching on my own.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - BostonCard - 03-02-2021
(03-02-2021, 07:24 PM)winflop Wrote: It's behind a paywall so I can't read the article, but I would not be OK if sports weren't being played, and I look forward to being able to attend events in person Soon™
Sorry; I'm not a subscriber either. The Atlantic usually gives a handfull of free articles a month.
BC
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - Phogge - 03-03-2021
I subscribed to The Atlantic for over 40 years. I haven’t liked the new administration and the number of political articles so I let it lapse. I may be the only person in the world who thinks James Fallows is a crappy writer.
I could get by with televised golf and horse racing and rereading my 100 plus baseball books. I was impressed by the Niners preparation and game day protocols that I felt made it very safe to shoot the home games. I know that the NFL is primarily concerned with making money but they did provide a public service in making the season work.
A society without sports is a weakened society but not worth personal depression without them. Read a book, play Monopoly, garden, volunteer, hike, learn a craft, etc. We would survive.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - TheWildJacko - 03-03-2021
Sports are also a much needed outlet and teaching experience for the players; they're not just for us. Some people are born to move and be active and compete. How would they do without sports?
That said, having a basketball season to watch is one of the main things keeping me going these past few months. Watching games is also one of my main activities that I share with my dad. We text back and forth throughout.
Yes watching is stressful but it's a familiar stress, in a year in which almost everything else feels unfamiliar. I personally would consider myself much poorer if sports went away.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - Papa John - 03-03-2021
Not a subscriber so won't read the article, but--along the lines of what gailtate wrote--the thing I miss most is watching my son play competitive sports. His flag football and baseball teams are now practicing, and the plan is for actual competition in April, so there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - BillBradley - 03-03-2021
(03-03-2021, 09:51 AM)TheWildJacko Wrote: Sports are also a much needed outlet and teaching experience for the players; they're not just for us. Some people are born to move and be active and compete. How would they do without sports?
That said, having a basketball season to watch is one of the main things keeping me going these past few months. Watching games is also one of my main activities that I share with my dad. We text back and forth throughout.
Yes watching is stressful but it's a familiar stress, in a year in which almost everything else feels unfamiliar. I personally would consider myself much poorer if sports went away.
Totally agree Jacko. IMO, throughout the pandemic there seems to be a personal fan-centric reaction regarding the decision to play. The reaction totally disregards the most important people in the discussion - the millions of athletes themselves (from T-ball on up). Playing sports is not just about the entities that seek glory and make money.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - Mick - 03-03-2021
i find that my interest in sports have changed over the course of my life. I don't think the pandemic did much for me vis-a-vis sports, other than to make me miss them terribly. I like the game-day, in-person experience at Giants games, and any Stanford game. I like televised sports, but less and less as time goes on, and I genuinely miss the social aspect.
Will the world go on without sports? Well, sure. The world will go on no matter what, but sports adds a great deal to the lives of millions -- particularly to people of limited achievement in the conventional sense. If it makes a minimum wage worker happy to wear an Oakland A's hat and follow them on line, and attend a few games a year...who's to say that's a bad thing? After all, FDR considered baseball to be so critically important to the nation's psyche, he didn't suspend major league baseball despite the dearth of ballplayers and financial resources.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - cardcrimson - 03-03-2021
Agree with both of you. Kids need what sports provide, desperately. I've mentioned the Let They Play CA group and their effort to get sports playing again in CA before (and their efforts were condemned by several here). The mental and physical health aspects of the pandemic have been brutal on the kids, especially those in CA.
I'd wager that everyone on this board had part of their development as a person enhanced by sports at one time or another.
(03-03-2021, 10:48 AM)BillBradley Wrote:(03-03-2021, 09:51 AM)TheWildJacko Wrote: Sports are also a much needed outlet and teaching experience for the players; they're not just for us. Some people are born to move and be active and compete. How would they do without sports?
That said, having a basketball season to watch is one of the main things keeping me going these past few months. Watching games is also one of my main activities that I share with my dad. We text back and forth throughout.
Yes watching is stressful but it's a familiar stress, in a year in which almost everything else feels unfamiliar. I personally would consider myself much poorer if sports went away.
