Freedom FROM religion.... of pro sports!

After smiling politely at the gas station when someone tried to chat me up about the Bombers losing again, I decided something:

 

I've decided to live a life free of big professional organized  sports.... kinda of like those 'Freedom From Religion' people.... except with sports. 

 

Now, I am not against YOU watching Major League baseball, football, hockey, soccer - that`s your right... I just don`t see it.  Or at least the benefits.  If cheering for the local big team gives you a sense of belonging or justice in the universe when they win - go for it.... just keep it to yourself, buddy. 

 

I know you are fighting an urge to say `but, it promotes fitness and betters the nation` - and I look at all the out-of-shape middle-aged guys in the stands and don`t see how cheering and drinking beer improve the nation.  I am not against exercise, and I like archery, fencing, wrestling, and curling myself, and long hikes... but that has nothing to do with pro sports existing or not.  And when I think of all the brawls and street damage when a team wins or not, I question the priviledged position pro sports has in our culture.  The governments use tax dollars to fund the local teams and give sweet deals to the big businesses that run the pro-sports... and amateur sports go begging.  If we put our pro-sport money behind Olympians – we’d never be happy with a bronze medal again. GOLD FOR CANADA!!!

 

This is not from ignorance about pro sports; far from it! Like a skeptic reading a religious text literally and nitpicking it to death – I know lots of pro-sports trivia and have faked my way through many conversations about it.  Here’s a fact: the highest paid public employee in most US states is not the governor or head of the health department, it’s the university football coach – who makes many times the salary of the university president they supposedly work for.  A ticket to a Jets game is hundreds of dollars for any bad seat.... and that amount of money per hour should come with sexual favours, not a better than average chance of losing, plus a high parking fee.

 

If this angers you, perhaps turn off TSN and go for a brisk walk in the neighborhood and check out the little leaguers at the school yard field and cheer them on for a change.  It’s hard to change irrational beliefs – one step at a time.