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Sports Fans. Are we having fun, yet?

xsedrinam

xsedrinam

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 21, 2004
4,345
1
Can professional sports get any more bizarre? They’re butting heads with each other, doping scandals, fans, officials, even horses aren’t safe from professional heads geared at asserting their point.

So, what do “we the fans” have so say or do about it, since we’ve neither voice nor vote in the inner circles of professional sports entertainment? Should we just laugh it off, keep paying, attending, watching and cheering from the stands or our lazy boys?

It’s probably always been “just the few”, but those “few” and their incidents are becoming pervasive in just about every major sporting event. A call to return to innocence seems somehow trite and futile. But I would be less than honest to say I’ve seriously considered returning my interest, attendance and watching of any sport to the children’s local level of play. But then there are the parents who project their former glory days on their kids with a “win at any cost” mentality?

So, have we created this monster? Are we to ride it all the way down, suck it up while we grin and bear it? That’s life? Granted, to be disillusioned means there were illusions to be reckoned with in the first place. But I’m still naïve enough and sports’ purist enough to think there are a large number of fans “out there” who truly love their particular sport just for the love of the game. If these present day antics were just a passing, temporary bump in the road in sport, any point of being concerned might well be moot. Will it get better? How? And what are the fans to do, if anything at all?
 

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The big monsters are money and steroids, The more we want to watch and pay to see big athletes perform the more its gonna grow. We have a need to be competitive either in watching or playing and thats the thing that will have to change for the sports themselves to change. Until we stop watching or supporting our teams then things will only get worse before they get better. Money talks and thats what makes the sporting world go.
 
MacNut said:
The big monsters are money and steroids, The more we want to watch and pay to see big athletes perform the more its gonna grow. We have a need to be competitive either in watching or playing and thats the thing that will have to change for the sports themselves to change. Until we stop watching or supporting our teams then things will only get worse before they get better. Money talks and thats what makes the sporting world go.
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Probably so, but there's also a sinkhole or black hole effect somewhere along those lines. Whether or not we'll see an implosion in our day remains to be seen.
 
We will see change only if and when a big star athlete dies from a complication of steroids. Otherwise our appetite for bigger and better will continue.
 
MacNut said:
We will see change only if and when a big star athlete dies from a complication of steroids. Otherwise out appetite for bigger and better will continue.
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Just look at the WWE at the moment:rolleyes: Half the roster is off since the new policy instituted after Eddie Guerrero's death
 
barneygumble said:
Just look at the WWE at the moment:rolleyes: Half the roster is off since the new policy instituted after Eddie Guerrero's death
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When was the wrestling industry ever clean? And can you really call it a sport.:D
 
Professional wrestling is still part of the entertainment industry whether or not people consider it true sport or just scripted, athletic drama. And there are professionals, and they leave impressions and have impact on their fan base. But it again illustrates the problem.
 
No easy answer.

Where entire leagues are concerned, I'd say it's greedy businessmen...but ultimately it's our fault for putting up with things like PSLs, high prices and teams jumping from city to city. If we'd all vote with our wallets and stay away, we might get results. But of course there will always be people to buy tickets and therefore support this bad behavior.

Where particular athletes are concerned, I'd say it's mostly the fault of the individual, but also partly the fault of teams which keep such players, or pick them up once they've been released by somebody else. TO got more of a spanking than most characters, but he's still with a team and still making good money.
 
How long was it since the last NBA scandel-fight in the stands? It's been that long since I've watched an NBA game. Now there's another recent brawl, this time involving the Nuggets vs. Knicks, clearing the whole court. These guys just don't get it. I'm done with the NBA and NHL.
 
xsedrinam said:
Can professional sports get any more bizarre? They’re butting heads with each other, doping scandals, fans, officials, even horses aren’t safe from professional heads geared at asserting their point.

So, what do “we the fans” have so say or do about it, since we’ve neither voice nor vote in the inner circles of professional sports entertainment? Should we just laugh it off, keep paying, attending, watching and cheering from the stands or our lazy boys?

It’s probably always been “just the few”, but those “few” and their incidents are becoming pervasive in just about every major sporting event. A call to return to innocence seems somehow trite and futile. But I would be less than honest to say I’ve seriously considered returning my interest, attendance and watching of any sport to the children’s local level of play. But then there are the parents who project their former glory days on their kids with a “win at any cost” mentality?

So, have we created this monster? Are we to ride it all the way down, suck it up while we grin and bear it? That’s life? Granted, to be disillusioned means there were illusions to be reckoned with in the first place. But I’m still naïve enough and sports’ purist enough to think there are a large number of fans “out there” who truly love their particular sport just for the love of the game. If these present day antics were just a passing, temporary bump in the road in sport, any point of being concerned might well be moot. Will it get better? How? And what are the fans to do, if anything at all?
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You would make a great 19th century supreme court justice!
 
xsedrinam said:
I'm done with the NBA and NHL.
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Actually, I think the NHL has been great since they got back from the lockout. It made them realize how tenuous the whole market is, and it seems like they're really working hard to make it good.

Fighting's just part of the game. I remember playing in high school, and you'd be amazed at how close we'd get to fights (they weren't allowed). It's not like we hated each other, though. It just comes with the territory.
 
Macaddicttt said:
Actually, I think the NHL has been great since they got back from the lockout. It made them realize how tenuous the whole market is, and it seems like they're really working hard to make it good.

Fighting's just part of the game. I remember playing in high school, and you'd be amazed at how close we'd get to fights (they weren't allowed). It's not like we hated each other, though. It just comes with the territory.
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It would be easier to wink at this or dismiss passing judgment on this type of behavior as archaic, but I think there is a disturbing element about it all.

If fighting were a part of the game, officials wouldn't toss players and leagues wouldn't fine them.
 
xsedrinam said:
It would be easier to wink at this or dismiss passing judgment on this type of behavior as archaic, but I think there is a disturbing element about it all.

If fighting were a part of the game, officials wouldn't toss players and leagues wouldn't fine them.
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I think NHL players show an enormous amount of restraint. Ever seen a minor league hockey game? Those are ridiculous. I guess what I was trying to say is that it's not the guys playing it, it's the game. If you were playing hockey, you'd get in fights, too. Sure, some people lose it easier, and that's when there's real problems, but I think it's silly to dismiss the whole league because of it. It's not an ego thing. It's a hockey thing.
 
NHL did get better after the lockout - problem is that nobody knows it due to the low and limited television exposure. The low was the year the Stanley cup finals lost to Womens softball on the television...that is low.
 
puckhead193 said:
whats wrong with the NHL? Besides them wanting more money, their hasn't been any real brawls...
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It's fair to give you, ziwi and Macaddictt the point that maybe the NHL has learned some lessons. I don't believe the NBA has shown signs of having learned anything. Never watching another NBA game is just fine, though, since I don't miss it at all. How anyone could argue that fighting is part of the game of basketball is just silly, unless we're talking pick up games at an outdoor community center.
 
The problem is that the Knicks have the highest payroll in the NBA yet they are also the worst team ever. The fact that the fight got more attention then the game itself should tell you something about where the interest is. The Knicks are considered to be a joke in the sports world, They are nothing more then a circus show.
 
It's a lip sync Crowe nails of Iverson's response to Brown's critcicism on AI's practices i.e. work ethic.
"Reporter: "Could you clear about your practicing habits since we can't see you practice?"
 
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