Completed What Was Assigned
Overtime represents everything that is god-awful about America. And I'm not even talking about the workplace, although I could be. I'm talking, as I have been known to do in the past, about football.
Or any sport, really. Whatever happened to ties? Two teams get out there, beat the crap out of one another, and the final gun sounds with the score even. I suggest shaking hands and calling it a day. Sports are supposed to be, among other things, a metaphor for life. We force children to play them knowing full-well that they will never be good enough to make a living playing them. But we do it for their fitness, and to get them out of our their guardians' hair for a little while, and to teach them lessons. Think of a strategy. Work hard. Listen to your coach. Cooperate with your teammates. Expect a concrete solution to every problem within three hours.
This last lesson is, of course, a terrible one for adult-life preparation. Things often don't work out the way one wants them to, but they rarely work out disastrously. The mediocre results far outnumber the solid wins and losses. The ability to make what good one can out of imperfect results is about the most valuable one a human can have. Sports today are quite unrealistic in that sense. Football, basketball, and hockey feature overtimes. Baseball has extra innings, which is slightly cooler, but numbers of outs as opposed to clock time has always been baseball's biggest (and possibly only) advantage over other sports. Tennis goes on hasta la victoria.
Why have most sports adopted OT? Certainly increased commercial TV time has much to do with it, to which I have nothing to say in this post and everything to say in a later one about how money is everything in our society but doesn't need to be. But a baser sports fan than I would answer that neither team, or team's fans, are happy with a tie, so why not fill the glass halfway, as opposed to leaving it empty? Keep ties and other life-lessons for little league; TV sports are the territory of dollars and fantastic gratification.
I disagree. A hunger is built after a tie. Both teams will pursue the rematch with an augmented sense of having something to prove. It's delayed gratification, yes, so I understand if it won't sell, but a little coitis interruptus can be a wonderful thing.
Let me conclude by saying that as awful as some aspects of pro sports are, they are in summation nowhere near as ridiculous as the fantasy sport Quidditch and its Golden Snitch. People should think things through before putting them down on paper for others to read. That's the Turdlog's stand: are you in good hands?
Or any sport, really. Whatever happened to ties? Two teams get out there, beat the crap out of one another, and the final gun sounds with the score even. I suggest shaking hands and calling it a day. Sports are supposed to be, among other things, a metaphor for life. We force children to play them knowing full-well that they will never be good enough to make a living playing them. But we do it for their fitness, and to get them out of our their guardians' hair for a little while, and to teach them lessons. Think of a strategy. Work hard. Listen to your coach. Cooperate with your teammates. Expect a concrete solution to every problem within three hours.
This last lesson is, of course, a terrible one for adult-life preparation. Things often don't work out the way one wants them to, but they rarely work out disastrously. The mediocre results far outnumber the solid wins and losses. The ability to make what good one can out of imperfect results is about the most valuable one a human can have. Sports today are quite unrealistic in that sense. Football, basketball, and hockey feature overtimes. Baseball has extra innings, which is slightly cooler, but numbers of outs as opposed to clock time has always been baseball's biggest (and possibly only) advantage over other sports. Tennis goes on hasta la victoria.
Why have most sports adopted OT? Certainly increased commercial TV time has much to do with it, to which I have nothing to say in this post and everything to say in a later one about how money is everything in our society but doesn't need to be. But a baser sports fan than I would answer that neither team, or team's fans, are happy with a tie, so why not fill the glass halfway, as opposed to leaving it empty? Keep ties and other life-lessons for little league; TV sports are the territory of dollars and fantastic gratification.
I disagree. A hunger is built after a tie. Both teams will pursue the rematch with an augmented sense of having something to prove. It's delayed gratification, yes, so I understand if it won't sell, but a little coitis interruptus can be a wonderful thing.
Let me conclude by saying that as awful as some aspects of pro sports are, they are in summation nowhere near as ridiculous as the fantasy sport Quidditch and its Golden Snitch. People should think things through before putting them down on paper for others to read. That's the Turdlog's stand: are you in good hands?
posted by john at
4:14 PM
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