The Decline of Sports

The following is written by my husband, Douglas.

The Decline of Sports

January 8th, 2010

I don't usually write about sports. Well, that's not exactly true. Let me rephrase that - I don't usually write about sports on this blogsite. I am a retired sportswriter, having penned over 5,000 articles from 1991 through 1999. That's about 1.4 articles a day, every day, for nine years and eight months. But, that's in the past.

Anyway, allow me to make some observations about sports.

Sports on television are being started too late in the evening. Last night's college football championship game between Alabama and Texas started at 9:38pm Eastern time on a Thursday night. None of my buddies stayed up that late, nor did I. Our bedtimes are around 9:00. The same goes for kids, which are the future of sports viewership.

Forget the West Coast. Put games on at 7:00 Eastern, and let the Left Coast folks watch it at 4:00 in the afternoon. That makes a lot more sense and would definitely multiply viewership amoungst the old guys and young kids. Plus, guys in California would have a great excuse to leave work early to catch a World Series baseball game, NBA final, and so on. When I lived in SoCal, I loved to get up on a Saturday morning in the fall and flip on a Penn State football game at 9am. That was great.

The pro sports seasons are waaaaay too long. Hockey starts in October and ends in May, the World Series ends in November, the NBA wraps it up in mid-June, and the Super Bowl is in February. Give me a break! By then, only the diehard fans give a hoot. The casual fan is on to other things.

And yes, you guys ARE role models. Stop the denials. Kids look up to you, and you teach that it is alright to be moody, disrespectful, not a team player, and, sadly, even a felon. Growing up, my sports heroes were guys like Sandy Koufax, Johnny Unitas, and Jerry West. They were squeaky clean, the proto-typical All-American boys. They didn't carry guns, get in brawls, and beat their wives, unlike many of today's "idols". And then there's Tiger Woods, who let down an entire generation of kids.

As far as sports for kids on a participation level, that too is slipping. The reason? Parents. It seems like every parent knows more than the coach. And the umpires or referees. How often do you read of a parent assaulting a coach or ref? Too frequently. Other parents scream at them the entire game. What message does that send? It's no wonder that so many kids start dropping out of sports as they progress through school.

Kids want to play sports for the love of the game. They love the crack of the bat, the smell of a baseball glove or pigskin, the swish of a basketball net, or crunch of hockey skates digging into the ice. The sounds and smells and comradie of sports make it what it is.

So, as we age, we continue with sports by living vicariously as a spectator, rather than an athlete. But who can afford to take the wife and two kids to a game and shell out $500 for tickets and food? So we resort to TV and these ridiciously long seasons and late night games and infinite commercials.

It's discouraging. Joe DiMaggio, where have you gone?

- Mountain Man and City Girl

http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com