International I Hate Sports Club

You know, I don't really hate sports. I like running races and watching an occasional football or basketball game, it just gets really boring after a while, especially football. What I hate is the bullshit attitude coming out of the sports community. "If you don't do sports, you'll fail at life and become hopelessly addicted to meth." That kind of nonsense is really what ticks me off.

Yes, there is the alleged link between GPA higher GPAs and sports success. And I think it's real, purely because my school required at least a 2.0 to play sports. So, naturally if you are into sports you are going to want to maintain good grades. It does not mean that playing sports makes you more intelligent, although exercising regularly can help improve brain function, but you don't need some asshole yelling at you to do that.

Not to mention you can always take easy classes to stay in a sport. I know because I did that in high school, although not to stay in my sport although I was in one.

I also hate the huge structures created to support them, both organizations and physical structures. The poor cost benefit relationship in monetary terms makes new stadiums a terrible idea in this economy, yet there are probably still new ones being constructed. Schools do not need massive meat head complexes while they can't afford new textbooks. And yes, the priorities DO get that screwed up. My friend told me. She went to Dansville High School in Michigan.

Not to mention Tiger Woods and Magic Johnson. Way to set a terrible example for STD control assholes. Glad kids who follow in your footsteps will have all kinds of fucked up diseases. Well, I guess Magic has atoned for his sins through his advocacy of safe sex. But way to go Tiger. Asshole.

So sports I don't think are really that bad, but the attitude...yeah.

Yeah, sports would be a lot more tolerable if people would just keep them in perspective. The problem is that a lot of them don't. I'll never understand how sports took on so much importance. Like around here, for instance, they've postponed a trial because of the Stupor Bore. Plus they're apparently considering cancelling school the day after. It's a freakin' GAME, for crying out loud.

natmanhan wrote:Yes, there is the alleged link between GPA higher GPAs and sports success. And I think it's real, purely because my school required at least a 2.0 to play sports. So, naturally if you are into sports you are going to want to maintain good grades. It does not mean that playing sports makes you more intelligent, although exercising regularly can help improve brain function, but you don't need some asshole yelling at you to do that.

Not to mention you can always take easy classes to stay in a sport. I know because I did that in high school, although not to stay in my sport although I was in one.

I also hate the huge structures created to support them, both organizations and physical structures. The poor cost benefit relationship in monetary terms makes new stadiums a terrible idea in this economy, yet there are probably still new ones being constructed. Schools do not need massive meat head complexes while they can't afford new textbooks. And yes, the priorities DO get that screwed up. My friend told me. She went to Dansville High School in Michigan.

Studies have shown that there is a correlation between the teaching of music and higher reading scores. Yet we don't see the massive infusion of money for teaching music in elementary schools. And, in fact, the first item that gets cut when the school budget gets tight is the fine arts, including music. You never hear of the athletic department being pared down. As Mr. Holland says in Mr. Holland's Opus, "When they cut the football program, it will be the end of civilization as we know it."

Just so the reader will know that I don't have a background in the fine arts or a personal stake in their promotion, I never had an interest in them, except for being a band student in junior high and high school. And, in fact, by the time I was a junior in high school, I was sick and tired of band.

If I may digress with another issue, in the late spring of my senior year in high school, my band director announced to the class that we were going to put on a concert for the senior class in the school auditorium right in the middle of a school day. The entire senior class was going to be required to attend our concert. I thought at the time, "No, Mr. Wilson (not his real surname)! Are you out of your mind? Who came up with the lousy idea of forcing my fellow seniors to attend a school band concert when the only concert they'd ever want to attend is a rock concert? They'll be resentful and bored out of their minds!" When we gave the concert to my fellow seniors, I actually felt embarrassed because I did not want to impose the school band upon unwilling classmates, more than a few of whom dismissed band students as "band fairies." As it turned out, we didn't play all that well; and Mr. Wilson (who, years later, would be indicted for embezzlement as the superintendent in another school district, despite his prim and proper but self-righteous image) lost his temper and threw his baton at us. So, you can understand why I'm personally OPPOSED to high-school students being forced to attend football pep rallies during the school day. I say let attendance at the pep rallies be voluntary, and let them be held AFTER school!

Ah, the pep rallies. I attended them to "show my support for my school" until my senior year when I realized what an elitist shit fest they were and started skipping them.

Good point about the fine arts, I never knew that. Guess you learn something new everyday. To be honest I thought including them was kind of stupid, along with sports, maybe even after I saw sports' limited value but now I see value in them thanks to you.

Thanks for your kind remark. The source of my information is my wife, who taught in the public schools for eleven years as a math teacher. I have no problem with any extracurricular activities in the schools, just as long as those who participate in one or the other are not given preferential treatment at the expense of other achieving students or are allowed to run roughshod over classmates who usually have no recourse if they are bullied.

You are welcome. I agree fully with what you just said.

Always been a fan of the ancient Greek ideal of sports. You know, the one where physical activity and a healthy body are supposed to be supplements to one's mental development, not a replacement? Not a standard one sees to often these days.