Thursday, January 22, 2009

Are spectator sports overemphasized in this country today?

In this day and age people are obsessed with watching their favorite sports teams and finding out who will win the World Series, Super Bowl, World Cup, or whatever other sport they watch. Do not get me wrong I really do not think watching your favorite team go head to head with its rival is bad at all, although I do believe that our generation has overemphasized spectator sports to an extent to where it is not just fun and games anymore but is based on the foundation of consumerism and leads people to be less productive because they are too worried about not missing out on watching their favorite game to do anything else.
To start off, going to your desired game is no cheap event, it costs hundreds of dollars for the ticket and then you have to pay for food which is ridiculously priced. That money then goes straight to the overly paid athletes who you are watching and put so much emphasis and attention into. Every year advertisers pay millions of dollars to buy mere minutes of air time for the most watched game in the United States, the Super Bowl. These are prime examples of how sports have become more about consumerism and less about the game. Maybe if people did not care so much then all the consumerism would end and would not be an issue but unfortunately this is the sad reality of it. It is upsetting that professional athletes get paid exorbitantly more than the people who risk their lives to protect us for a living and everyone thinks that is fine and normal.
Also people do just spend countless money on spectator sports but time and energy. I hear all the time in school and work about people talking about the game they just watched and the great play that person made last night and I think to myself about all the things they could have been doing instead of watching some meaningless game which does not accomplish anything but is simply entertainment. If people spent less time being spectators and more time actually getting up and doing something then I believe this world would be better off.

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