Passion in sports

I believe playing sports is a privilege. Sports touches the hearts of countless people in countless ways. When I was going through a rough time in my life, in 1999, Manchester United's exhilirating run to European Champions League glory was a bright lantern in a pit of despair. When they won, I sobbed tears of joy and frustration and exhaustion which represented my love for their football but also stood for everything that I had to deal with over 10 years prior: the last time that I cried before that night in May.

I think there's a lot going on in sports today that I don't like: players switching alleigances, going after the money, not caring about their team colors, fearing failure over yearning for glory, the list goes on. My biggest gripe is the commercialization of games like football (I mean, soccer) and basketball to make them acceptable for family entertainment and my extension, palatable for corporate sponsors like McDonalds. That, in itself, is a joke: McDonalds does more damage to people than anything they'll see on TV.

Furthermore, I don't want any of my sports' corrupted by girlie-rule changes just so families of Doctor Spock-crazed, watering-down-our-generation, convinced-that-people-can-go-through-life-without-seeing-anything-bad parents can deem it safe for their children to view it. What they end up seeing is a fake product that lacks the one ingredient essential for sports excitement: passion.

I think you might agree that passion is probably THE most important quality to have. I rate it higher than integrity or compassion (though I rate those two qualities highly, as well).

And the double standard continues to double stagger me. I alluded to the McDonalds example (oh, if McDonalds are really looking out for me, why don't they put some real chicken in their chicken sandwiches?) but there's also the 'what's good for the goose may not be good for the gander' rule. Take hockey for instance.

Personally, I find it very difficult to take hockey. But I respect the passion that the game brings. And I respect that it's principle ideals don't seem to have been corrupted (more accurately, they've held out this long; since the NHL effectively folded 2 years ago and is making a comeback this fall, word coming out is that the rules are going to change to make it more (shudder) exciting). I respect that when people get pissed in hockey, they fight and they don't get thrown out or banned.

Now, look at soccer or basketball, two sports that are victims of their own success which means that wall street realised what money makers they were, repackaged them for a watered down, family entertainment, mass market and destroyed their very souls. If you so much as make a gesture, you're cautioned or given a T for 'taunting'.

Taunting??! That was half the fun!

If you put your hands on another player....ejected.


In 1998, David Beckham extended his foot at Diego Simeone in a World Cup match, missed him entirely and was ejected.

Now, I read that Eddy Curry who plays for the Chicago Bulls and has an irregular heartbeat which could kill him, refuses to take a DNA test to determine the health hazards of playing on. He's afraid it'll turn something up (which could save his life, by the way) and affect his market value. This is despite the Bulls willing to guarantee him that if he fails the test...are you ready for this...they'll pay him $400,000 for the next FIFTY years, guaranteed.

Isn't that sick? The real illness that Curry has is that he wants serious money, not a poxy $400,000 for fifty years ($20 million, if you're trying to do the math). Why settle for $20 million when, with the right spin, you can get three times that.

Latrell Sprewell summarised if far better than I ever could: "$14 million a year? That's fucking bullshit! I got a family to feed, man!". Well said, Latrell. I'd pay you to go away and shut the fuck up.