PigLick on 13/6/2014 at 10:08
Thats only in the US though right?
@dethtoll, you know what I mean, can you imagine what youtube would be like without ads?
well obviously it would be friggin awesome, but I highly doubt it would be free.
Muzman on 13/6/2014 at 10:30
Yeah it's bonkers over there.
This isn't to say professional sports madness doesn't exist elsewhere. Football at various levels in the UK is corrupt to the back teeth and Aus has its fair share of bad behaviour from sportspeople. Rugby is traditionally the worst though. The AFL are pretty brutal these days when it comes to misbehaving, probably noting the troubles other leagues in the world have. So that's something. And these things haven't leaked into other facets of life too much in these places, unlike the US. So socialism for the win I guess. The amount of money involved can't help but have some influence though, usually. But that's to be expected I suppose.
fett on 13/6/2014 at 12:47
It follows, historically. One of the major reasons for the decline of art and culture (IMHO the measure of any truly great civilization) in the Roman Empire was their obsession over sports to the neglect of education and political clarity. There are hints of this problem in the Babylonian and Medo-Persian cultures as well. When band, drama, and art programs are being defunded across the map to buy new football uniforms, there's a serious problem. To further sound like a stereotyping douche, the trend invites an inflated sense of self-importance among athletes that is quickly deflated upon leaving high school and college and realizing that very few people become proffesional sportsters. Meanwhile the next Mozart or Shakespeare languishes in the nerd pool with no program or financial support to help them develop their talent. This is so commonplace now that it actually bores me to talk about it.
DDL on 13/6/2014 at 13:25
I'm pretty sure someone high up in government is looking at a screen that says
Quote:
DRONE RIOTS LIKELY! WOULD YOU LIKE TO
A) BUILD MORE SPORTS FACILITIES
B) NERVE STAPLE CITIZENS (atrocity)
So we should probably be glad we have football.
or at least all the drones should. Us talents are too busy being awesome, obvs
Tomi on 13/6/2014 at 14:21
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Nobody really "needs" sports.
Since you are comparing the two, do people really "need" arts then?
If you're one of those people who say that "watching grown men kick a ball around the pitch" is stupid and pointless, you're not exactly
wrong, but it isn't any more stupid or pointless than looking at pictures painted by some other person or listening to sound waves recorded by someone else.
I agree that some of the major sports at the highest professional level have been ruined by all the money in it, but sports isn't only about those huge events and major tournaments, just like there's other music than what you hear on your mainstream radio station and other films than just Hollywood blockbusters. The salaries of some of the top athletes are totally ridiculous, but then again we also give a few hundred men a lot of money to pose in front of a camera or to exercise their vocal chords in front of an audience as well. What's the difference? These problems aren't exclusive to sports, they happen in every part of life albeit on a smaller scale.
The World Cup is the most prestigeous thing in football and it's the biggest sporting event that there is, so of course it attracts shitloads of advertisers and there's obscene amounts of money involved in merchandising and everything. (The cool thing about The World Cup is that money doesn't make a big difference what actually happens on the pitch though, which is why I like it even more than club football.) Is that the fault of the
sports though? I don't think so, if you want to blame someone, blame the media or the society or SubJeff. If you think that entertaining people isn't important then fair enough, but I thought that you liked video games?
Tony_Tarantula on 13/6/2014 at 17:35
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Professional sports are a
cancer. They're distorting priorities, draining resources, blunting our culture, and corrupting the political process. They're a massive waste of money that disproportionately goes into advertisers' pockets (and the stadiums themselves are big drains on tax dollars that could be better spent on things like improving schools and infrastructure, while whole neighborhoods of largely lower-income housing are razed to make room for these ridiculously huge complexes) to build a shrine to very specific physical skillsets, all in the name of a form of entertainment that teaches nothing, inspires nothing, and means nothing.
I agree with you completely.
In fact, I'd pile on even harder: It's amazing how many grown-ass men in America have no knowledge of the world whatsoever but can recite sports statistics the way a no-lifer, basement dwelling WoW player can recite raid stats. It's amazing how many of them base their emotional well being on how well their chosen team performs.
It's particularly damaging to blacks, who are regularly conditioned to worship thuggish, vapid, role models devoid of any real character. In many ways pro sports have the same effect on the black community that the Rap industry (which is entirely fake, it's run by rich white and jewish men) is having on young blacks.
Renzatic on 13/6/2014 at 17:47
As if the Black Community is some monolithic thing, and everyone who has the same skin color by default likes the same stupid shit.
Saying that rap music and pro sports are destroying the black community is somewhat akin to saying that Limp Bizkit is a bad influence on Whites.
Kuuso on 13/6/2014 at 18:23
Wow the amount of bullshit in this thread is amazing. It's not even about the facts, because it's true that any big international sports association is most likely corrupt as hell. FIFA could as well reside at Death Star. Some people give sports way too much importance.
Sports itself gives substance to people's lives around the world. Simple as that. You're a fucking idiot, if you diss that. You might as well diss computer games or music (recording studios could hang around with FIFA at Death Star).
That rap comment is just abysmal and shows complete lack of knowledge about the subject (even if it is partially true).
faetal on 13/6/2014 at 18:31
Yeah, well Tony is kind of losing his mind a bit, so maybe give him some room and avoid eye contact.
Tony_Tarantula on 13/6/2014 at 18:56
Quote Posted by Kuuso
Wow the amount of bullshit in this thread is amazing. It's not even about the facts, because it's true that any big international sports association is most likely corrupt as hell. FIFA could as well reside at Death Star. Some people give sports way too much importance.
Sports itself gives substance to people's lives around the world. Simple as that. You're a fucking idiot, if you diss that. You might as well diss computer games or music (recording studios could hang around with FIFA at Death Star).
So giving people a fantasy universe to live in is "giving people's lives substance"? What about old fashioned things like....ya know.....meaningful relationships with friends and family? Upward social mobility? Increasing one's knowledge and education?
