Sports

Jay's Kinda Weekly Rant (laaaate):
I really wanted to do a rant sooner, but the work has been piling down on me recently. Even as I speak, I'm working on a massive amount of computer science homework, which I'm taking a break from. No harm in that, right? :-P
I'm glad to see some guestbook signage. In response to the lady who inquired as to when I'd be home for Thanksgiving (thanks Kristin ;-) ), I will be flying home the evening of November 25th.
Anyway, at the moment, I'm feeling a bit better, probably thanks to the techno I'm listening to (can't stay sad when I'm listening to techno, heh). Massive drinking, like that which occurs at college, still bothers me, but I've recently become more accepting of it, realizing that some people have to learn the hard way, and I'm sure they'll still end up being productive members of society in good time. As long as they don't overdo it and get themselves hurt or end up hurting others, I can live with it.
So, what to talk about instead? hmmm, how about sports? Personally, I dislike professional sports with a passion. I don't mind playing certain sports, but I think spectator sports are ridiculous. They're a bunch of highly skilled athletes who get paid outrageous amounts for what they do. Ideally, I think sports should not involve money at all. If people play, it should simply be to have some fun and to get some exercise; that's it. I'll admit that I enjoy watching sports from time to time; I go to games with my family when they take me. However, I don't have a team in any sport that I particularly like. If I want a team to win, it's normally only because they represent my home state or my birth state. Still, I couldn't care less if my state's team goes to the playoffs or not; to me, it's just a game. Thus, the reason I enjoy watching sports is because of the game itself, the strategy that drives it, just as the reason I enjoy chess is because of the strategic nature of it. However, the reality is that our society is OBSESSED with watching sports and for all the wrong reasons. We yell and scream for "our team" to win; we bet large amounts of money on "our team"; we pay exorbitant fees to sit in huge stadiums and watch "our team". Because of how much people love to suck it up, because of how passionate our society is regarding sports, because of how much of an emotional frenzy people work themselves up to when watching sports, professional sports are a HUGE industry, thanks to the basic principle of supply and demand. The main problem with this is that there is an enormous monetary gap in equity between intellectual pursuits and the sports industry (this really applies for all entertainment, not just sports, but I find movies, video games, etc. to be much more beneficial for reasons I can't elaborate on now, running out of space lol). Thus, the emphasis in our society, even in our educational institutions, is shifted much more highly towards athletics than other occupations because people want to get rich as quickly as possible, and sports hold that dream, the American Dream, for many. While professional sports may make people incredibly wealthy, it is still a rare few who make it to that level, but people still gravitate towards it, nonetheless. Basically, I see professional sports as one of the grossest representations of the problems with our society. I'm sure you've all heard this before, but I feel it deserves emphasis: a professional athlete can makes tens of millions of dollars while the head of the nation makes the relatively paltry sum of $400,000. I don't expect this discrepancy to go away any time soon, but something is wrong with a nation when Dennis Rodman (does he still play?) earns more than the freakin’ president.
-To be continued… if I feel like it :-P