Team Sports - The new opium of the people

Ok im starting this topic regarding the phenomenal growth in team sports in the past century and present time. The sport industry today is a multi-billion dollar business, spanning all continents but especially in the west and more recently in the east as well.

I understand that before our age people also liked to watch sports. However it was nowhere as widely watched as sports franchises today such as football(soccer), NFL, AFL, rubgy, etc. Even as early as the 1930's my grandfather who was a goalkeeper of a local team and then in the national team had to pay for everything from cleats to flights in neighboring countries.

The point of this thread is to isolate the initial cause that has caused this explosion in sports. Is it because the individuals self-worth is so low and they need to be part of something greater that is a "winner" to feel more important? Could this be applied when people choose a political candidate as well, making our democratic process a simple choice of picking the candidate who is most likely to win rather than the one supporting your views?

Right but when you say "back in the day" how far in history are you going? I don't see sports being very popular prior to the 19th century for one major reason. People didn't nearly have the time to watch or participate in them as they have today. Most were actually preoccupied with the survival business of ensuring they had food on the table the next winter.

Meanwhile today a person doesn't even have to like the sport to be fan of it. A friend of mine is an example of this. He watches American Football which is a great sport but he doesn't even like it. I ask him why does he watch it and he answers not because he likes the sport but because its so popular and the stadiums "are always full". Also of course most people are more likely to support teams that have a long history of winning against other teams in any sport.


Edited by vulkan02 - 01-Jan-2007 at 17:13

Welcome to AE forum Tigerlily. Its not only about the violence of sports that I write here of. The explosion of sports seems like testimony to me also of the unusual age in which we live in. 50000-60000 seater stadiums costing millions of dollars, popping up like mushrooms everywhere in the world to feed this growing thirst for watching team sport competitions.

Now thats not to say I don't watch sport but its just something that has left me pondering off this last week. Has the worth of the individual been so diminished that we absolutely needs sports to increase it?

The modern sports industry represents billions in $$$. I'm disgusted with it. The multi-million contracts offered to young kids just out of high school, the doping scandals, the arrogance and sheer ego-tripping of these young athletes who have acquired cult status in the media... I'd much rather return to the Colisseum days as Reginmud suggests above.

Originally posted by Reginmund Oh yes, this is the modern Colosseum, only not as violent and far less interesting. Bread and circus, it's the same story all over again.

Hopefully it will only get more extreme with time until when the day arrives that UFC fighters will fight with nailguns and chainsaws.

Ive always found it interesting that crowds in soccer matches are always more volatile than those watching Rugby or AFL. A friend of mine had a theory that because soccer is such a slow and non-violent sort of a game the punters have to go nuts to keep the adrenaline pumping, whereas because rugby is already a fairly nasty game the crowds are so much more relaxed. Of course if this was true then cricket would end in genocide every match.

Originally posted by ulrich von hutten Can't tell you how i love drugs........