Column: 'Too much of a good thing' doesn't apply to U.S. sports
Published Feb. 12, 2010
The first thing I do when I sit down to write this column every week is try and look back into the past several days in national sports and see if there was any significant event that interested me in any way.
I rack my brain to see if I can recall any pertinent stories or interactions that might somehow better illustrate my views of the week's various major sports stories or events.
Well, at least any other week, the sports stories or events might be considered various. This previous week there was really only one that stuck out. A certain professional football game hogged most of the attention, believe it or not, and it led me to think a little bit on Super Bowl Sunday, a burden previously reserved strictly for weekdays.
Is America's obsession with sports, in general, a bad portrayal of us as a country? From what I understand, we place far more importance on sports than most other nations. In fact, the attention given to our sports industry here could very well rival our attention given to any other country about any other thing. Are we putting too much emphasis on fun and games?
Super Bowl Sunday is incredible, an American holiday and one of my favorite days of the year, but the game gets far too much publicity and hype for what it is. If you've picked up a newspaper in the last week, you probably know what I mean. It seems like each publication devoted at least one article, if not entire sections, to every facet of the so-perceived climax of American sports. I almost got sick over the gross amount of coverage "SportsCenter" devoted to the game on a daily basis, with the key word being "almost."
I've always dreamed of a reality where everything on television had to do with the NFL, but I should have been careful what I wished for. I mean, it can't all be groundbreaking stuff, can it?
Like it or not, sports are a large part of our culture. They help us get exercise but are also a major moneymaker. Regardless of background, you can make astronomical amounts of money here based on athletic ability. There is a reason why many foreign athletes come to the U.S. to play, with the exception being soccer.
Americans aren't the only ones who take an enormous amount of pride in athletic endeavors. The Olympics are a huge deal all over and something can be said about the amount of time, dedication, and hard work it takes to become an elite-level athlete. If the U.S. has the ability to foster these athletes, why get in the way?
Ultimately, I've decided this frenzied fascination of sports isn't such a bad thing after all. At first, it struck me as a little sad, but it is just one of the many unique contributing factors that help make the U.S. what it is.
It is weird, yes, but I would take weird to boring and unoriginal any day, other things equal. The sports industry is a major revenue turner and helps make America go, providing not only entertainment, but an incredible number of jobs as well.
Scary thought: If it were any other way, we would be in serious trouble. That will teach me to think on the weekends.