Totally agree Jacko. IMO, throughout the pandemic there seems to be a personal fan-centric reaction regarding the decision to play. The reaction totally disregards the most important people in the discussion - the millions of athletes themselves (from T-ball on up). Playing sports is not just about the entities that seek glory and make money.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - BostonCard - 03-03-2021
There are two separate questions...
The first is the importance of participation in sports (or more broadly physical activity) for physical and mental health, which I strongly believe in. Since the pandemic started, I have been working out in my garage with fitness classes via zoom and on most nights I take a long walk around the neighborhood. Prior to the pandemic I used to run obstacle course races (like the Spartan race) and had run in the San Francisco marathon. I miss that, and I look forward to being able to do it again. I also have tried to keep my kids physically active any way I can, and look forward to when they can resume competition (even if it is at a recreational level).
The second is the importance of spectator sports. As a long time season ticket holder for Stanford football, I have to admit that I missed this last season a lot less than I might have thought I would. Although I miss going to games in the abstract (and miss the sense of normalcy that a return to spectating would imply), I didn't for a second wish that Stanford/Santa Clara would allow spectators to it, and if they had, I wouldn't have gone. I didn't mind at all that Stanford decided not to go to a bowl game, for instance. And while I watched a fair number of basketball games back in January, I've been watching fewer of late. Part of that is that the men's basketball team is tanking, but even the women, who are as good as ever, aren't must watch television.
I know plenty of people who have essentially no relationship with spectator sports for their own entertainment. I don't know that I would ever go that far, but I could easily see my interest in watching sports, even Stanford sports, wane, even after the pandemic subsides.
BC
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - needle - 03-03-2021
The people on this board are pretty much all diehard fans, but there's a rather large group of people who watch/attend mostly to participate in water cooler talk. In other words, they watch/attend because they recognize and appreciate the social aspect of spectating.
I suspect that this group has mostly abandoned sports during the pandemic.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - Goose - 03-03-2021
There is a difference between enjoying sports and "needing" sports. It is always a question of priorities. One may want to go home early and watch "the game" but does not do so as work takes precedence. There are lots of things that I like to do, like go out to eat, that I haven't been able to do because of COVID-19. I want to do it, and I will resume doing it when it is safe. I am not going to go off the deep end because I can't get instant gratification of everything I want right now. What a concept!
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - AlbanyCardinal - 03-04-2021
I used to be a rabid college football fan. Season tickets on the Farm for years, tailgate crew, away games every year, and so forth. By the time August came around, I'd be so hungry for it, I'd watch the first games of the season no matter which teams were involved. Over the last five or so years, my rabidity started to wane for various reasons. Fast forward to 2020 and the pandemic, and it really has been the nail in the coffin. I'm done with football, on the Farm or otherwise. Other sports, however, have become more meaningful for me, especially during the pandemic. So, it's not sports across the board for me.
RE: What if the pandemic proved we didn't need sports - Snorlax94 - 03-05-2021
I was able to read The Atlantic article for free by using a browser that I haven’t used on that website before.
I agree that in the long term, the pandemic will harm sports viewership — for one, it’s accelerated the transition to non-live streaming services. The author didn’t list this issue, but I think the pandemic will also deal a major blow to participation in some sports, as the demotivating disparities between travel club sports and school sports will be worse in some cases, especially soccer. But the disparities may actually decrease in football and basketball, which may increase participation.
But from my experience, I think sports will come back in a big way this fall. I’ll admit I’ve watched very little sports — less than half of usual — this past year. But the reason for me isn’t because I’m off sports or that the pandemic has somehow proven sports to be unnecessry. The past year has been such a haze — with kids not in school, with all work at home, with no vacations and parties, all the days kind of blur together. There are no feeling of weekends and weekdays. There aren’t big upcoming trips or meetings with friends to look forward to. There is no Monday morning catchup on what happened over the weekend, which could include talking about recent sports matches. It’s just one continuous, oppressive monolith. Just because we were able to make it through it, doesn’t mean I liked it or want it continue any longer than is necessary.
So I expect my sports viewing — and the sense of weekends and weekdays, and seasons, and bbqs, and holidays and water cooler chat — will be back, in stages, probably starting sometime this summer or fall.