The Cult Of Athletics

When my parents dragged me kicking and screaming out of L.A., I immediately knew I was different from the kids in the suburbs. One of the most obvious differences what that they all played organized sports whereas I preferred to read and play with my cat. I fail to see what is so bloody interesting about running around chasing some stupid ball, and I know I'm largely alone in this.

I go to a small, borderline-artsy school with no athletic program whatsoever, and I couldn't be happier about it. I don't even hear anything about sports except for updates on TV or the radio. I must say I feel rather sorry for students like me who have the misfortune of attending "jock" schools and are looked at strangely if they don't happen to give a damn.

Call me crazy, but I think America's fascination with athletics has become a sick obession. Parents are dressing their infants in rompers with team logos, putting them on teams before they're in kindergarten, and in a few cases I personally know of, forcing klutzy teenagers to try out for something, anything, when they're already overbooked. Games pre-empt just about everything on TV (I fail to see how baseball is more important than The Simpsons - at least that show has redeeming value in the form of social commentary), and even stupid $@%#&^* MTV has Road Rules and that Rock n' Jock crap. It makes me nauseous.

But what bothers me the most is the change in American thinking. Looking back at the past few centuries of American history, I could swear this nation used to be smarter (less educated, certainly, but one can be very intelligent without much schooling). Everything seems to have gone downhill with the introduction of radio and TV and, therefore, live broadcasts. I've spoken to enough older adults about it to know that this obsession didn't always exist, that it's a product of the last few decades. Now, I'm unusually intelligent, so maybe I'm the only person who feels this way, but in twelve years of public education I routinely saw athletic ability emphasized over actual schoolwork. In fact, I have long suspected that this was the primary reason I was one of only a handful of fourth-graders reading at a college level, yet was always made to feel I wasn't "good enough" as a student just because I was a klutz who couldn't run a 12-minute mile to save her life. For years I felt like I was the only kid in town who hadn't been brainwashed with sweat fumes. It seemed as though sports were some kind of large-scale, mainstream cult, in which winning was everything. If there were more emphasis in today's society on being smart and well-educated than there is on being some egomaniacal superhuman creature in a jersey, I do believe America could do so much better as a nation than we currently are. (Let me make two things crystal-clear: I'm not bashing America. I like it here. I just don't think America is doing as well as it could - and should. Also, I'm not saying *all* jocks are dumb or self-centered. In fact, I've known a few incredibly smart ones. The majority, however...)

It also strikes me as funny that so many people skip religious services, social events, and even regular meals with the family just because some game (or the Olympics) is on TV. I don't actually *care* what people do (as long as they're not hurting anyone else), but sheesh, you'd think the VCR *hadn't* been around for 20 years or something. I worry that all this overemphasis is dangerous to the development of who might otherwise be incredibly bright, well-rounded young people. Any idiot knows obsession and imbalance aren't healthy.

November 15, 2001

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