Forget the cheerleaders - is there really a need for high-paid sports fucks?

[Rabrrrrrr]

Seriously - do we need barely literate whiny spoiled millionaires running around catching balls and kicking shit while equally uneducated shitpiles sit on their asses for hours on end, scratching disgustingly beneath their oversized sweat pants, shoving their faces full of Doritos and cheese dip and chicken wings, which shitpiles base their entire sense of self-being on how "their" team does in a kind of tribal identity that's so low on the brain stem that even the most primitive tribes in South America look at them and think "These people are so fucking dumb they don't need their heads shrunk", while watching the millionaires do absolutely nothing that benefits the human collective unconscious whatsoever, and serves, in fact, to devolve us as a species and take untold vast volumes of money from causes and people that/who actually matter in the grand scheme of human and world evolution?

It's so sad to see my species waste itself.

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. And subscriptions are free! But you have to be able to read at a human level.

Which is about 8 grades higher than the average US newspaper is written, and about ten grades higher than the usual TV news uses.

Newspapers, by the way, are written at a baseball aficionado grade level. TV News at a football fans level. Freerepublic is at what we Pedagogical Scientists call the basketball fan level of intellect.

[Missy Vixen]

2. Why do you care?

>equally uneducated shitpiles<

I may not have a doctorate yet, but I'm not uneducated, and I enjoy watching sports. There are other things in the world that also waste "untold vast volumes of money" that I don't necessarily support, either.

If you don't like sporting events, don't watch them.

Julie

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. If you don't like what I have to say, then don't read it.

There - a response just as intellectually valid as yours.

:eyes:

[Missy Vixen]

11. What's next?

Are you going to stick your tongue out at me, too?

I wish I could say that I didn't expect this, but frankly, why am I not surprised?

:eyes:
Julie

[pokerfan]

75. It's just another form of entertainment

It's funny how no one whines about Tom Hanks or Mel Gibson pocketing millions for a couple weeks work on a film.

I like to think of sport as "unscripted drama." Sometimes it's boring or the underdog gets its ever-loving crap kicked out of them. Other times, like last week;s Fiesta Bowl, it's transcendent.

[Danger Mouse]

4. LOL...

post of the year! And it's only January! :rofl:

I think the amount that athletes are paid is ridiculous as well. And the way people get into fights and shit over rival teams is so absurd...it is watching humans acting out their most primal instincts...they strip down, grunt and hoot, throw things (usually not their own feces), become drunk and violent...
ah, what beasts we are!

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. YOUR STATE - AND YOU - SUCKS BECAUSE YOUR TEAM LOST TO MINE!!!

LOL!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I'M SUPERIOR TO YOU BECAUSE MY SPOILED MILLIONAIRE ILLITERATE ASSHOLES KICKED MORE BALLS THAN YOUR SPOILED MILLIONAIRE ILLITERATE CRIMINALS!!!!!

LOL!!!!!!!

YOU SUCK!!!!!

[Danger Mouse]

8. I'LL RIP OUT YOUR INNARDS FOR SAYING THAT!

I"LLL RIPE YOU TO SHREDS!!!
H(OW DARE YOU TALK ABOTU MY CHOSEN FAVCORITE SPORTS FTEAM IN SUCH A WAY!!! YOUR TEAM IS A BUNCH TOF CHEETERS!!

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. IT'S TIME FOR A SPORTS-BASED RIOT!!!

LET'S TURN CARS OVER AND SET THE CITY ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Danger Mouse]

21. LMFAO...

YTES BROTHER LET US CELEBRATE THE VICTORY OF OUR CITY SPORTS TEAM BY BRUNING OUR CITY TO THE GROUND! BLARGGGHHHHH

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. WHETHER OUR TEAM WINS OR LOSES, THE CITY GETS DESTROYED!!

EITHER IN CELEBRATION OR IN PAIN!!!!!! VIOLENCE MYUST BE DONE BECAUSE WE ARE SPORTS FANS!!!!!!

[Danger Mouse]

24. Whenever I hear of a sports riot I wonder...

how can people NOT believe in evolution? I mean, here we are, showing off our heritage as primitive cave men. Right down to the nonverbal grunting and thumping of the chest.

