If you were just to watch Sportscenter for all of your sporting news you would be led to believe that there were really only 4 major sports in the world and this niche little game called soccer. The truth is there are really several sports that have a lot more fans than any of those 4 sports that you will see featured on ESPN. I’m talking about sports that have an international appeal and not just a nationwide appeal in the USA.
I’ve had the good luck of being exposed to a few of them as well as some sports from other nations. I went to Australia when I was 15 and while I was there I was introduced to both rugby and Australian rules football. Both sports bear a resemblance to American Football but are different in more ways than they are similar. First of all there are no pads in either and secondly the pace of the game is so much faster. This makes them seem like sports that Americans should love but they have never caught on over here for whatever reason. My theory is that Americans love the strategy and idea of plays and schemes while the 2 main Australian sports lack a lot of that on the surface.
Rugby is one sport with a large international following very much on par with the sport of cricket. Now cricket was never a sport I could get into but in nations like India and the UK it has a large following along with a large number of former British colonies. Cricket bears a very big resemblance to baseball at a quick glance but is a much different game that can be played over multiple days. It most likely takes a much greater attention span than most Americans seem to have.
The popularity of Cricket and Rugby is dwarfed though by the popularity of the world’s game, football. No, I don’t mean the version of football with pads and quarterbacks. I am talking about the game us Americans call soccer but virtually the rest of the world calls football. It is a game that is played in nearly every corner of the world but gets a second billing in the US. Just for one example it was estimated that the 2006 FIFA World Cup was watched by a cumulative audience of 26.29 billion people with the final game being watched by 715.1 million individuals, that’s 1/9th of the entire world population.
Those aren’t the only international sports that Americans are missing out on though. Formula 1 is another sport that boasts worldwide appeal that makes the fan base of NASCAR seem small. Tennis and cycling are other sports that get a lot of international attention but very little press in the US. The reasons for these sports lack of American interest may have some connection to media coverage but there is also the fact that in a lot of things Americans try to keep themselves unique to the rest of the world. They are missing out on a lot of great sports by doing that though.
The Daily Run
Distance: 2.8 miles
Weather: 70 degrees, overcast day with rain threatening
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Oversaturation of Sports
If you flip on cable TV at about any time on any given day the odds are you will be able to find some kind of sports event or sports related show within a few minutes of channel surfing. Whether it be one of the five ESPN networks, Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports network, or a collection of other local channels sports channels can be hard to miss. The odds are that they will all be talking about roughly the same thing most of the time too.
Is this a bad thing though? One positive is that in a world where we have wars and a troubled economy sports can create a great distraction from the realities of life around us. Do we really need 24/7 coverage though on every form of media imaginable? In my opinion there is an oversaturation but just like many things that can cause such a diverse amount of opinions multiple ways to voice those opinions develop.
I have to admit that I have a more unique relationship with sports than just a normal fan. My career is wrapped around sports and the existence of sports so I have an invested interest in it. Possibly that’s why I think there is too much sports in the media though, I never really get a great escape from it at work like most people. Sports just don’t serve as the kind of escape to me that it is for some people.
My main issue arises in a situation like the A-Rod scandal that is going on right now. Do we really need to spend half an hour of an hour long highlight show talking about 1 man? I realize Rodriguez is a larger than life athlete because of his contract and skill but there are so many good things going on in sports that could use some attention.
It’s because of coverage like the coverage of A-Rod or Bonds or Michael Phelps that I find myself tuning into ESPN less and less and turning to channels like Discovery or even Disney channel. They are safe bets to have original entertainment that will have variety and be something unique. I will turn to ESPN when they are actually airing a game because I enjoy watching sports I just don’t really enjoy listening to so called “experts” talk about it anymore.
To me there isn’t a lot that can match the thrill of an exciting live sports event or even an exciting game on TV. I’ve found though that sometimes the less I know about the situation around a game the more I enjoy it. I just want to go and enjoy the game for the game, not because the starting point guard called the opponents center a momma’s boy.
