Sports are meaningless candy, BUT

[4bonhoffer]

I realize this just ain’t that important, but it still is.

Pre superbowl football fan. Found memories of watching the first two with my father.( WW2 combat veteran). Couldn’t watch the superbowl this year because the insane putin puppet was there.
Played a fair share of tennis. Was looking forward to the final match of the U.S. Open. Could be a classic, but again ,
putin’s puppet is there. I did turn it on to see if there was any protests actually receiving airtime. Match started 30 minutes late and stands weren’t full because of security. So people who paid an ungodly amount of money to watch what could be a classic match are missing a chunk of what they paid for because of putin’s puppet, who also asked that any booing of him not be televised.

He’s going to screw up the World Cup. So, all sports, the entire economy, our countries security, and oh yeah our democracy. Republicans must be so proud.

[Walleye]

1. Apparently, he screwed up the U.S. Open tennis match today too

[lapfog_1]

2. I watched the first 4 Superbowls

My KC Chiefs played poorly against the Green Bay Packers ( and Vince Lombardi ) in the very first, Oakland Raiders fared no better against the Packers in number 2... then came Joe Namath and the Jets in number 3, and finally, redemption for the Chiefs and the AFL against the Vikings in number 4 ( an almost perfect game executed by Hank Stram and Len Dawson ).

After 4 superbowls between the two rivals AFL and NFL... 2 to 2. Then the merger happened and it was all NFL with the NFC and AFC ( leftover from the two leagues ).

Moved to California in 1988... now a 48ers fan... but since Montana and Young... well, not caring that much.

[John1956PA]

3. I remember those games. The oucome of IV surprised me more than that of III.

[H2O Man]

4. "Sports" are many things.

I agree with the idea that having adults identify with professional sports teams to the extent so many do, has reduced us to an audience of on-lookers, excitedly pretending the game's outcome has anything to do with their lives ..... unless there is a comorbidity with gambling addiction.

Professional sports help define a generation, in either good or bad ways. Let's consider the sport with the largest connection to politics. The horror that many white Americans experienced when the great Jack Johnson won the heavyweight title. Try as they might, they couldn't beat him for a long time. The great Joe Louis, who volunteered for the military in WW2. And the Greatest, Muhammad Ali, refusing to submit to Uncle Sam's draft.

(Being old, I am far more aware of the potential damage that boxers sustain. I no longer train fighters, as I did after I stopped fighting. But I will be watching Canelo vs Crawford later this week.)

Sports can be good for children and teens. There can be a downside for those not interested, or have a dense gym teacher or coach. Or parents who pressure their kids to win scholarships. When I was on the school board, we had to call the state police to remove a woman from the gym during a girls JV basketball game. Surely, that is not good.

However, exercise and a good diet beats candy and cell phones for young people's health. And we want a strong, healthy generation grow to remove every fecal stain that the felon leaves on the fabric of our society.

[markodochartaigh]

5. I realize that some level of diversion from the daily grind

is probably healthy for most people however, we have an unhealthy tendency to excess in the US. We have gone from being a nation of citizens to being a nation of consumers and fans. As unhealthy as it is for us personally, it is even more unhealthy for our democracy.
But it is nothing new. Most people have heard of "bread and circuses". Consider Juvenal's lament:

"Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses."