I am totally uninterested in sports. However, all I have been hearing about lately from the people I work with is this or that about the Ravens. It reminded me of something Noam Chomsky, who I totally disagree with on most things (other than his analysis of the media), said about sports:
“Well, in our society, we have things that you might use your intelligence on, like politics, but people really can't get involved in them in a very serious way - so what they do is they put their minds into other things, such as sports. You're trained to be obedient; you don't have an interesting job; there's no work around for you that's creative; in the cultural environment you're a passive observer of usually pretty tawdry stuff; political and social life are out of your range, they're in the hands of the rich folk. So what's left? Well, one thing that's left is sports-so you put a lot of the intelligence and the thought and the self-confidence into that. And I suppose that's also one of the basic functions it serves in the society in general it occupies the population, and keeps them from trying to get involved with things that really matter. In fact, I presume that's part of the reason why spectator sports are supported to the degree they are by the dominant institutions.
“And spectator sports also have other useful functions too. For one thing, they're a great way to build up chauvinism-you start by developing these totally irrational loyalties early in life, and they translate very nicely to other areas. I mean, I remember very well in high school having a sudden kind of Erlebnis, you know, a sudden insight, and asking myself, why do I care if my high school football team wins? I don't know anybody on the team. They don't know me. I wouldn't know what to say to them if I met them. Why do I care? Why do I get all excited if the football team wins and all downcast if it loses? And it's true, you do: you're taught from childhood that you've got to worry about the Philadelphia Phillies, where I was. In fact, there's apparently a psychological phenomenon of lack of self-confidence or something which affected boys of approximately my age who grew up in Philadelphia, because every sports team was always in last place, and it's kind of a blow to your ego when that happens, people are always lording it over you.”
Noam is saying two things: 1. Sports fulfill an institutional role in distracting the public from things that matter and 2. Sports train us to be chauvinistic patriots. I am not sure what I think about this. Point number one seems like it could apply to television or any other popular form of entertainment. As far as number two, many of the “Toby Keith” style jingoists do like sports, but maybe the same personal qualities that make them want to bomb every other country also makes sports appealing to them.
I think that Sports could be said to build a sense of community, although it does so in a “zero-sum” kind of way. It’s one thing to be proud of your city, quite another to be proud of your city and hate
2 comments:
Chomsky wants things to fit his preconceived notions, even if they don't. I actually find his excerpt pretty offensive and insulting.
Sure, much of sports fandom is irrational, but so are we. And actually, sports loyalties aren't irrational quite so much as rivalries. I wouldn't say I hate other cities or players (except a few) but rather abstractions or concepts.
My personal attachements to various teams -- mainly, the Orioles and Ravens -- are pretty easy to explain. I love the city of Baltimore. It's where much of my family is from and it's the heart of my favorite state. The sports teams are -- in some ways -- an embodiment of the city.
More significantly, however, the sense of community fostered by sports isn't for me a regional thing, but a highly personal one. My dad grew up down the street from Memorial Stadium and managed to instill a pretty strong love of the O's in all of his children. Some of my fondest memories are sitting on hot metal bleachers in the upper deck, with wet towls over our heads to protect us from the blazing sun. Later, my friends and I became regular attendees at games. And later still, my wife and I watched the O's crush the Yankees on our first date.
Although on a shorter time frame, the same can be said of the Ravens, a team my brother and I are desperately trying to see in person one last time this year.
There are few constants in life. Family is one. Sports is another.
This has been a very poorly written post. I apologize. I'm still trying to get over Ohio State's loss last night and can't think straight!
Thanks for your perspective, Hayduke. The notion of sports as a way to forge and maintain personal relationships is a concept that I have no personal experience with, and I suspect Chomsky does not either. The closest to using non-participatory sports as a social activity that I have experienced is participation in March Madness basketball pools, although I shamelessly cheat and use Jeff Sagarin’s picks since I know nothing about college basketball teams. But I do have fun, and isn’t that the point?
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