What Exactly is the Appeal of Professional Sports?

[OmegaXzors]

Does anyone know the basic principal of business?

Find something that tickles someone's fancy enough to buy your shit. Exploit.

SPORTS is simply that. A big game comes around, sponsors pay them to shine their logos. Fat blokes who sit at home and paint their face, get large amounts of food, buy giant TV's, and invite all their friends for a boozefest are the fuel to this.

Personally, I HATE SPORTS WITH EVERY BONE IN MY BODY BECAUSE IT'S SO BORING. Also, anyone who buys a sports video game is just plain lazy. Go play the actual game. Those are funner in my opinion. But I'll stick to ripping people apart.

BUT, WHY they continue is because they help fuel the economy in more ways than one.

 

[Kagim]

I'll tell you why PROFESSIONAL sports are great.

Lets do a little thought experiment. We go to a strip club to see some big American Tee Tees. Now, we can either get the slim, sexy, blond bombshell that is as nimble as an acrobat, or we could go see the Fat, Redneck, mom of 5 that can barely dance without needing a cigarette.

Your choice.

Wow that's.... actually really insightful.

Two thumbs up man.

 

[SonicKoala]

Because they're extremely entertaining to watch - I just finished watching some playoff hockey, with Vancouver against L.A. (all I have to say is, I would not like to be a Kings fan right now =D), and that was an awesome game. It was fast, intense, exhilirating - all those nice things.

And to the OP saying that professional athletes are people who get paid millions to play a sport that anybody else can - bullshit. I'm speaking purely as a hockey fan here, but there is no way that an average individual can play that game at the level of skill I just saw exhibited in that Vancouver vs. L.A game.

 

[Jodah]

People "go crazy" for the same reason some gamers "nerdrage". They get drawn in and can't separate reality from the game. Others of us just enjoy watching our favorite team (which people can choose for a variety of reasons, just as most gamers have a favorite genre or series)play their best and (hopefully) win. Sure, they get paid a lot of money to play a game, but most of them trained to do so for most of their lives. That game IS their career.

 

[fanklok]

Not sure if anyone answered it like this, and I'm not a sports kinda guy (don't like watching or playing them, don't even like vidya games based on them) but I'll go ahead and try to answer this in a way that makes sense to me and you sports people can correct me if wrong. Oh right this is to the sports nuts going crazy and kicking the shit out of each other and blowing up cars.

Let's say you're playing Super Fun Sandbox game, and it has a massive open world and all that razz. You're character has a friend in the game and he's a character you really like almost like a friend in real life except he's imaginary. You go through the story line and he's you're wing man backing you up in gun fights and being awesome making it through each mission with you and going on the next. Then in one mission you have to go into a compound and steal the Plot Advancing Item you're friend is of course with you and after stealing the item and escaping a scripted scene happens and a sniper kills him, no amount of reloading and trying different things will save him. Naturally you're super pissed he was you're best buddy in the game and even though the faction with the item was only in the story for that one mission you'll go out of your way to ruin all their other compounds and destroy anything of value they had, why? Because they killed your friend and have to pay because of it.

I imagine that's what it's like for those fanatics, an important game their team lost is like that sniper taking out your friend. They're mad because it feels like a personal blow to them and they want to do anything that seems like a kind of retribution for it happening.

Does that make sense?

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

all the players just seem like steroid-induced bratty millionaires playing a game that virtually anyone can play

I never understood why they make so much. When did they get so special??? I know, inflation happens, but to that extreme? Who needs that much money? Especially baseball. Their contracts are ridiculous.

To answer your question, someone asked about this, and actors as well, earlier in the thread, out of laziness i am just going to copy paste my answer again.

Because they are hard jobs. As much as people say they can compete against them or its not that hard... Seriously if you can compete against these people why aren't you? Athletes are monsters. There job is hard, they have to train hard. It takes a huge amount of dedication. Your going into a job where every game is either ending in victory or humiliation. No do overs.

