SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT; LOSING ITS VALUE.

I argued many times about the role sports has in society. For many, it’s a business; and a very profitable one at that. But for the vast majority of us,

I argued many times about the role sports has in society. For many, it’s a business; and a very profitable one at that. But for the vast majority of us, sports are entertainment.

 

But lately, I’ve been feeling like the much coveted “entertainment value” has sunk worse than the economy. The egos of some professional athletes coupled with the overwhelming media coverage of seemingly irrelevant stories, is ruining sports for me.

 

The newest debate is over “twittering” during team activities; whether it is practice, games or in general. Call me old fashion but what happened to the outcomes of the games or the plays that made headlines. I could care less about Chad “Ocho-whatever” Johnson and his reasoning about why his team sucks.

 

If I watch the games or highlights, I can see that he dropped balls or defensive players missed assignments. It used to be simple. Now everything is force fed down our throats, no matter where you turn to.

 

Think about it, a year ago, no one knew what twitter was. Now, I’m listening to everyone in football and basketball saying, “Check out my twitter page for updates.”

 

No! How about you go out there and do the jobs you’re paid heavily to do and I’ll watch the games for updates.

 

I’m not sure what their intent is, though. Some of the biggest names in the sports are riding this wave of over emphasized coverage of themselves. I get it, the most attention you bring to yourself, and seemingly the more opportunities to make money would follow. But let’s examine.

 

Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan are two of the most productive salesmen in sports history. Not to mention, they are the two most dominant athletes in our generation. And the reason they are good salesmen has a direct impact from their ability in sports.

 

People wear Jordan sneakers because they want to jump like him, shoot like him, “be like Mike.” Not because he twitters everyday or beats his childlike antics on my head like a migraine.

 

Call this rant if you want to, frankly because it is. But I’m fed up. As professional athletes, your job is to perform your talent and skill far better than everyone else can. Accomplish that goal first and the rest will surely follow. Otherwise I don’t really care much else about your personal lives. I’ve never met you, I probably don’t want to, and I sure won’t be going out of my way to find out your opinions about your teammates, coaches or weather or not you think Michael Vick should be in the NFL.

 

As the world of instant access to everything grows, and grows at a rapid pace, take a step back on think about what made the games so popular and why they’ll be around forever. It’s always been about competition, two opponents going head to head to prove who is a better athlete and why. Not because one was wittier than the other and out twittered him during halftime.

Do you agree or disagree with me? Then take it to the official message board of the Spartan Nation: the Phalanx Forum to discuss it.