[Oeditpus Rex]

25. And whenever I hear of one, I wonder

"How many of those people were actually fans?"

[Danger Mouse]

27. Not too many of em probably. Just got in on the good rioting action.

You know how it is.

[idgiehkt]

23. roflmao

can't.

laugh.

anymore.

It's starting to get painful and my eyes are so squinted up I'm gonna get premature wrinkles


:rofl:

[erpowers]

77. Bad Sterotype

You just made a very bad sterotype of both the people who watch and go to sports events and the athletes who play professional sports. Some of the athletes who play professional sports and more of them on the college level have high grade scores and high test scores. At Rice University in Houston, TX. the athletes have SAT scores around the level 1300-1600. There is also a basketball player who cleped out of Calculus before he got to college. In addition, both Jason Williams (Duke) and Emakor Okafor (UCONN) graduated college early. They both graduated in three years. Finally I think all the Ivy league schools have sports teams so I would think that in itself proves that all athletes and sports fans are not illiterate assholes or illiterate criminals.

In addition, some of these professional athletes are very nice people outside of sports. I am not the biggest fan of Jeremy Shockey, (New York Giants) but due to some of the things I have seen him do I think he might be a really nice and principled guy off the field and under that tough exterior. Furthermore you might want to do a google or ask search on athletes like Adam Morrison, Etan Thomas, Steve Nash, Pat Tillman, Andre Agassi,Adalius Thomas, Josh Howard,Carlos Delgado, Martina Navaratilova, Adonal Foyle, Jeff Monson, Toni Smith, Jim Brown, Craig Hodges, Abdul Rauf, Peter Norman, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Reggie Bush, Stephon Marbury, and Muhammad Ali. You should spend an espeically good time researching Jim Brown, Peter Norman, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos. All of the previously mentioned athletes have had something important to say about the world and this country. In addition, many of thems especially the last four that I told you to do an extra amount of research actually stood for and fought for important causes. Finally, in order to realize why more athletes do not say important thing read the following articles. They get criticized and told to shut up if they do not sing the praises of George W. Bush and the Republican Party.

http://www.edgeofsports.com/2006-11-30-212/index.html
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2006-11-10-207/index.html
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2006-09-18-199/index.html
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2005-09-29-156/index.html
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2005-09-19-153/index.html
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2005-07-14-139/index.html

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Woohoo!

And I thought my thread was gonna stir up some shit! :woohoo:



:popcorn:

[CanuckAmok]

9. So live in a meritocracy, already!

If you find one, let us know!

PS you didn't touch on the fact that the "home team" is almost exclusively populated by an assortment of millionaires from any other home-town, and that they are traded within cities and nations without allegance or regret, by multimillionaires who usually live in Switzerland and Belize.

[idgiehkt]

10. I want a glib answer to my post too, dammit!

I just recommended this thread.

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Why save NOLA animals? The Saints SUCK!!!

SUCK I TELL YOU!!!! Therefore, the animals there suck, too.

[idgiehkt]

18. that's perfect!!

:rofl:

It's even better than I could have hoped for.

:rofl:

[Danger Mouse]

12. Kicked and recommended...

let's keep the party goin!! :kick:

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. Is your complaint with the fact

that professional athletes make brazillions of dollars or with the fact that people cheer for them? :shrug:

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. Neither - it's with the fact that so many people take it seriously.

Nothing wrong with enjoying sports - certainly nothing wrong with playing them. It's good for the health! And sports (except basketball) are fun to watch.

It's the people who take it seriously, who think that sports results fucking matter in any measurable way in human evolution, that piss me off; and the people who self-identify with their favorite team, whether it be the team from their city, their state, their state's university, their alma mater, or their high school.

Nothing wrong with having a favorite team - I love the Packers, and always want them to win. But I certainly never equate my self worth with how they are doing (which is a good thing, since they don't seem to do very well).

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. How do you figure

one's ball club affects one's self worth?

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. I don't.

But a lot of people do. They even do acts of violence based on it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

20. Oh

:popcorn:

[RevCheesehead]

26. You coulda gone to seminary at Duke, ya know.

:P

[Oeditpus Rex]

29. Hey

Did'ja get my e-mail? :hi:

[RevCheesehead]

30. I sure did!

DavE! (is that pronounced "Davie"?)

