I guess I'm going to have to disagree with some of this stuff. I refrained from
replying to Moose's criticism of competitive sports, but I don't see the
problem. I grew up playing baseball, went to college on a baseball scholarship
(wasn't good enough to play much). These games are just a microcosm of real
life: you win some; you lose some, and some get rained out. Life is
competitive, whether it's for a parking spot or for a job or a mate.
Walt
--
"Anything more than 500 yards from
the car just isn't photogenic." --
Edward Weston
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Bob Whitmire <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> As one who spent some time years ago studying Mesoamerican
> archaeology, I believe the solution to our current pro- and college-
> level sports craziness is to adopt the old Mesoamerican ball-game
> philosophy of sacrificing the winning team, or at least the star. As
> I recall, sometimes the losers were sacrificed, but as a rule it was
> at least one of the winners, if not all. Imagine the end of the World
> Series, for example, or the World Cup, if the winning team were
> sacrificed, instead of being awarded a trophy with enough valuable
> metal in it to feed a small African nation for a year!
>
> That said, a cricket aside: Esteemed Wife and I were on the train
> from London to Dover last year. At Waterloo Station before boarding,
> we bought a pile of British newspapers to enjoy on the ride down. I
> recall reading about a cricket match in the sports section of one
> paper (can't recall which one). After two paragraphs I began laughing
> hysterically. EW looked over at me as though I had been stricken. I
> gave her the paper and pointed out the two paragraphs I'd just read.
> The language was English. I recognized each word in the two 'graphs.
> But the context of those words, the way they were put together to
> impart information about the match, was utterly and absolutely opaque
> to me. I understood nothing. Nothing at all.
>
> --Bob
> www.bobwhitmire.com
>
>
>
> On Feb 21, 2007, at 1:20 AM, Chris Barker wrote:
>
> >
> > I agree with you entirely, Moose. The day people started receiving
> > money to play supposedly competitive sports was the day I started to
> > lose interest. the competition is in the funds that the umbrella
> > organisation is prepared to put into preparing today's youngsters.
> >
> > I am really happy that England won in the One-Day Series, but it's
> > all bo**ocks really ... :-)
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|