Caveat: as the kid who was picked last in p.e., I freely admit I harbor strong resentment against sports.
I'm feeling an increasing disconnect from my own culture. Let's face it, from sports to business, the US is about winning. That's just not something I hold with. It's one of the reasons I disagree so strongly with the deluge of team sports for kids. It's one of the reasons I want my kid to go to a different middle school (ok, it's really THE reason). I don't think sports or the sports mentality has any place in school. I'm resentful of college sports. I mean, colleges are supposed to be about learning. So what are we teaching the students? That sports matters. That winning is ALL.
And people wonder where our creativity has gone.
Team sports kills creativity. People like to blame TV and video games, but if you take a look at who's writing TV shows, at who's designing video games, it sure as hell isn't the star quarterback from high school. The cliche of "dumb jock" isn't always invalid. (If grades don't equal smarts, which they so often don't, especially for adulthood.) So I don't get team sports or the obsession with them.
I'm a creative soul. If I get wrapped up in "winning" when I write (competing against other writers) it will paralyze me. This is not to say I don't feel competitive. It's just something I have to squash because it kills what I need to do my work. But doing so leaves a bit of a hole inside, and definitely deep mystery outside. It's like I have to consciously decide not to understand. I have some friends who are competitive and I notice I've been avoiding them lately, as I do when I'm feeling vulnerable (check) and in a creative fugue (double check). This doesn't mean I don't like them or won't want to hang with them again. It means that I can't afford the distraction of constantly wondering why someone must be "down" (me) to make those people be "up". Why are there levels? (Much less levels that I certainly can't see and don't understand.) Why can't we all just "be"?
Don't get me wrong. I like watching Broncos Football all right (when they're winning). Soccer's fun to see. I think sports have a place; they just don't deserve the place they've got in our society. Because really, what meaning is there in sports? "Teamwork" is always the answer. But really, you can learn that anywhere.
What do you think about sports and creativity and winning and being?
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