[Oeditpus Rex]

31. It's pronounced

"don't go there."

:spank:

[RevCheesehead]

33. But, Davey....

what would GOD say about that? O8)

[Oeditpus Rex]

34. Probably somethin' like

"We got hosed, Tommy. We got hosed."

:P

[Rabrrrrrr]

47. Please - I do have SOME self-respect...

:P

[evlbstrd]

28. I don't mind the sports fucks

as much as I DESPISE the sports broadcasting fucks who are usually retired/washed up sports fucks. They pump up the idiot sports-fuck-identity crisis week after week.
Do you know where Chris Collinsworth lives? He's on every goddamned NFL related show in the known universe!

[BlueStorm]

32. Sports are so fucking overrated anyways...

I don't understand how anyone can get so worked up by watching a bunch of guys/gals throw a ball around for two hours.

And then get so worked up on it. It's that damn "us vs. them" thing.

Blue

[gr8dane_daddy]

35. It may appear to be a bunch of people tossing balls around to you..

but to many others, it represents a sense of community...an event to gather with friends and family to root for their favorite team. It also represents a diversion for some, to get away from day to day stress. There's nothing wrong with that...like there's nothing wrong with those who schedule their evening tv watching around American Idol...I can't stand that shit, but it means something to those who adore it. If you don't like sports, fine...change the channel. Don't chastise those of us who do.

[Phillycat]

44. Couldn't have said it better myself.

:thumbsup:

[Schema Thing]

62. Ok... but, but, but...

First off, I'll admit I don't have the gene that causes fandom in general, and especially fandom of a "team" as opposed to an individual athlete. I'm being completely honest when I say I'm not sure if that is good or bad; I'm not an elitist in this regard, though I admit to trending elitist in this regard if I don't keep it in check.


But that aside, isn't there, for those of you who do have this gene, and who do genuinely get into team sports, some point where you just say, THIS IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS, in reference to the outrageous cost to the fans, the "royalty" treatment to the players, and the complete arbitrary-ness of fan/team/athlete loyalty?

[Phillycat]

64. No more so than anything else that people use for entertainment.

Actors are paid $40 million a movie now. Does that seem sane? Brangelina got $4.1 million for pictures of their baby Shiloh. The network news is covering the feud between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell.

And if you want to blame this on the shallowness of American popular culture, I submit you'd have to go back a lot, LOT further than that. Athletes in ancient Greece were celebrities, and all races of people have always held sporting events and usually bet on the outcomes. Also, all races have worshipped celebrity in all its forms, and paid for it, too. It's the way humans are made. :shrug:

[Schema Thing]

67. You're right of course, but I do think corporations and the extremely

wealthy have exacerbated that "it's the way humans are made" thing to the rest of our' detriment.

I suppose in the same way corporations are, while not inherently evil (imo), in danger of destroying the societies that gave them a place to become huge corporations in the first place, w/o intervention and "people first" policies.

In some ways though, sports and entertainment are more like alcohol or smoking, in that it is up to individuals to regulate their own monetary and emotional participation :shrug:

[Phillycat]

72. ITA

Corporations just make everything more evil. It doesn't piss me off when I see a talented athlete get paid millions for being a genetic mutant. It pisses me off when I'm watching the championship game last night and the commentary is something like:

"Welcome to Fox, for the Fox Tostitos Championship Bowl Game, sponsored by Tostitos and presented by Fox." :eyes:

[Oeditpus Rex]

81. The 'royalty treatment,' most certainly

With one exception, I think I stopped worshipping athletes when I was around 14. (I once had a prime opportunity to meet my boyhood idol, Sandy Koufax, but let it slide because I was just too intimidated. Youthful idolatry doesn't change with age, I guess.) I've interviewed a few and read about hundreds, and they're just human beings whose jobs happen to be in the limelight.

I could destroy the sports media for building higher and higher pedestals for them. As for people who devote web sites, shrines, etc. to athletes — well, I hate this phrase, but they really need to get a life.