The sporting world seems to be on a mission to accent the individual and forget about the team. For example all you hear about is the Lakers while the Spurs are just a side comment. The Spurs are a great team, while the Lakers are a good team and you realize that if you can see past the fact that Kobe Bryant is on the team. I can’t say when the name on the back of the jersey became more important than the name on the front but I sure wouldn’t mind seeing it go back to valuing the name on the front.
These are a few of the things that the oversaturation of sports talk has just made worse in my opinion. We live in a world where if a station like ESPN wanted to they could air actual sporting events almost 24 hours a day but instead they generally only have sports from 7-10 every night and leave the rest up to their “experts.” I consider myself lucky that I have been exposed to a wide variety of sports and wish that ESPN would air a lot more soccer and also start airing things like Rugby and Aussie Rules Football. I would much rather watch a sport I had little knowledge about than listen to an old retired player try and talk with the idea that since he played he knows all there is to know about a sport from the front office down to the waterboy.
For the sake of not dragging my opinions out for too long I will wrap this up. I will probably go into each portion of this in more detail later since more is needed to full explain my views, hopefully that all comes off as intelligent and not just complaining. If nothing else I hope it makes you think a bit because we would all be better off thinking more and not just following the crowd.
The Daily Run
Distance: 2.8 miles
Weather: 70 degrees, a great Florida day
Notes of interest: nothing special just a nice day for a run
Sunday, February 8, 2009
To Market, To Market I Go
Yesterday I tried something new. I have lived in St Pete for roughly 8 months now. Every Saturday for a good chunk of the year they have a market downtown. I have never gone down there, mostly due to lack of motivation. Yesterday I thought I would give it a shot. The fact that it was a great day outside definitely was another reason that helped in getting me to go.
Also I had a real desire for a good smoothie and I thought getting some fresh fruit to make one with would be nice to have. So I hopped on my bike and rode the roughly 4 miles to the parking lot of Al Lang Field in downtown St Pete.
It was a great bike ride to start the day with. There was a cool breeze in the air so I didn’t get totally sweaty and traffic was fairly light so I didn’t get run over by anyone. If nothing else it made for a great day to be outside.
Once I completed my journey I was surprised by how many people were at the market and how many vendors there were. There were a few places grilling food and lots of produce vendors alongside several people selling different kinds of crafts and things of that nature. One of the best things about the event was that all of the vendors were local so it was all good for the local economy.
One of the first things I noticed was that about half the people had a dog with them. There were dogs in all shapes and sizes. There were the annoying little yippy dogs. There were a couple labs, a very large and pretty German Sheppard and one large black hairy dog that I don’t know the breed of it was just big with black curly fur.
There was a wide variety of people there too. Many that seemed like they were tourists that just wandered through while others were locals out to support the local economy and see old friends. The variety of people made it nice because you get to really appreciate the variety of people that live down here. Most everyone was older than me but that’s to be expected at an event like that. The market really isn’t a big draw for young 20 year olds, especially with Gasparilla going on in Tampa.
The third thing I noticed was the smell. I discovered as I walked around that one of the main places producing the smell was a barbeque grill. They had a decent variety of barbeque foods there and one of the guys working there had on a tux, I thought it was a nice touch; it kind of had a New Orleans feel to it with his outfit. There was a veggie burger and smoothie place, a chocolate place, and a few other places that I can’t remember right now.
After wandering around a little and seeing what everyone had for sale I made my way back to a small produce display. This set up had exactly what I wanted, pineapples and strawberries, my favorite fruits by far. Only 2 places had pineapples and these looked the best. In my mind I thought they looked just like you would expect a pineapple to look. The strawberries also looked very good and were grown just one county away so it made me feel better about buying them. One whole pineapple cost $3 and one tray of strawberries was $2.50. So in summary it was about the same price as the grocery store and they hadn’t been shipped in from some random South American country.
So I had made my purchase for the day and I jumped back onto my bike to head home. It proved to be a slightly more difficult task than the ride there because now I had a bag of strawberries and a pineapple that I had to balance on my handle bar. The bag had a habit of swinging and I had to kind of wind it around my hand to make sure it didn’t swing into my wheel. I survived the trip though and all but 1 of the strawberries did too. The one victim got a little bit crushed but I figure 1 out of 20 or so wasn’t bad.
