3 ms·

> Also, somehow small towns always find money available for soccer related stuff (like building stadiums, events, etc.) but there is no money for improving heal

> Also, somehow small towns always find money available for soccer related stuff (like building stadiums, events, etc.) but there is no money for improving healthcare or building parks. Bread and circuses. Whatever it takes to suppress the instinctual nationalistic ambitions of the people by redirecting their spirits and energy into /dev/null

gonzalohm 4mo ago
Those are my thoughts too. I believe there was a world cup or euro cup during the 2008 crisis, which Spain suffered specially badly. All countries were getting out of the "hole" except Spain, but hey we won the euro cup so suddenly our country was the best and everyone forgot about it
- GuB-42 4mo ago
  Which I believe is a good thing. An economic crisis is tough, let people have some joy. I am not into spectator sports, and certainly not soccer, but the positives emotions that go with it are worth it, I think. If you think about it, how often do you hear good news? A war here, a disaster there, a mass murder,... And it is not because of the current world situation, it is always the case, we usually don't talk about things that go right. Go ahead, go to your favorite news website and see for yourself. Chances are that the only good news you see are sports related. The only other source of good news I can think of is science and technology with their new discoveries, but even there, plenty of bad news too, like with climate change and price hikes. Sports is the only consistent supplier of good news. Of course, sometimes, you lose, but losses are easy to forget, it is just another blip in the sea of bad news. But with all the sports that is happening, there is always something to make your day: your local team winning in a local tournament, there are even some losing matches you can be proud of.
  - chuckadams 4mo ago
    Perhaps sports are a net benefit overall, but these are multi-billion-euro companies who don't deserve to keep getting handouts and special favors from the government to supply it.
microgpt 4mo ago
Is it always nationalistic?
- greenavocado 4mo ago
  Can also be tribal.
buran77 4mo ago
The circus would be there regardless. The reason this happens is because football leagues have a lot of money and some judges have a lot of pockets to fill and many are also utterly nontechnical.

gonzalohm 4mo ago

Those are my thoughts too. I believe there was a world cup or euro cup during the 2008 crisis, which Spain suffered specially badly. All countries were getting out of the "hole" except Spain, but hey we won the euro cup so suddenly our country was the best and everyone forgot about it

GuB-42 4mo ago
Which I believe is a good thing. An economic crisis is tough, let people have some joy. I am not into spectator sports, and certainly not soccer, but the positives emotions that go with it are worth it, I think. If you think about it, how often do you hear good news? A war here, a disaster there, a mass murder,... And it is not because of the current world situation, it is always the case, we usually don't talk about things that go right. Go ahead, go to your favorite news website and see for yourself. Chances are that the only good news you see are sports related. The only other source of good news I can think of is science and technology with their new discoveries, but even there, plenty of bad news too, like with climate change and price hikes. Sports is the only consistent supplier of good news. Of course, sometimes, you lose, but losses are easy to forget, it is just another blip in the sea of bad news. But with all the sports that is happening, there is always something to make your day: your local team winning in a local tournament, there are even some losing matches you can be proud of.
- chuckadams 4mo ago
  Perhaps sports are a net benefit overall, but these are multi-billion-euro companies who don't deserve to keep getting handouts and special favors from the government to supply it.

microgpt 4mo ago

Is it always nationalistic?

greenavocado 4mo ago
Can also be tribal.

buran77 4mo ago

The circus would be there regardless. The reason this happens is because football leagues have a lot of money and some judges have a lot of pockets to fill and many are also utterly nontechnical.