I got a good response from my sports stuff yesterday, although most of it was from the person who specifically asked for sports topics and his wife, so maybe that doesn't count as much. Regardless, I'm going to continue a little in that same theme because I've got some more to say. So there.
I talked to my mom last night, and she mentioned out that by the points I listed yesterday in how to determine what is a sport, playing jacks would be considered one. It has a ball involved, it has a physical nature, there's a winner and a loser, and you won't find people who could be "professionals" the first time they play. So clearly we need more criteria.
The Sacky couple suggested that if there's judging involved instead of the players determining who wins that it is not a sport. As you can see in my response in the comments section, I give a big "Hell no" to that theory. I don't think of figure skating as a sport either, but if the Olympic committee thinks so, it stays in the conversation. It's funny, because I would've thought before diving into this topic that one of my criteria would've been, "If it's in the Olympics, it's a sport." Figure skating, ping pong, archery...it's just not clear-cut enough for me.
I was chatting with my wife about this last night as well, and she said that one of the criteria seems to be that there's a subjective quality to the activity that makes it feel like a sport. I agree, and it's that quality that will ensure that not everyone will be in accord with this topic. To me, bowling feels like a sport, but I know it doesn't to many people out there. Similarly, even though billiards has all the components that I listed to make it a sport in my own mind, it still doesn't feel like one to me. I can't explain the difference, but playing pool still falls into the "game" category for me.
I'm still very interested in your thoughts on this, gentle readers. Please let me know what other criteria you think should be added to the It's a Sport Manifesto, and I'll be there to play devil's advocate.
Sticking with the sports theme for a bit longer, I'd like to make a broad statement: Basketball is the best sport to watch on television. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching several other sports on tv, but basketball is the best, and I'll explain why: In football, baseball, hockey, and soccer, the final score could end up being one team scoring once and the other team not at all. To die hard fans, those games are still very exciting because of the subtleties and nuances involved. To casual fans, they're unbelievably boring.
I appreciate great pitching a defensive plays in baseball, and I think they're fun to watch (even on tv). However, I can still understand why people think that's boring. A stellar defense in football can be amazing to watch, but the casual fans don't want that; they want to see people breaking off 60-yard runs or leaping catches in the endzone. If, heaven forbid, a Superbowl ended with a score of 3 to 0, you'd be hard pressed to find people that enjoyed watching it, regardless of how well the linebackers stuffed the run.
Hockey and soccer are a different story for me. I can't watch them on tv; they're not good for me. Not only do they share the same potential 1 to 0 thing, but plays so rarely develop that they always looks sloppy to me. I'm sitting there, watching someone start toward the opposite end of the field/ice and then failing to do so over and over throughout the game. The moments when someone gets close to the goals are very exciting, but when a team can end up with a single digit number of "shots on goal" at the end of the game, the rest of it is just tiring for me to watch. Again, there are great nuances in both of them, but too much "almost action" in my book.
And then there's basketball. Ah, sweet basketball. Want to see successful scoring attempts? How about 100 of them in a game? Even in this era of poor jumpshooters, when someone goes up for a shot in a basketball game, it's still close to 50% that it's going in. The 3-pointers are fun to watch since they're from far away and each one is its own "shot on goal," and the slicing layups or thunderous dunks add the punch that you find in baseball's homeruns. The viewer gets to see scoring many, many times each quarter, and for casual fans, that's a huge difference.
I'm not ignoring basketball's shortcomings. Especially in the NBA, there's too much one-on-one, some sloppy offensive sets, and a little too much attitude at times. To have on tv though, it's my number 1 any day of the week. In each of the other sports I listed, ESPN can show you every scoring play in a one-minute highlight reel. Yes, those are individually more exciting than a given basket, but I'll take a routine mid-range jumper over a punt ten times out of ten.
You can make arguments about other sports being on tv, and I'll listen: tennis is like basketball in the sense that there will be a point every so often, and you know that while you're watching. Same with volleyball, and I think those two are fun to watch. Golf, while the majority of the population finds it boring as hell on tv, also provides that sense of successful plays every hole. But I'm here to boldly assert that for the tv-viewing public, nothing hold a candle to basketball. It's a slam dunk.
Have a good Tuesday, everyone, and don't forget to write to ptklein@gmail.com with anything you'd like considered for future posts.
I talked to my mom last night, and she mentioned out that by the points I listed yesterday in how to determine what is a sport, playing jacks would be considered one. It has a ball involved, it has a physical nature, there's a winner and a loser, and you won't find people who could be "professionals" the first time they play. So clearly we need more criteria.
