“The University of Colorado said Friday that calls were placed to an escort service and singles chat line from a school cell phone once assigned to [a] recruiting assistant Nathan Maxcey.” (“>discussion on Plastic) Okay, maybe my headline is a little inflammatory but it points to the increasing trend of using college athletics as a profit center and fuck-all to actual learning. Why do fans pretend that there is any sort of professional integrity or sportsmanship in college or professional athletics anymore? It’s gone and it ain’t ever gonna come back. We are a nation of cheaters.
We lie and we pillage. We backstab and we smile. Only Americans are smug enough to admit it – at least other cultures pretend like their not whoring eachother.
Perhaps it’s my bitterness about not being a star athlete in school (blame the allergies). The Golden God treatment got really tiring as well as the imagined/real pecking order of a high school clique worked it energy on all of us. Of course now, I find it all so ridiculous but I empathize with those whose achievements are overshadowed by the latest soon-to-be post-college burnout.
I think of my parents pleading with their students’s parents to send their kids to this or that school for better academics. And all the parents can consider is if they hold Billy back a grade then he can really do great for the team.
Sports is an entertainment industry. Perhaps it used to be our excuse to sublimate military readiness but I remember the day in theatre history where I put two and two together and realized stadium sports is like a huge frigging opera (I think I’d read about a production of Aida in a football stadium).
And like other entertainments – sports give adults permission to act childlike (or childish as the case may be). They provide an escape – a respite – a refuge.
And like other entertainments – the corporate honchos run the show. Don’t pretend there is real sportsmanship or integrity. Hell, if I was getting $113 million dollars for a couple years I’d book weekly flights to Tijuana to get my steroids if I had to.
In other news: Orthopedist says my shoulder should be just fine. It just chaps me that I go in, they take 3 x-rays (I can hear the sucking sound in my checking acount) and then talk to me for 15 minutes and then just give me anti-inflammatory meds. Though it was 4:30 and I was the last patient of the day – but could you at least act interested? I realize you’re used to the likes of Sammy Sosa, who’s jersey you’ve nailed to the wall like a cross but come on… I’m impatient – I’ve been doing physical therapy now on the ankle and the shoulder and I’m getting impatient. I just hate hate hate hate hate the “well come back in 8 weeks and see if it’s better” school of medicine. It’s been 8 weeks. I waited 8 weeks. That’s why I’m here now dammit.
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