The Associated Press reports that John Moffit is leaving the NFL. Now, I don't quite know who this sportsman is. But I find his reasons for leaving professional football to be amusing, and I'll begrudgingly admit, praiseworthy. Apparently, after reading the works of the Dalai Lama and Noam Chomsky, Moffit decided that philosophy was a better gig. I wouldn't disagree.
According to Chomsky, sports and the sports-based subculture represent "a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements - in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism."
Whether sports inculcates such thoughtless "jingoism" is an interesting question. I'd rather avoid the loaded terms that Chomsky uses. Nevertheless, I do think that there are at least three noticeable effects of the popularization, even deification, of professional sports. First, there seems to have been a tendency towards inauthenticity in sports commentary. What are those retired players on ESPN actually saying? What is being communicated, if anything? What is gained by the audience? We hear clichés, we hear the same phrases and exclamations. Yet not much else. Sports commentary should help us to appreciate the virtues, or examples of virtuous conduct - bravery, strength, technical skill, mastery of one's one body in accomplishing impressive tasks, camaraderie, etc. - exhibited by players.
Second, and more importantly, what I've called the "deification" of professional sports has turned it into a sort of pagan gladiatorial games. Sports are important and should play an important part in our shared culture. Children should be encouraged to play sports, even required by their parents to do so. But the professionalization of recreation has helped to destroy the very purposes for which sport ought to be encouraged in the first place. Setting aside the cult nature of sports fandom - consider how many men choose to stay home on a Sunday morning and dedicate hours to football, rather than to spending time with their family or in worship - organized sports has an interesting tendency to lead to groupthink, to irrational attitudes and behaviors towards complete strangers. I should note that this phenomenon is even more evident abroad among soccer fans!
Third, the commercialization of sports. I've not spent a great deal of time thinking about this third point. It seems, at the very least, that sports viewing is increasingly an activity of the rich. It isn't cheap to visit a stadium, let alone feed your family while at the game. Players are compensated with huge salaries, yet tend to end up with screwy finances. They also get special treatment, as a result of this celebrity status, even when they commit criminal acts. This commercial aspect of professional sports isn't something that we can really change. The underlying cultural issue are more important, and once they are addressed, these economic consequences will abate.
Certainly, not every sports viewer is effected the same way. And not all sportscasters merely parrot the commentary of others. Still, there is something uncivilized in sports fandom in the extreme. Chomsky may not have been entirely correct, but he had a point. We could all spend a little more time in contemplation, in philosophical reflection. Good on John Moffit for deciding to take life (and its meaning) a little more seriously!
(h/t NFL Player Quits Because, You Know, Noam Chomsky)
According to Chomsky, sports and the sports-based subculture represent "a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements - in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism."
Whether sports inculcates such thoughtless "jingoism" is an interesting question. I'd rather avoid the loaded terms that Chomsky uses. Nevertheless, I do think that there are at least three noticeable effects of the popularization, even deification, of professional sports. First, there seems to have been a tendency towards inauthenticity in sports commentary. What are those retired players on ESPN actually saying? What is being communicated, if anything? What is gained by the audience? We hear clichés, we hear the same phrases and exclamations. Yet not much else. Sports commentary should help us to appreciate the virtues, or examples of virtuous conduct - bravery, strength, technical skill, mastery of one's one body in accomplishing impressive tasks, camaraderie, etc. - exhibited by players.
Second, and more importantly, what I've called the "deification" of professional sports has turned it into a sort of pagan gladiatorial games. Sports are important and should play an important part in our shared culture. Children should be encouraged to play sports, even required by their parents to do so. But the professionalization of recreation has helped to destroy the very purposes for which sport ought to be encouraged in the first place. Setting aside the cult nature of sports fandom - consider how many men choose to stay home on a Sunday morning and dedicate hours to football, rather than to spending time with their family or in worship - organized sports has an interesting tendency to lead to groupthink, to irrational attitudes and behaviors towards complete strangers. I should note that this phenomenon is even more evident abroad among soccer fans!
Third, the commercialization of sports. I've not spent a great deal of time thinking about this third point. It seems, at the very least, that sports viewing is increasingly an activity of the rich. It isn't cheap to visit a stadium, let alone feed your family while at the game. Players are compensated with huge salaries, yet tend to end up with screwy finances. They also get special treatment, as a result of this celebrity status, even when they commit criminal acts. This commercial aspect of professional sports isn't something that we can really change. The underlying cultural issue are more important, and once they are addressed, these economic consequences will abate.
Certainly, not every sports viewer is effected the same way. And not all sportscasters merely parrot the commentary of others. Still, there is something uncivilized in sports fandom in the extreme. Chomsky may not have been entirely correct, but he had a point. We could all spend a little more time in contemplation, in philosophical reflection. Good on John Moffit for deciding to take life (and its meaning) a little more seriously!
(h/t NFL Player Quits Because, You Know, Noam Chomsky)
