4 ms·

Just a quick, somewhat glib opinion in response to this. Some experts believe that humans are, at best, only somewhat sentient, and only part of the time. Our

Just a quick, somewhat glib opinion in response to this. Some experts believe that humans are, at best, only somewhat sentient, and only part of the time. Our mind automatically back-populates a story of thought and consideration before every decision, when in fact, our limbic system (more primitive, where our baser emotions come from) is pretty much running the show. Many/most humans have the need to vigorously compete in groups. Again, some experts have compared this to troops of monkeys fighting over territory and/or dominance. This is still the case because while our neocortex has developed quite a bit, our emotional centers are still relatively primitive. At least, a lot more primitive than we're widely comfortable in admitting to. I think that participation in sports is a necessary and mostly healthy outlet for these mental structures. This can all come across as very high minded, and I don't mean to say that people who are into sports are more primitive than people who aren't. I was never into sports, but I competed in different ways. And I've known people who were truly not competitive in any typical way, so it's complicated. Also, the above paragraphs are loaded with simplifications and assumptions. (: One way or another, I think organized sports are a useful and necessary thing for a large percentage of the human population. Of course, we as a society need to do it as 'well' as we can.

foldr 7y ago
The NFL etc. are largely about watching sport, not participating in it. You'll find lots of countries that (i) have better publicly accessible sporting facilities than the USA and (ii) spend far less public and university money on sports teams.
- wasdfff 7y ago
  Most of the big football programs make the universities money hand over fist, and keep alumni engaged.
  - foldr 7y ago
    https://splc.org/2016/01/post-series-college-athletic-spending-records/ https://splc.org/2016/01/post-series-college-athletic-spendi...
    - StillBored 7y ago
      Was going to say something similar, but I guess in the early 2000's the articles were basically saying that all but a few of the top schools were losing money hand over fist on their athletic programs. Basically most of the sports don't pay for themselves, and if your a small school unable to make bank on TV/ticket/merchandising/etc deals for the football/basketball team its a giant amount of red ink to build those stadiums and pay for the exorbitant coaching, and support staff, equipment, etc.
  - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
    Is it that the sort keeps alumni focussed, or that the Uni spends its effort on making alumni focus on it? Perhaps a focus of academic achievement would be equally engaging -- I know that's what engages me wrt my alma mater.
- tghw 7y ago
  Think about how a lot of fans speak about their teams. "How did the Bulls do last night?" "We won, but just barely." Part of being a fan is vicarious competition, both against the other team and the other teams' fans.
  - foldr 7y ago
    Sure, but if people can enjoy vicarious competition, they can presumably enjoy the real thing too.
  - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
    Last year there were reports out about how watching sport might be tricking us into thinking we've participated in such a way that it increases sedentary behaviour.
    - onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
      Interesting. My friends that watch the most sports seem to be the most overweight. I expected this to be the opposite, but maybe this is normal. Probably just anecdotal.
      - mumblemumble 7y ago
        It's apparently been studied: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3890601/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3890601/ In a sentence, "Participants that watched sports every day were at higher risk of obesity [odds ratio = 1.39, 95% CI, 1.15, 1.68) after adjustment for age, sex, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, total TV time, disability, and self-rated health." Based on what they're controlling for, and assuming that the conclusions hold, my guess would be that watching sports on TV is also associated with increased snacking.

foldr 7y ago

The NFL etc. are largely about watching sport, not participating in it. You'll find lots of countries that (i) have better publicly accessible sporting facilities than the USA and (ii) spend far less public and university money on sports teams.

wasdfff 7y ago
Most of the big football programs make the universities money hand over fist, and keep alumni engaged.
- foldr 7y ago
  https://splc.org/2016/01/post-series-college-athletic-spending-records/ https://splc.org/2016/01/post-series-college-athletic-spendi...
  - StillBored 7y ago
    Was going to say something similar, but I guess in the early 2000's the articles were basically saying that all but a few of the top schools were losing money hand over fist on their athletic programs. Basically most of the sports don't pay for themselves, and if your a small school unable to make bank on TV/ticket/merchandising/etc deals for the football/basketball team its a giant amount of red ink to build those stadiums and pay for the exorbitant coaching, and support staff, equipment, etc.
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  Is it that the sort keeps alumni focussed, or that the Uni spends its effort on making alumni focus on it? Perhaps a focus of academic achievement would be equally engaging -- I know that's what engages me wrt my alma mater.
tghw 7y ago
Think about how a lot of fans speak about their teams. "How did the Bulls do last night?" "We won, but just barely." Part of being a fan is vicarious competition, both against the other team and the other teams' fans.
- foldr 7y ago
  Sure, but if people can enjoy vicarious competition, they can presumably enjoy the real thing too.
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  Last year there were reports out about how watching sport might be tricking us into thinking we've participated in such a way that it increases sedentary behaviour.
  - onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
    Interesting. My friends that watch the most sports seem to be the most overweight. I expected this to be the opposite, but maybe this is normal. Probably just anecdotal.
    - mumblemumble 7y ago
      It's apparently been studied: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3890601/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3890601/ In a sentence, "Participants that watched sports every day were at higher risk of obesity [odds ratio = 1.39, 95% CI, 1.15, 1.68) after adjustment for age, sex, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, total TV time, disability, and self-rated health." Based on what they're controlling for, and assuming that the conclusions hold, my guess would be that watching sports on TV is also associated with increased snacking.