Same with actors. Acting and being believable is hard. I know i know "We all can do that its easy" Its not. Acting can be one of the most mentally draining things people can do. Having to stay in character doing the same shot from forty different angles then finding out not a single one of them will be used. Having a director constantly tear you apart. A lesson you don't learn is when your first starting out your a maggot. Your shit. You can be replaced like that. Until your name is Jack Nicholson or Morgan Freemon your a nothing.

Sports are worse. Not only do you need to stay on top of your game but every failure, every fuck up will be on national tv. Everyone will know we lost because you struck out, because you fumbled the ball, because you chocked on the free throw. There's more to this stuff then we know. To many bad games and your cut and not only are you forcibly retired but people spit on you for your failure to do what they never could. Could luck getting a job when all you have on your resume is "That guy who screwed up the Yankees winning streak"

Edit: In short its a long dirty painful road getting to the point where your paid millions. You don;t start off a big league player, you start off in scrub leagues. Yo ustart off as guy in background number 36. You can spend years of your life working your way there and NEVER have a guarantee you'll make it. Those that make it deserve what they are paid. And if anyone thinks its easy to get there. I welcome you to try. (Note to dude i quoted, not targeted at you at all. Just general statements)

I get what your saying, but still, there's harder jobs that pay less and are far less posh. The edit can be said of a multitude of jobs. I am not convinced that the salaries are backed. Even people in the sports world think some price tags are astronomical.

 

[Kiriona]

Because people are different and like different things. I don't see why so many people here have such a hard time accepting this fact. Get over yourselves, anyone could question the things you like and make them seen stupid as well.

For one thing, all the players are just steroid-induced bratty millionaires playing a game that virtually anyone can play, and I personally see it as an industry fueled by hero worship.

Also, way to generalize and really show your ignorance. It would be like me saying all gamers are fat, antisocial, basement virgins. And if anyone could play the game then why aren't they, and getting paid to do so? It takes skill, saying that just anyone is capable of playing these sports is ludacris.

This is my point. People go on about my ignorance, and use that as an excuse to not answer my question, no matter how honestly I'm asking it.

Furthermore, all of that was my opinion. There is no need for you to go putting me down because I can't see from a certain perspective, give my own opinion on the matter (even if I don't know much about it, and then ask why people see it that way.

It was the bratty and superior way in which you asked. And I wasn't putting you down, I was merely making an example using your reasoning of sports and applying it to videogames. And pointing out the fact that you don't know what your talking about is also not putting you down.

I've apologized numerous times for that already. And you misunderstood me about video games. that's the example my MOTHER uses. It is not my reasoning. I do NOT compare the two because it would not make sense to. By the way, I knew very well what I was talking about at the time. But you act as though I was stating it as fact. It was my opinion, thus, subject to influence.

Also your question has been answered by myself and others numerous times, you just don't want to accept them because you already have a pre disposed bias towards the subjest.

Do not put words in my mouth. If you can't accept my apology, then here's my apathy. Why should I bother saying 'I'm sorry' to you if this is how you act towards apologies? Next time, instead of insulting me, why don't you inform me that my writing is too arrogant sounding, because I didn't even know it sounded that way.

As for my so-called 'bias,' of course I have a predisposed opinion. Everyone does. Expecting me to not have one is expecting me to not be human. Take a good look at what the media spews out. I'm not the least bit interested in sports, so all I know about it is the DRAMA. At least I took the time to actually ASK what people thought, which is more than I can say for some, since you assumed that I was up on my high horse, took my tone as arrogant without a second thought, and believed that I was purposely making it seem that I looked down on everyone, and didn't bother to ask me about this miss-communication, so how was I to know you'd presume the wrong tone of voice and take offense?
There were some who realized that I might have made a mistake and told me to change my tone, and considering that there were others who happily offered their opinions to me, it was possible to not read my tone as arrogant.

OT: To everyone who took the time to tell me why they love sporting events so much, thank you for the insight. At least now I know somewhat what's going on in people's minds. And thanks to the people who told me how I sounded so I could fix it. And another sincere apology to the mature people who I rubbed the wrong way. It was just a miss-communication. Sorry. But thanks a bunch, guys. I'm outta here.

