Professional Sports are a sign of a depraved society. I actually do not like this take, because I love the game of basketball. I committed almost my entire life to the sport. I played it from the time I was six all the way through college, and continue to play recreationally at least once a week. Basketball even gave me a wife!! My
wife, Taylor and I met at college and she was on the women’s basketball team who I worked for as a work-study job for my first two years of college before joining the men’s team. All this is on top of the fact that I worked for the NBA for six years and IMG Academies, the premier sports boarding school in the world, for two years.
HOWEVER, just because my flawed
human nature has an obsession with a sport does not mean that grown men or women should dedicate their lives to mastering the art of putting a ball into a net for others entertainment/idol worship.
I think sports hit its “potential” moral pinnacle when the Olympics were only letting amateurs compete. Let the low 20-something year olds compete for their country for a few weeks a year so
we can all have some fun rooting for our true home team. But contrast that Olympic hypothetical with watching a professional sports game where we root for multi-millionaires dozens or even hundreds of times per year who are rarely from the town in which their team is based. And what true productive thing are we paying these athletes for? Entertainment to distract us from the miserable lives we live, that’s what. If the Eagles game is the thing you look forward to most in life, then some real
soul searching must be done!
Some will say pro athletes inspire kids and others to be the best they can be. I can hardly take this cliché with any notion of seriousness. What are they inspiring our kids to do? Work really hard at making YOURSELF the best YOU can be at a sport that will bring YOU fame and glory among men? Sounds real Saint like to me.
When I would travel to All-Star weekends for the NBA, I always saw a bunch of grown men standing outside arenas holding up signs that said “Ball-Drugs-Rap, The only way out.” Now maybe the NBA has the worst culture among professional sports, that I would not argue, but that culture seeps into all pro sports. We need to let young people know that their self-worth does not come from sports or any
other man-made nonsense. Rather it comes from the unconditional Love of God, and pro sports make it harder to deliver this point to the struggling up and coming generations.
Also, let’s not deny the fact that one man wearing the last name of another man is a bit weird when you look at it from a bird’s eye view. There have been studies done that claim testosterone levels for fans
are more affected by their team losing then an actual player for that team. Talk about an idol.
I am all for being physically fit, getting our kids to compete in sports, and playing recreationally from time to time for the health and community benefits, but why do we need professional sports? I know too many able-bodied young men that
would rather watch a sport than actually play it. This alone is a tragedy! Pro Sports are idol making factories that make us behave strangely.
One example of the idol making factory comes from my time at the NBA. In the 2010’s the NBA started player focused marketing initiatives instead of advertising teams because it realized it could better monetize human psychology by making
us obsessed with individuals. THINK: buying a new LeBron Jersey every time he switches teams as opposed to buying one Cavaliers shirt.
Sports has its bright spots for sure like healthy competition and character building for youth, but professional sports are just an extension of celebrity culture. And we all know how much of a drag celebrity culture is on society. We are to care
for our neighbors not be obsessed with celebrities.
I say all this, but must admit I am a hypocrite. I love watching the occasional NBA game…usually with the sound off and pre-recorded so I can skip the commercials…because I appreciate the art of the game that I dedicated so much time to. But that is where the problem lies, I spent a LOT of time dedicating myself to mere
children’s game.
No condemnation towards anyone who loves to watch sports, I just think we should all acknowledge the obvious problems and think a little deeper before we turn on the game.
