Wednesday, May 9, 2007
“For the love of the game.”
“Back in the day.”
Be honest, how many times have you heard these phrases dished out when professional sports were the topic of discussion?
Sure they’re valid points, but to point the finger at the athletes and owners for the recent funny-money spending sprees misses the big picture. The culprit is right there, staring back at you in the mirror every morning as you put on your New Era fitted.
Escalating salaries, exposure and pressure have awoken even the sleepiest of reminiscent old timers to what’s happening today in our professional sports.
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Professional sports stopped being played “for the love of the game” a long time ago.
It’s only natural to blame the players and teams for this business explosion. They’re the ones rolling in all that money, after all.
If anything, though, we the fans are to blame. The fans raised the bar for athletes when they demanded increasing performances each season. And those performances drained the fun out of the game.
What we do as fans goes a long way in determining the direction of big-time sports in the U.S. So far, we’ve been sending them in a dangerous and downward spiral that bottoms out at corrupt dealings and meaningless statistics.
We speed up the process every time we buy a $169 authentic jersey. Even doing something as innocent as sitting on the couch and watching a game fuels the payroll fire. Lucrative TV contracts account for a large chunk of the MLB’s cash pile, a $3 billion chunk from Fox and TBS alone.
Now, athletes look at and treat their bodies like the million-dollar machines they are. It’s all a side effect of so much importance and money being placed on people playing sports.
Professional sports stopped being played “for the love of the game” a long time ago. Now, athletes, owners, and fans alike treat them as big business. They drool over the third-quarter earnings of Kobe Bryant and faint at the sight of the Royals projected win returns.
What can we do? I’m not saying sell all your earthly, athletic possessions and throw out your plasma. Sports mean so much to so many people that limiting them in any way would be disastrous. Instead, maybe try a simpler, more sedated approach.
The next time Kobe bricks a potential game-winner or the Royals lose a heartbreaker in the 9th, step back, take a deep breath, and think to yourself, “Wow, that was still pretty cool to watch.”
It’s a whole lot less stressful than starting a blog and a whole lot less embarrassing than weeping uncontrollably while you caress a George Brett cut-out.
Molina is an Olathe sophomore in journalism.
— Edited by Ryan Schneider
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