If you haven’t heard, the NBA is locked out and nobody can come up with an agreement , meaning there won’t be any games until December 15th. Personally, I am happy to hear the NBA is locked out. I know there are many hard-working men (young and old) who train hard to play basketball. But here’s the reality: we’re living in some retched times where people can’t afford their houses, can’t afford food, and they’re losing their jobs. Do we REALLY need to watch commercial-owned sports?
I’d rather support a local basketball team, pay $5 and watch them play on a real court; not sit in a large stadium twenty stories away from the game with bright lights and various billboards telling me to buy their product because LeBron James uses/wears/eats it. I loved going to games and supporting my school, buying food at the snack bar to take them to the regionals or whatever the fuck they’re called. But commercial games are overrated, and even college games are becoming ridiculous (the fact that the Texas Longhorns are getting their own television channel is baffling).
Meanwhile, children who want to create art, sing music, or even build architecture are being denied educations because schools are pulling funding from extracurricular activities such as band, choir, and drawing. Meanwhile, funding for sports hasn’t been cut hardly at all. Sure, some parents have to pay for the uniform, but what about college education? A kid who can throw a ball far enough gets an entire education free while a kid who could cure AIDS has to pay for seven years worth of college from his own pocket or the pocket of his parents. Tell me how this is fair?
The one sport I cannot stand, even more than basketball (because at least they have to build up an endurance to run across the court multiple times), is football. Those bastards stop every five seconds and stand around while John Madden doodles on the screen and yells at you about what the players are doing. Meanwhile, retired football players and one hot chick interviews the players and talk about how awesome the coaches are and what their game plan is while advertisements whiz by.
People need to get their priorities straight. NFL already had a scare earlier this year with a lockout. I hope it happens again, and I hope we eventually get rid of this ridiculousness. Sure, sports can teach people how to work together and leads to “healthy” competition. I heard all the excuses. How about taking your children to build a habitat for humanity? That’s a good team-building exercise that actually leads to a positive outcome. As for competition, if you haven’t already figured it out, corporations are engraving it into our heads so we’ll compete with one another about owning the next big thing, willing to go into debt to have the biggest plasma television, the fastest, loudest car, and the best, most unhealthy food. Competition teaches us there will always be someone at the top and people below them. What happened to the world where we’re all equal because not everyone is as good at things than someone else? Sure, a muscular guy can tackle someone else before they get to the end zone. But there’s a guy who can rebuild an entire engine from memory. Why is one better than the other?
I’d rather promote education that will help our country in the end rather than support a group of men (who are more offended by being called gay) roll around with each other all sweaty and tired. Which sounds gayer to you? Science or wrestling each other half-naked?
