Sports radio annoys me

[natmanhan]

Well, these days I'm no longer a Lansing Community College student. I'm going to Michigan State University. I think I have regressed.

LCC doesn't give a rat's ass about it's sports program. Something I can appreciate about that college.

MSU, on the other hand, goes all out with Big Ten fever. Running into fans of the university's football and basketball programs is a daily occurrence.

And, on the radio, I just heard the word that, used in that context, brought me back to this site: "hero."

"Heroes on both sides of this game." This obviously refers to MSU vs University of Wisconsin. What a bunch of bullshit.

It's been said before, but I'll say it again: being a sports star does not make one a hero. Entertainer, yes. Good at a game, yes. Athletic, yes. Hero, hell no.

Heroes are people who do great things that require courage. Playing a sport requires little courage. Sure, you'll probably get injured playing football, but permanent disability or death is a very remote possibility. Deaths from sports in the US are in the dozens, whereas the number of people who have played sports at some point in their lives in the hundreds of millions.

The armed forces, on the other hand is a completely different animal. By comparison, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have seen nearly 535 US deaths a year on average combined. Also, it must be taken into account that the US Armed Forces only have 2,936,396 personnel.

So, essentially, for risk of death, you're talking a 0.0000002% chance of death playing sports (taking into account all sports players, casual, school, semi-pro, and professional), or a 0.0002% chance of death in the military. In another words, you are about 1000 times more likely to die in the military.

My calculations I'm sure are off somewhere, but the point still stands. I have more pressing calculations to do in Calculus I, so I was kind of sloppy with these.

However, common sense tells us that warfare is deadlier than sports.

Also, considering that members of the military are dying to defend democratic ideals and defeat terrorism. I am opposed to the War in Iraq, but I know that many of our men and women in the armed forces believe Iraq and Afghanistan to be worthy causes, and I agree with the latter. Sports are played for fun.

Now, I do not believe sports are necessarily bad. They are fun and good exercise. But, to call sports stars "heroes," is nothing short of FUCKED UP. The real heroes are emergency medical personnel, law enforcement, firefighters, rescue, and military. Also ordinary people who answer the call when the shit hits the fan and the professionals are either not present or simply overwhelmed.

In all fairness, I must note that some sports players are also on reserve for what I just listed. But, regardless, sports are not what make people heroes. Charging into burning buildings to rescue people inside or fighting terrorists is.

[i_like_1981]

"Heroes on both sides of this game." This obviously refers to MSU vs University of Wisconsin. What a bunch of bullshit.

Welcome back to the forum, natmanhan. It's been a while since you last posted, hasn't it? Nonetheless, I completely agree with you on the quoted line above. I think it's an absolute farce to call any sports star a "hero", especially seeing as how most of them aren't just doing it because they love the game, mainly for the massive salaries and celebrity status. The true heroes are people who put their lives on the line to fight wars and defend their country, and not because they want to be "heroes", because they genuinely believe it's the right thing to do. War veterans and people who have given their lives to defend others are the ones who the term "hero" should be reserved for. For playing a game of sports, no matter how popular it may be, I can't consider these people heroes at all. They're just athletes who probably are just as much motivated to play by the prospect of immense admiration from their peers instead of just a love for their game. It's pathetic, and it shows the ridiculous level of hype that has been built up around modern sports.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[greencom]

natmanhan,
You are obviously a sharp thinking young man with sensible priorities, stay that way and avoid the "sheeples" of the world.