 

[Kagim]

all the players just seem like steroid-induced bratty millionaires playing a game that virtually anyone can play

I never understood why they make so much. When did they get so special??? I know, inflation happens, but to that extreme? Who needs that much money? Especially baseball. Their contracts are ridiculous.

To answer your question, someone asked about this, and actors as well, earlier in the thread, out of laziness i am just going to copy paste my answer again.

Because they are hard jobs. As much as people say they can compete against them or its not that hard... Seriously if you can compete against these people why aren't you? Athletes are monsters. There job is hard, they have to train hard. It takes a huge amount of dedication. Your going into a job where every game is either ending in victory or humiliation. No do overs.

Same with actors. Acting and being believable is hard. I know i know "We all can do that its easy" Its not. Acting can be one of the most mentally draining things people can do. Having to stay in character doing the same shot from forty different angles then finding out not a single one of them will be used. Having a director constantly tear you apart. A lesson you don't learn is when your first starting out your a maggot. Your shit. You can be replaced like that. Until your name is Jack Nicholson or Morgan Freemon your a nothing.

Sports are worse. Not only do you need to stay on top of your game but every failure, every fuck up will be on national tv. Everyone will know we lost because you struck out, because you fumbled the ball, because you chocked on the free throw. There's more to this stuff then we know. To many bad games and your cut and not only are you forcibly retired but people spit on you for your failure to do what they never could. Could luck getting a job when all you have on your resume is "That guy who screwed up the Yankees winning streak"

Edit: In short its a long dirty painful road getting to the point where your paid millions. You don;t start off a big league player, you start off in scrub leagues. Yo ustart off as guy in background number 36. You can spend years of your life working your way there and NEVER have a guarantee you'll make it. Those that make it deserve what they are paid. And if anyone thinks its easy to get there. I welcome you to try. (Note to dude i quoted, not targeted at you at all. Just general statements)

I get what your saying, but still, there's harder jobs that pay less and are far less posh. The edit can be said of a multitude of jobs. I am not convinced that the salaries are backed. Even people in the sports world think some price tags are astronomical.

Not gonna dispute this much. Tickets are priced a lot but not all sports players ARE paid in the millions. I know the hockey players in my town are only paid 120k. Still a lot of money but significantly less then the bank jobs some people have in my town.

I understand you feel its way to much, it really is a stupid amount of money. I still feel they deserve a good chunk of money and i have respect for what they do.

Difficulty is also a bit subjective, honestly i would rather be a lawyer over a pro football player or actor any day of the week. That's me though.

Its fair to think they are paid to much. All i ask is you appreciate that the position they have earned was hard earned and they do deserve to be well compensated for their effort. That's all i wanted to show.

 

[TylerC]

I don't understand why the OP is acting like no one answered her question, when there are 2 pages full of answers.

I'm telling you right now, not many people can do this. You can't say that's not an amazing feat of athletic ability that doesn't get you excited - or would if you were watching the game.

 

[Stranger of Sorts]

Hey I think I can see what you're going on about. I too have had the realisation that it's rather absurd that people are paid millions a month just to kick a ball around while some people work their asses off at minimum wage. Why are we okay with them getting paid that much when we are so angry at bankers' pay? And why do we get attached to a sport that is completely useless?

 

[unoleian]

They make a lot of money because not only is it a full time job keeping up physical endurance, going through constant training, being on the road constantly, while utterly thrashing your body for the entertainment of others. Your career is usually less than 10 years long in any sport, and if you're lucky maybe you'll land some gigs endorsing deodorant or something after your career is over. They earn this early retirement, I'd say...maybe the paygrade is slightly obscene, but the perception is that if it isn't proportional to the revenue, within a certain tolerance, it must be unfair. That's just human mentality at work.

They're just fun to watch, an excuse to hang with buddies and play Drink The Beer, have a good time, and an emotional outlet that can be as rewarding as it can sometimes be painful.

But anyway, trying to convince someone in matters of taste is like two blind people arguing over color. It just never works.

 

[Odegauger]

Honestly, I don't mind professional sports, in concept, and nor do I mind sports fans, in concept. Sports is entertaining to its practitioners and spectators, so there shouldn't be anything wrong.

