Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

I'm not a big sports fan, but pro sports does serve a purpose.

Sports in general is ritualized hunting / warfare. A civilized and less brutal version of war, but the roots are clear. The skills used are the same as our ancestors used to survive: running, throwing, tackling, hitting things with sticks. That's war.

Watching sports is a celebration of those ancient survival skills, though they don't have much place in modern society. These urges exist within many of us, and need an outlet. Sports is highly preferable to the small-scale skirmishes that frequently occurred in centuries past.

Many people feel the strong call of tribalism too. Us versus them. Rooting for the home team, and feeling their ups and downs as your own is also wired into us at a deep level.

It would be a lot more effective for society if we were pitting city governments against each other, seeing who can deliver the best services at the lowest taxpayer cost. But I'm not holding my breath for someone to set that league. :-)

Sports as a team activity, a friendly space to be physically active and competitive (with varying degrees of physical injury risk depending on the sport), are fantastic. I was a three-sport athlete in high school and consider the lessons learned in that context just as important as some of the coursework. My cross-country team was full of AP math and science kids, while my soccer team had more of the kids who smoked pot and goofed off in class. Even supporting the teams I didn't belong to meant finding common ground with those I might otherwise have never associated with.

When I consider the professional sports phenomenon, I can't suppress my knowledge of its more insidious aspects. The ludicrous salaries in an age when the disparity between rich and poor is becoming more painfully exacerbated, and the effect that this allure has on the American educational system. The reinforcement of racially motivated prejudices. The disregard for players' physical and emotional well-being, as well as other more casual disgraces that Marshawn Lynch could readily identify. The vitriol frequently associated with team fandom (which I am fortunate to have escaped despite growing up in the heart of the SEC).

I don't begrudge anyone their enjoyment of collegiate or professional sports. Once in a blue moon I'll even attend a football or hockey game at a friend's invitation, and I whoop and cheer and critique just like the next guy. But don't ask me to fall in line with the majority and unreservedly celebrate professional sports just so I can "identify with the common man". I don't watch the Super Bowl, despite invitations, not because I feel some elitist need to prove my refinement to others, but because it's difficult for me to support a system that contradicts my values on so many counts.

At least the article itself isn't too difficult to get through. From his list, number 3 is the one that jumped out at me:

"Interest in sports can expand or shrink to fill the time you’re willing to give it"

I'm skeptical about the "shrink" part. The main problem I have with sports is how swallowed up some people and society in general can be. There was a recent discussion on HN about books and how impossible it is to be able to read everything that's important within your lifetime. Now, I don't even read books (yet), and I'm certainly not a good role model for spending my time wisely. But I guess there's no problem with people spending time on whatever makes them happy, and if the time people put into sports makes them that happy, so be it. I think it would be better for everybody, however, if we focused more on improving our lives in the long run. Have some more discipline. On the other hand, I think it's great to be "open minded". Give everything and everybody a chance to be worth your attention. It reduces ignorance.

But kyllo has another good taxy point.