ARE SPORTS BORING?
TUESDAY, JUNE 8 - 7:30pm
The Brecht Forum, 451 West Street (Between Bank and Bethune Streets in Manhattan)
Join The Indypendent for an evening of forensic fisticuffs and verbal violence as Dave Zirin defends sports against Arun Gupta's claims that sports are boring. Zirin is a sports columnist for The Nation and author of A People's History of Sports in the United States. Gupta is a founding editor of The Indypendent. Co-sponsors: The Nation, Haymarket Books, The New Press and the Brecht Forum.
Cash bar. All proceeds benefit The Indypendent. 212-904-1282 • indypendent.org • brechtforum.org
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Comments
This is the kind of question that begs for an online poll (jointly with The Nation?).
Take a look at attendance figures for MLB so far this year; then ask if sports are becoming "boring." Some will say it's just the economy, but there's more to it than tha. Unfortunately, NBA (and even college-level) has monopoly on "boring" first, esp. given the "homer" officiating that dominate (check out the #'s: home teams win inordinate amount/% of time, regardless of talent differential; think those noisy crowds don't influence the refs? And the game pace? Horrid, esp. in later stages of close game. And doesn't anybody close to the NBA action get tired of the trash talking that goes on? If these people were paid a lot less (what they're really worth in our society), they might be tolerated more. Check out the empty seats even at playoff games. NHL's disadvantage is it's harder to follow the puck...but it's a far better paced game, and refs don't tend to "take over" (ie. influencing the outcome). Baseball doesn't set a good pace, better watched if socializing/business is the purpose of one's appearance at such an event.
It's time for the nation's resources to be spent on far more constructive endeavors beyond placating ingrates who play as if they're bored as well...
I find it very interesting that the argument above focuses exclusively on the U.S. European football and Rugby excite more people world-wide than almost anything else. Since one of your main arguments has to do with attendance: how do you account for the fact that the most watched TV shows every year is the Super Bowl (by far). I think you also seem to be focusing entirely on professional sports, which in the U.S. are often less exciting than college and other amateur sports (eg. March Madness, the Olympics, etc.) Professional sports in the U.S. are after all capitalist enterprises with all the attending flaws.
Dave Zirin is a power house - don't miss this one!! Dave will be victorious!
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