I had to make a trip to Publix to get the last supplies for my smoothie and when I got back home I made one of the best smoothies I have made yet. I contribute a lot of it to the fresh local fruit that tasted excellent. Overall I would say I’m very satisfied with the market and I think I will be going back many times. I will make sure to take some extra money next time too and buy myself some lunch because several of the places looked really good.
If I have a recommendation out of this is that if there is a local market where you live go and check it out. If you can ride a bike or walk there it’s even better I think. The idea of buying locally is great for the economy and just makes you feel better about your purchase. So get yourself some fresh fruit and some other good local goods.
The Daily Run
Distance: 3.8 miles
Weather: 70 degrees, nice sunny day that was great for a run
Notes of interest: nothing notable
Also I had a real desire for a good smoothie and I thought getting some fresh fruit to make one with would be nice to have. So I hopped on my bike and rode the roughly 4 miles to the parking lot of Al Lang Field in downtown St Pete.
It was a great bike ride to start the day with. There was a cool breeze in the air so I didn’t get totally sweaty and traffic was fairly light so I didn’t get run over by anyone. If nothing else it made for a great day to be outside.
Once I completed my journey I was surprised by how many people were at the market and how many vendors there were. There were a few places grilling food and lots of produce vendors alongside several people selling different kinds of crafts and things of that nature. One of the best things about the event was that all of the vendors were local so it was all good for the local economy.
One of the first things I noticed was that about half the people had a dog with them. There were dogs in all shapes and sizes. There were the annoying little yippy dogs. There were a couple labs, a very large and pretty German Sheppard and one large black hairy dog that I don’t know the breed of it was just big with black curly fur.
There was a wide variety of people there too. Many that seemed like they were tourists that just wandered through while others were locals out to support the local economy and see old friends. The variety of people made it nice because you get to really appreciate the variety of people that live down here. Most everyone was older than me but that’s to be expected at an event like that. The market really isn’t a big draw for young 20 year olds, especially with Gasparilla going on in Tampa.
The third thing I noticed was the smell. I discovered as I walked around that one of the main places producing the smell was a barbeque grill. They had a decent variety of barbeque foods there and one of the guys working there had on a tux, I thought it was a nice touch; it kind of had a New Orleans feel to it with his outfit. There was a veggie burger and smoothie place, a chocolate place, and a few other places that I can’t remember right now.
After wandering around a little and seeing what everyone had for sale I made my way back to a small produce display. This set up had exactly what I wanted, pineapples and strawberries, my favorite fruits by far. Only 2 places had pineapples and these looked the best. In my mind I thought they looked just like you would expect a pineapple to look. The strawberries also looked very good and were grown just one county away so it made me feel better about buying them. One whole pineapple cost $3 and one tray of strawberries was $2.50. So in summary it was about the same price as the grocery store and they hadn’t been shipped in from some random South American country.
So I had made my purchase for the day and I jumped back onto my bike to head home. It proved to be a slightly more difficult task than the ride there because now I had a bag of strawberries and a pineapple that I had to balance on my handle bar. The bag had a habit of swinging and I had to kind of wind it around my hand to make sure it didn’t swing into my wheel. I survived the trip though and all but 1 of the strawberries did too. The one victim got a little bit crushed but I figure 1 out of 20 or so wasn’t bad.
I had to make a trip to Publix to get the last supplies for my smoothie and when I got back home I made one of the best smoothies I have made yet. I contribute a lot of it to the fresh local fruit that tasted excellent. Overall I would say I’m very satisfied with the market and I think I will be going back many times. I will make sure to take some extra money next time too and buy myself some lunch because several of the places looked really good.
If I have a recommendation out of this is that if there is a local market where you live go and check it out. If you can ride a bike or walk there it’s even better I think. The idea of buying locally is great for the economy and just makes you feel better about your purchase. So get yourself some fresh fruit and some other good local goods.
The Daily Run
Distance: 3.8 miles
Weather: 70 degrees, nice sunny day that was great for a run
Notes of interest: nothing notable
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