Sports Talk

  Let's talk sports: the meeting of minds which takes place mostly amongst men; the equivalent of the ever entertaining exercise known as gossip. The difference between gossip and sports talk is that the latter involves a group of people who do not actually know those entities they are so willing to analyze and judge. Gossip, on the other hand, can concern a friend(s) or an acquaintance(s) and is wrongfully thought of as no man's land. 
  For those of you out there that do not engage in sports talk, or have never witnessed such an event, I will reveal some secrets: it takes place amongst shirtless, hairy men, in a humid, underground dungeon with little to no air circulation, beer can corpses litter the locale, and the scent of nacho cheese mixed with desperation runs rampant. This is not true. I must also inform you that it is rarely sports "talk" taking place. In the wake of a coherent, unbiased conversation, something better described as a testosterone dump is conjured by the equivalent of 14 year old's with thousands of hours of ESPN viewership under their belts. The most amusing part is that the party on whom war has been declared upon is never present, and therefore at the mercy of people who are not "getting paid millions to play a game." All the elements which produce stereotypes, racism, and sexism are present. This is true. It is no wonder then that FIFA to this day has so much trouble with Europeans making monkey sounds and gestures when they see a Black player- in our "post-racist"world. (Google: racism euro 2012)
  We have allegiances to franchises and athletes which we believe care about us and see us as something more than a faceless mass of humanity which has made them truckloads of money. In reality franchises are businesses and profit is the only thing that truly matters. The majority of athletes are looking to cash in as well. It is with a deep sadness in my heart that I must inform you that your opinion does not matter unless you stop watching and stop buying. The same goes for political talk with the exception that those who bark at each other from behind high ideological fences are deemed intellectuals. The layman who engages in sports talk is thought to be a relative of modern man, an evolutionary mishap. Why?
   As of late I cannot engage in sports talk with friends without thinking about its futility and wondering if I will wake up the next day fully transformed into a caveman. Nothing I say about a team or an athlete will change the actions of either; I am at best attempting to prove I know what is going on in the world of sports. Others look to convince us that if a head coach were to suddenly perish they would be the obvious replacement. Still, I enjoy this wonderful exercise because there is a 50% chance that it may add some fuel to the fire which is my ego, and, believe it or not, men need verbal interaction from time to time. 
   With that said, I will occasionally publish sports related posts on this blog. They will be opinionated, they will contain weak attempts at humor, and they will transport you to the secret underground dungeon I gave you classified information on earlier. These posts will never be written as if the fate of the world depended on a game, an athlete, or the actions of a franchise. I hope you enjoy.

Alex