Sports and their fans, in reality, aren't even that bad anyway, its just that the whole affair kinda depresses me; A sports team wins whatever big championship prize they strive for, and they throw a fucking parade for them, as if they need to supplement their massive paycheck and small nation of fans with more evidence that they are adored, but your average person probably couldn't tell you who last year's Nobel Prize winners are, y'know, the people that are making an actual contribution to our species. Plus, I have a feeling that society will never look upon the beer-swilling naif, hooting with indignation at their team's loss, along with all his other brute friends, with the same ire that they reserve for the pale, neck-bearded troglodyte, lamenting the anti-climactic end to a story arc of his favorite comic-book franchise, or how the recent patch of a dearly-held online game totally nerfed the Sword of Undying Flame.

 

[Terramax]

I think people like to support teams to give themselves a sense of belonging, and spending endless amounts of time talking about it, and money on crappy merchandise is a way of proving your worthiness.

Never agreed with it myself.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I enjoy playing sport much more than watching it.

But to answer your question, people usually want a side to win and that makes it allot more exciting.

 

[SimuLord]

Sports are the distilled essence of the human competitive drive. They create an acceptable social outlet for the caveman instinct of us vs. them in ways that politics tries to do and warfare does far more violently. They bring cities together in a shared sense of civic pride, especially if the city has a strong traditional attachment to its teams (I grew up in Boston and the Red Sox are the first thing that comes up in conversation when I meet a fellow Displaced Bostonian out here on the West Coast.)

Sports are purified masculinity---studies show that a man's testosterone levels go up when he watches his favorite team defeat its arch-rival (so girls, stop complaining, because "those stupid sports" give your guy more fuel and more desire to please you---we men run on our hormones from about age 12 onward and for guys intimacy starts from intensity.)

And to play a sport---any sport---is to take a step toward physical fitness and better health, and what better way to maintain an emotional connection to the games we play than through watching others play it at an elite level?

Show me a guy who doesn't like sports and I'll show you someone who I look at and think "his manhood is suspect." And most guys think like that. A man doesn't have to be a walking beer commercial, but way too many nerdy/geeky guys need to stop thinking and start letting the testosterone flow freely. I think there's way too much intellectual elitism at play in the non-sports fan.

Personally? I shoved those kids into lockers when I was in high school. Not all jocks are mouth-breathing imbeciles---some of us are just healthy, red-blooded men.

 

[SimuLord]

Sports are the distilled essence of the human competitive drive. They create an acceptable social outlet for the caveman instinct of us vs. them in ways that politics tries to do and warfare does far more violently. They bring cities together in a shared sense of civic pride, especially if the city has a strong traditional attachment to its teams (I grew up in Boston and the Red Sox are the first thing that comes up in conversation when I meet a fellow Displaced Bostonian out here on the West Coast.)

Sports are purified masculinity---studies show that a man's testosterone levels go up when he watches his favorite team defeat its arch-rival (so girls, stop complaining, because "those stupid sports" give your guy more fuel and more desire to please you---we men run on our hormones from about age 12 onward and for guys intimacy starts from intensity.)

And to play a sport---any sport---is to take a step toward physical fitness and better health, and what better way to maintain an emotional connection to the games we play than through watching others play it at an elite level?

Show me a guy who doesn't like sports and I'll show you someone who I look at and think "his manhood is suspect." And most guys think like that. A man doesn't have to be a walking beer commercial, but way too many nerdy/geeky guys need to stop thinking and start letting the testosterone flow freely. I think there's way too much intellectual elitism at play in the non-sports fan.

Personally? I shoved those kids into lockers when I was in high school. Not all jocks are mouth-breathing imbeciles---some of us are just healthy, red-blooded men.

This is why you're one of my favourite posters on The Escapist, SimuLord. I think that computer gamers and sports fans shouldn't be counted as diametrically opposed; after all, I'm a sports fan myself, primarily watching motorsport, but with an interest in association football and rugby as well.

RAK! You're unbanned? So much for New Year's resolutions, eh?

 

[Scumpernickle]

Different people have different mediums of entertainment. Simple as that.

I don't really watch sports, but I will if other people around me are.