So glad you posted about this! I found myself thinking about a lot of things here. First was your piece in the LA Review of Books, which you mention and I actually think about quite often as a sports fan (although no longer an NFL/Packers fan). Second was a scene from the sitcom The Good Place. I tried to find a clip to share, but after some significant time down the rabbit hole that is the internet, I'm pretty certain the scene isn't readily available online. I was able to find a reference to it from the AV Club: "In her flashback, Eleanor’s fight with her more civic-minded boyfriend sees her challenge his choice not to support a sleazy local business by stating, 'There’s bad stuff everywhere man. It’s impossible to avoid.' When he protests, 'Yeah but shouldn’t we just try? Whenever we can?,' Eleanor’s 'Why? It’s so much harder to live like that,' says, especially as Bell delivers it, a lot about the show’s view." While I believe my husband and I are equally civic-minded, we have, in fact, had similar "discussions" in this regard. One of my sticking points is Chick-fil-A -- I won't go there despite the fact that I've never met a waffle fry I don't like. And that brings me to the Milwaukee Bucks, whom I love more than waffle fries. This year's championship was sweeter because of the players' vocalness on issues of social justice. So I was admittedly disappointed when Giannis chose Chick-fil-A for his post-championship 50-piece chicken nugget run. What am I going to do about it? Well, nothing, really, except I won't like any of the social media posts about it. So there. (??)
Finally, I keep coming back to the ol' adage "Don't hate the player, hate the game." There's a lot to dislike about how games have morphed into gross sports empires. Even as we navigate the ridiculous terrain of youth sports with our incoming freshman here, there's a lot (LOT) to dislike. For example, a few years back, I was thinking about how awesome it was going to be for my stepson to play middle school sports...only to find that middle school sports as I knew them don't really exist around here anymore. Why? Well because club sports have taken over. (And sometimes these club/select sports are organized as a "junior" league of a high school organization, which is a whole other issue that really makes me mad.) The issues of inequity are as glaring as they are disgusting. Still, I attend my stepson's club volleyball games and his select lacrosse games.
I'm going to keep loving the players despite not loving the games. And I'm going to throw all my love and support to all the players who push back against the unjust games. I have yet to watch any of "the" games this year, but I've been following the coverage and Simone Biles is champion.
So glad you posted about this! I found myself thinking about a lot of things here. First was your piece in the LA Review of Books, which you mention and I actually think about quite often as a sports fan (although no longer an NFL/Packers fan). Second was a scene from the sitcom The Good Place. I tried to find a clip to share, but after some significant time down the rabbit hole that is the internet, I'm pretty certain the scene isn't readily available online. I was able to find a reference to it from the AV Club: "In her flashback, Eleanor’s fight with her more civic-minded boyfriend sees her challenge his choice not to support a sleazy local business by stating, 'There’s bad stuff everywhere man. It’s impossible to avoid.' When he protests, 'Yeah but shouldn’t we just try? Whenever we can?,' Eleanor’s 'Why? It’s so much harder to live like that,' says, especially as Bell delivers it, a lot about the show’s view." While I believe my husband and I are equally civic-minded, we have, in fact, had similar "discussions" in this regard. One of my sticking points is Chick-fil-A -- I won't go there despite the fact that I've never met a waffle fry I don't like. And that brings me to the Milwaukee Bucks, whom I love more than waffle fries. This year's championship was sweeter because of the players' vocalness on issues of social justice. So I was admittedly disappointed when Giannis chose Chick-fil-A for his post-championship 50-piece chicken nugget run. What am I going to do about it? Well, nothing, really, except I won't like any of the social media posts about it. So there. (??)
Finally, I keep coming back to the ol' adage "Don't hate the player, hate the game." There's a lot to dislike about how games have morphed into gross sports empires. Even as we navigate the ridiculous terrain of youth sports with our incoming freshman here, there's a lot (LOT) to dislike. For example, a few years back, I was thinking about how awesome it was going to be for my stepson to play middle school sports...only to find that middle school sports as I knew them don't really exist around here anymore. Why? Well because club sports have taken over. (And sometimes these club/select sports are organized as a "junior" league of a high school organization, which is a whole other issue that really makes me mad.) The issues of inequity are as glaring as they are disgusting. Still, I attend my stepson's club volleyball games and his select lacrosse games.
I'm going to keep loving the players despite not loving the games. And I'm going to throw all my love and support to all the players who push back against the unjust games. I have yet to watch any of "the" games this year, but I've been following the coverage and Simone Biles is champion.
Kiss your wife , son and daughter