The NYT's George Vecsey is back from China and makes a point -- that the Olympics are summer filler and it's so much more invigorating to talk about playoff baseball and even tennis and preseason football -- than it is to behold what is supposed to be the greatest spectacle in sports. Vecsey -- and others who have written along these lines before -- implies that the difference comes from the intensity or higher stakes of pro sports as opposed to the relatively low key exhibition-like quality of the Olympics. That, according to his headline at least, the professional sports are the games "which truly count." That we feel far more invested in them as opposed to the relatively meaningless Olympics and therefore care about them more.
I agree with the premise that baseball and football are more engaging than what just went on in Beijing, but I think it's for the opposite reason. If anything, I think we're expected to take the Olympics too seriously and treat it with thoughtfulness and regard, whereas with good old domestic professional sports, we can whine and complain and be petty and it doesn't really matter.
For all of the books and columns which have been written to the contrary, we're not really interested in finding meaning or poignancy in sports. We're merely looking for a diversion, and if it's a diversion in which we can harmlessly revel in some of our less admirable instincts -- say, calling the third baseman a bum or lamenting the fact that the alma mater only beat the cupcake by 43 points instead of 50 -- all the better. Contrary to Vecsey's headline, we like football or baseball or EPL soccer or whatever because, in the grand scheme of things, they don't really count, and on some level we all know that.
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4 comments:
With an attitude like that, I feel very sorry for Vescey. I find the Olympics hugely exciting. Which means, obviously, that I win. :-)
I too find the Olympics enjoyable. So did most of the people I know. Aside from one or two folks I encountered during the two weeks of NBC's coverage, everyone I knew watched them some of the time, and most watched them every day - myself included. My older daughter and her roomie came over every night to watch them at my house, simply because my set is nicer than theirs - and I keep Blue Bell Moo Bars in the freezer all the time. I did some quick research on ratings and whatnot before I typed up this response, and NBC is reporting that over 157 households - more than half of the country - watched the Summer Olympics at some point. Even with the predictable Judge Controversy that seems to ooze up during every Olympic games in some way, the Olympics are fantastic. The girls and I are already talking up London in 2012.
Um..sorry - those figures should be, "NBC is reporting that over 157 Million households - more than half of the country - watched the Summer Olympics at some point...". 157 households isn't even half of Sulphur Springs, Texas.
I think the problem is that most sports fans like having someone to hate as much as they like having someone to support, and during the Olympics everyone from the US is effectively a Yankees fan...
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