Is anyone else over the whole athlete worship cult in the USA ?

[steve2470]

I mean, yes, I applaud them for devoting their lives to physical perfection, the Olympics, making millions in the NBA, etc. But, who gives more to the world ? The world peace activist ? The die hard environmentalist activist ? The brilliant scientist who works on something that doesn't kill people ? Why don't we worship these people ? I really don't think muscles are going to save this world from a nuclear holocaust. Maybe I'm not thinking straight this morning.

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

1. I am so with you on that

while I enjoy a good athletic contest, and my sons are involved in youth sports, I have been turned off by professional sports and the redistribution of wealth that is taking place from working slobs like most of us to the hands of millionaire athletes...

People actually brag about how much it cost them to see a sporting event...

Me, I brag when I go on "kids free night" and pay $9 for my ticket...

[jus_the_facts]

2. some do give back...here's one example.....

http://www.turn2foundation.org/intro/mission.asp

[madmom]

3. I have always thought athletes were over paid...

children playing games. IMO it should be teachers would get this adoration and yes even that salary.( No I'm not a teacher but always wanted to be one.)

[TreasonousBastard]

4. The world is not a fair place...

if you are lucky enough to pitch a good fastball or star in a hit movie, or get a recording contract, you are wealthy and worthy of universal adulation.

If you are a successful teacher, or work a soup kitchen, you are just dogshit on the shoes of the "important" people.

'Tis the way it always was, and most likely always will be.

Lenny Bruce had a neat routine on this, and they hammered him for it.

[jbane]

5. If there were no more professional sports...

My life would not change that much. I love sports especially baseball and the NFL but I could easily do without both. The NBA is unwatchable. Now that hockey has imploded, the NBA could be next. They have allways been a star driven league. Now there is hardly anyone I would pay to see. The only two I can think of are Iverson and Lebron.

[BlueJazz]

6. Funny...I didn't feel so "anti-pay" regarding athletes until I....

lived in California (working for a large corporation).

I mean, I used to hear grown Men moan and bitch about "They want to raise our taxes for Schools again" and then go out at lunch and pay $300.00 for a damn basketball game.....anyway ...from seeing that Crap,my opinion of sport stuff took a nose-dive..

[Enraged_Ape]

7. I couldn't give two shits about spectator sports whatsoever

Does that make me a bad person?

I do support our local teams, because I feel it's a community-minded thing to do, but other than that, I could not care less about anything having to do with watching sports. The participants are obscenely overpaid, almost universally obnoxious, and many are on performance-enhancing drugs that make the contests irrelevant. Games like pro basketball are so over-regulated that whoever wins almost amounts to a coin toss. (108-106? Give me a fucking break.)

It's all about selling beer and other shit that I don't need, and in the end, it all adds up to nothing more than an enormous waste of time.

[cally]

8. What's worse to me is kid's sports

Kids are pusshed to focus on one sport at a very early age. It is not uncommon for kids as young as 6 or 7 to spend the summer at soccer, basketball, or swim camp. Instead of camps with a variety of activities and leisure time, they focus on the one sport. I remember when my kids were that age I took them to science class as an afterschool activity. It was a fairly long drive but a great program. They made a telescope and learned basic astronomy. Everyone thought I was nuts but noone commented on the long drives many took to take their kids to special swim coaches or basketball coaches. The part that just amazed me, and still does, is the parents pushing the sports the most were often small and had intellectual jobs. The chance of any of these kids making it past competitive HS sports seemed almost nil. I just don't get the whold fixation. Some is good, too much is harmful.

[fortyfeetunder]

9. My family is anti worship cult

Granted I am the only one in the house that barely follows a team, and even have season tickets to a minor league baseball team, but my adoration and hero worship stops there. After I leave the ball park, I couldn't give a shit about what athletes do. This is nothing more than entertainment, I treat it the same way as the season tickets I buy to the symphony.

What I take offense with is the building of sports palaces while our schools are languishing in near poverty conditons. We must have a supermajority yes vote to pass a school bond, but the government will do any damn thing to keep the sports teams in town.