[babylonsister]

36. Kick and

Seriously, of course.

[hfojvt]

37. This sounds likes something from a

New Yorker.

The Jets and The Giants both lost didn't they?

neener neener


It could be worse. You could have graduated from the University of Minnesota.

[SKKY]

38. I'll give everyone 2 guesses at who did not play a sport...

...growing up, or if they did, wasn't very good at it. How does a long-winded rant about professional athletes and the people who pay to see them perform make someone a more "enlightened" specie?

[Bridget Burke]

40. I was a total loser at sports, but I'm not bitter about it.

Actually, in my day, girls were supposed to put on silly outfits & play volleyball in the gym. But things have changed; my nieces went to fine colleges on swimming scholarships.

I'm not much of a sports fan. Some would say that's good, since I live in Houston. But I know sports fans who manage to be contributing members of society.

Do opera stars deserve so much money? I've been to more operas than professional games, so I'd say yes.

Whatever....

[Rabrrrrrr]

48. Ah, the ol' "only the bitter complain" crap argument.

Yes, how uniquely perfect an argument it is. Surely, you are the very first to think of it.

Clearly, nothing I say could have merit because I am obviously only striking out against that which I want most desperately to possess, but have not the skill to own it; and so I denigrate it and strike it down so as to relive the pain of it constantly eluding me.

So, if you complain about Republicans (which you surely do, since you are here at DU), that means that you must have been kicked out of the Young Republican group at your school, or perhaps never let in at all, and so your Democratic leanings aren't real, they are only your suffering made manifest so as to hurt those who hurt you.

:eyes:

[SKKY]

80. Oh no. I'm quite certain a good number of things you say have merit...

...as you're obviously a smart, thoughtful, eloquent person. But, I think you see sports as a macho contest to determine who as the bigger penis, or as you put it, who's town sucks more, and you leave out the cultural aspect of it, which is completely valid. How one group of people from a decidedly less affluent part of town will support one team, while the upper class tends to support the other team from the same town. There are a great deal of other determining factors that you completely leave out, or ignore entirely, for the sake of your rant that, at least in my mind, are equally valid. And if you think we take sports seriously, you should try and make it over to Scotland for an "Old Firm". Then, you'll understand what it is to take sports seriously. But, I still think you probably sucked at sports, which I'm sure fuels some of this.

[Burma Jones]

39. It gives people Status that would otherwise have to earn it

In a Corporate World, branding is essential. Being a fan attaches you to a brand in the same way some folks have to wear a particular designer's name.

I played football and baseball until college. I watch the NFL and go to games. I have favorite teams. I even occasionally identify myself as a Washington Redskins Fan in order to offer some information about myself that could gain me entry into a particular group.

Public Entertainments that channel peoples' hopes, desires, loyalty into something commercially controlled by the ruling class are nothing new.....

Mostly we need these barely literate whiny spoiled millionaires to make the avaricious and powerful more so.

[Schema Thing]

63. Indeed. I think this is what disgust me about the whole deal. cf: Pat Tillman

He's virtually forgotten already, in good ol' 'merica.


He shouldn't be. There are few more intriguing, genuinely good and heroic figures out there in sports or politics. The documentary that informed me about his life was on some obscure cable channel.

Meanwhile, genuinely shitty people with nothing more to offer than unique genetic physical gifts are given adulation by adoring fans. Sorry, but I find those fans to be almost as shitty as the shitty athletes they adore (and pay).

[mikeytherat]

41. The sports team from my area is superior to the sports team from your area

And I have the T-shirt to prove it:



mikey_the_rat

[underpants]

42. My Team YEAH! your team bad

That is too funny.

[matcom]

43. GO SKINS!

:hide:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

45. NO.

[Mike Daniels]

46. Deleted by poster

[PVnRT]

49. Is there a need for high-paid music fucks?

Or high-paid acting fucks? Or high-paid writing fucks?

[MissMillie]

54. GMTA

:hi:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

55. writers and poets have been part of cultural revolutions...

have sports people ever?

[sir_captain]

57. Of course

Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson and Jesse Owens come to mind immediately

[PVnRT]

58. What he said

n/t

[Phillycat]

59. PWN3D

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

65. Exactly.

p0wned.