The Sacky couple suggested that if there's judging involved instead of the players determining who wins that it is not a sport. As you can see in my response in the comments section, I give a big "Hell no" to that theory. I don't think of figure skating as a sport either, but if the Olympic committee thinks so, it stays in the conversation. It's funny, because I would've thought before diving into this topic that one of my criteria would've been, "If it's in the Olympics, it's a sport." Figure skating, ping pong, archery...it's just not clear-cut enough for me.
I was chatting with my wife about this last night as well, and she said that one of the criteria seems to be that there's a subjective quality to the activity that makes it feel like a sport. I agree, and it's that quality that will ensure that not everyone will be in accord with this topic. To me, bowling feels like a sport, but I know it doesn't to many people out there. Similarly, even though billiards has all the components that I listed to make it a sport in my own mind, it still doesn't feel like one to me. I can't explain the difference, but playing pool still falls into the "game" category for me.
I'm still very interested in your thoughts on this, gentle readers. Please let me know what other criteria you think should be added to the It's a Sport Manifesto, and I'll be there to play devil's advocate.
Sticking with the sports theme for a bit longer, I'd like to make a broad statement: Basketball is the best sport to watch on television. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching several other sports on tv, but basketball is the best, and I'll explain why: In football, baseball, hockey, and soccer, the final score could end up being one team scoring once and the other team not at all. To die hard fans, those games are still very exciting because of the subtleties and nuances involved. To casual fans, they're unbelievably boring.
I appreciate great pitching a defensive plays in baseball, and I think they're fun to watch (even on tv). However, I can still understand why people think that's boring. A stellar defense in football can be amazing to watch, but the casual fans don't want that; they want to see people breaking off 60-yard runs or leaping catches in the endzone. If, heaven forbid, a Superbowl ended with a score of 3 to 0, you'd be hard pressed to find people that enjoyed watching it, regardless of how well the linebackers stuffed the run.
Hockey and soccer are a different story for me. I can't watch them on tv; they're not good for me. Not only do they share the same potential 1 to 0 thing, but plays so rarely develop that they always looks sloppy to me. I'm sitting there, watching someone start toward the opposite end of the field/ice and then failing to do so over and over throughout the game. The moments when someone gets close to the goals are very exciting, but when a team can end up with a single digit number of "shots on goal" at the end of the game, the rest of it is just tiring for me to watch. Again, there are great nuances in both of them, but too much "almost action" in my book.
And then there's basketball. Ah, sweet basketball. Want to see successful scoring attempts? How about 100 of them in a game? Even in this era of poor jumpshooters, when someone goes up for a shot in a basketball game, it's still close to 50% that it's going in. The 3-pointers are fun to watch since they're from far away and each one is its own "shot on goal," and the slicing layups or thunderous dunks add the punch that you find in baseball's homeruns. The viewer gets to see scoring many, many times each quarter, and for casual fans, that's a huge difference.
I'm not ignoring basketball's shortcomings. Especially in the NBA, there's too much one-on-one, some sloppy offensive sets, and a little too much attitude at times. To have on tv though, it's my number 1 any day of the week. In each of the other sports I listed, ESPN can show you every scoring play in a one-minute highlight reel. Yes, those are individually more exciting than a given basket, but I'll take a routine mid-range jumper over a punt ten times out of ten.
You can make arguments about other sports being on tv, and I'll listen: tennis is like basketball in the sense that there will be a point every so often, and you know that while you're watching. Same with volleyball, and I think those two are fun to watch. Golf, while the majority of the population finds it boring as hell on tv, also provides that sense of successful plays every hole. But I'm here to boldly assert that for the tv-viewing public, nothing hold a candle to basketball. It's a slam dunk.
Have a good Tuesday, everyone, and don't forget to write to ptklein@gmail.com with anything you'd like considered for future posts.
2 comments:
I have always been a fan of basketball, as you know. However, I often feel that each team should be given 100 points and the clock should be set for 2 minutes at the start of the game. In these times of leveling the playing field with draft choices and whatever, it has become a game of double and triple overtimes. I yearn for the day of one team really standing out and being the team to beat. The golden years of basketball for me were the Lakers three-peat or the dominant UCLA Bruins. It doesn't have to be my favorite team to make me happy. We need a Dallas Cowboys or a New York Yankees...who is "America"s Team" in BB?
Okay - I will admit to the hockey piece. It is almost painful to watch on TV - and I love hockey. I mean crazy about hockey. After you see it in person though and can hear the skates on the ice and see the break away plays that so often are excluded from the TV shot, watching it at home doesn't seem the same.
As much as I hate to agree on anything with a Laker fan, I concede you on the point.
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