Where I Draw The Line

I consider myself a practical sports fan. Sports have always held a big interest in my life – mainly because of its occasional soap opera-like story lines. Perhaps even more importantly it was something to bond with my Dad over. Hockey, football, and baseball topped the list, but when you think in terms of actually participating with my Father the nod goes to golf and bowling. My Father and I were in the same bowling league for  more than twenty-years, and the same golf league for closer to thirty.

With all that being said I am not watching the Ryder Cup – no matter the pomp and circumstance of “USA vs. Europe.” What I mean by a practical sports fan is I feel some things are meant in moderation, and coupled with that is the need for a break. That’s where the Ryder Cup comes in, but it is not my intention to single the event out either. I draw the line at certain events that I will refuse to waste my time with.

• Any All-star Games
  • This goes for any sport. From the Pro-Bowl to baseball to hockey. I’m sorry, I just don’t care. The entire concept in baseball originally was to build up the players’ pensions in an era when that meant something as owners held their grip over them. A lot has changed since then, and each time I read about someone signing a $300 million contract as the government shuts down because of debt ceiling negotiations I feel I’ve made the right decision to keep the television off and read a book.
• The Olympics (Summer and Winter)
  • I used to watch when I was younger before paid professionals infiltrated that athletic ocean as well. The argument was, “If it’s supposed to be a global competition of all the best athletes then the best athletes are professional.” True to a certain extent, but that wasn’t the reason for the push for professionals. The push was as many things are for money. Having those marketing tie-ins so they can sell a face you know on a collector’s edition plastic cup at a fast food chain rather than generic Olympic memorabilia. That was the real impetus behind getting professionals in the games all under the guise of it being something else. More noble. For love and country. Which is a great tagline to put on that plastic cup. The reason the 1980 Olympic Men’s Hockey Team gold medal meant so much was because it was about people we had never heard of. Dave Christian. Neal Broten. Mike Ramsey. Rob McClanahan. Mike Eruzione. Some would go on to the NHL and have fine careers, but what made that Olympics great was because of the people they were growing to be as players not professionals already established. While it’s not true of all of the events in the winter and summer Olympics, it is definitely true of hockey, baseball, and golf – it’s just another all-star game. In the context of golf, just another tournament
• World Baseball Classic
  • I’m sure Major League Baseball is dying to get their players into the Olympics, but they cannot logistically find a way to shut down the league opposite the summer games, usually in August, in the stretch drive of the pennant season. So the baseball organizations around the world got together and came up with this international tournament. I call it baseball’s version of the Canada Cup. Another event I rarely watched. Like the Coup de Canada the WBC is held during Spring Training (just as the CC had been during September’s training camps). So, from my perspective, they’re just  pre-season games, and when it comes down to it no one really cares about pre-season game.
• The FedExCup
  • There is some serious money involved with this, but that doesn’t make it anymore interesting. The year’s best players battle year long to get into a playoff where the play for boat loads of cash. Definitely of interest to the players involved. Not so much for viewing. No matter how much these playoffs are marketed they will never be The Masters, The US Open, The British Open, The PGA Championship. I would even rank The Players Championship ahead of the FedExCup playoffs which are based on a point total that changes every few years that I completely misunderstand and get confused. (I still don’t understand how these players get ranked for position the final week. They are already at 6-under? How did that happen without hitting a ball?) The only thing more trivial then April baseball standings I’ve found is January FedExCup standings – which they always show who’s in first place or top ten. It’s usually the same names. Scottie Scheffler? Rory Mcilroy? Jon Rahm? These are the best players in the game. Don’t show me the top ten. Show me the bottom ten – those on the cut line. Those are the guys that have to be worried. Trust me, Mcilroy and Scheffler are not – they’re the best in the world and they’re going to be in for a long time to come – especially when points mean virtually nothing to them when they are reset at the end of the regular season and start new for the playoffs. I will go as far as comparing the FedExCup point system to the Presidents’ Trophy in hockey. Having the most points at the end of the regular season means pretty much nothing. Just ask the Boston Bruins.
• The Ryder and Presidents’ Cup
  • Perhaps I’d watch more of these, but these two events have two major problems. First is the obvious one is that they have an Olympics type feel which doesn’t interest me in the slightest. The second is now both events have bled into three things – college football, NFL football, and the end of the baseball season. Those three events (admittedly this is subjective) get ranked ahead of watching the Ryder/Presidents’ cups. I love golf, I’m secretary of my league for heaven’s sake, but I also can’t miss you if you don’t go away. There comes a time where my clubs have to go into storage for the winter, and at the close of September we are pretty darn close to that time. Trust me, in January if the snow is blowing I’ll be watching golf from Hawaii, but now is not that time.
• Soccer
  • I remember visiting my family out of town and my cousin’s son was in the kitchen watching the soccer game on his laptop while cousins, their father, and myself were watching baseball in the living room. That’s fine. Soccer has grown by leaps and bounds in this country and if you enjoy it – watch it. You do you. I just personally don’t get it. They play on a field that’s one mile by two miles long (or so it seems); they kick the ball back and forth, and if a goal is actually scored it’s a small miracle. Any soccer game at the very start has the chance to be a 0-0, 1-1, or 2-2 tie. We hate ties in this country – they came up with different systems in college football just to avoid it. The only thing worse than soccer ties are soccer time-outs – there are none. If there needs to be a pause in the game the officials do not hold the clock – which would be the logical thing to do. Instead they keep the clock running and add arbitrary time. “How long do you think he was laying there Bob?” Bob looks and says, “I don’t know. Four or five minutes?” The response is, “Okay, let’s call it 4:20 and add extra time, but don’t tell the timekeeper or the thousands in the stands and the millions watching on television – it’ll be our little secret.” Right there is soccer in a nutshell. They will add extra time but not tell anyone including the clock operator. Then I think, why bother? It’ll end up a 1-1 tie anyway.
• Basketball
  • This is an odd one because I’ve often wondered had the Buffalo Braves stayed would I be more interested? Difficult to say, but they didn’t and I moved on. Basketball is an antithesis of soccer. In soccer they move around a gigantic field struggling to score. Basketball is continual movement around a court where all they do is score. Which means both games would be far more interesting if they were only five minutes in length. I do enjoy the Harlem Globetrotters though.
• Professional Bull Riding
• World Series of Poker
  • Why are these even on TV?

I’m no doubt leaving out some sports, games, events, but those are the big ones I can think of. Again this is all subjective – I always say You do you. My goal was just to say as much as I enjoy sports it’s also good, like your phone, to disconnect every once in a while. Which I think I’m going to do right now.

Take care…