[SOteric]

50. Don't give up on the entire species yet, Rabrrrrr.

I'm just going to point out that other countries actually manage to enjoy sports without having to pay their sports stars obscene amounts of money and tolerate their obnoxious/illegal public behaviours.

About the education level of the global community, well, there's something that needs a bit of work; but it's not at the top of Maslow's hierarchy.

:hug:

[ThomCat]

51. Agreed. All the time wasted on sports

might actually accomplish something if people put that time and effort into something useful. People who claim that politics is too complicated are smart enough to quote sports stats. People who say they have no time to volunteer anywhere never miss their teams on TV. x(

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

66. THOM, WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!!

AND ME!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Hehe.

I can't wait until the pitchers and catchers report.

[ThomCat]

70. What is the pitchers and catchers report?

:shrug:

[Phillycat]

73. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training for baseball season

They go early, before everyone else. YAY!!!

[LostinVA]

82. I basically agree with you, Thom

[Zavulon]

52. What do you expect in a society that makes Paris Hilton famous?

We don't need her, or Tom Cruise, or Lindsay Lohan, or Madonna, or Brad and Angelina, or Britney, or Rosie. All of them make more money than the lion's share of high-paid sports fucks and all of them are equally worthless, if not more so. Let's start where we really have a problem and then get around to the sports guys when we've cleaned up bigger messes.

[erpowers]

78. Brad and Angelina

Brad and Angelina have actually done a great deal for society. Brad is very well educated on international issues as is Angelina. In addition, Angelina does a rather large amount of international humanitian work. She when to Afghanistan after the major earthquake that occured there. No, I do not send my time reading the celebrity magazines or rushing to the TV to watch all the celebrity shows like Enterntainment Tonight. I just hear about them on the news and other news magazines.

[Zavulon]

79. I don't deny that they've used their fame for good, but

that doesn't mean I think they deserve the piles of cash thrown at them for their movies.

[MissMillie]

53. oh, I don't know, I think sports have some entertainment value

at least as much as a good sitcom or a decent music CD....

Why pick on the "high-paid sports fucks"? I mean, are they really that more insidious than the "high-paid music fucks" or the "high-paid acting fucks" or the "high-paid writing fucks"?

:shrug:

[chknltl]

56. I have a need for a really high-paid sports fuck..

and it does not have to be with a cheerleader either, do I qualify? So who's buying? :+

[tigereye]

60. rave on Rabrrrrrr!

I do wish that other professionals were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their efforts, though. Like me!

[BarenakedLady]

61. .....

:yourock:

[ileus]

68. Go Redskins

[kwassa]

71. go where? China, or someplace else where they might win a game?

[edbermac]

69. You must have lost a bundle of cash.

Go Patriots! :applause:

[JVS]

74. Yes

[erpowers]

76. High Paid Owners

I am not the biggest fan of high paid athletes either, but I think you may want to look at it this way. If you do not pay the athletes that much money the only other person who would get the money would be the owners. One could then ask why would some old guy who either inherited a team are was able to buy the team for a few thousand or million dollars get billions of dollars for just sitting on his ass and charging people hundreds or thousands of dollars to watch games. I guess I would prefer that athletes did not get paid that much money, but look how much money they make for other people. They are paid that much money mainly because they provide a service which makes a great deal of money. I think their pay has more to do with the amount of money they bring in than owners just wanting to pay them a great deal of money. The biggest problem I have with athlete pay is that a number of overrated players get payed more than they are worth.

On your other point of the players not giving back to society; that is not completely true. Some of the players are not the greatest people, but some/many of them give a great deal back to society. For instance even though Carmelo Anthony was a part of the New York brawl and he should have been punished for that, he, before the brawl, opened a activity center for kids in his hometown. Also, Dekembe Matombo, of the Houston Rockets gave $14 million of his own money to build a hospital in his native Africa. There are many more athletes who give both their time and money to charities. Tiger Woods recently donated his whole $1 million plus golf tournament winning to his target charity. I know that is only a fraction of the money Woods makes in a year, but give the guy credit for trying to make the world a better place. Woods was once criticized for spending so much time working with his charity.