Just thinkin' about things
Friday, August 30, 2002Tennis to the death?
Thomas Sowell thinks five-set tennis matches that go on for more than four hours, like Kiefer and Safin at the U.S. Open, are too grueling. For the audience, perhaps he is right, but not necessarily for the players. It depends on who the game is for.
The purest form of sport is one competitor saying to another, 'I can do this better than you,' and the other replying, 'Think so? Prove it.' They agree on terms for the competition, called rules, then set out to learn who is right. The contestants may be tennis players, race car drivers, football teams or even western gunfighters, but the audience doesn't matter, only the outcome.
Different contests use different capabilities. Some, like tennis, may focus on accuracy, quickness and tactics while in others, like football, strength, speed and teamwork may be paramount. By its nature, competition stresses those characteristics, and when stress is involved, endurance is also very much a part of the game. In marathons and the Tour de France, it is the main ingredient.
Sowell is correct when he says,'No matter how many sets are played, the number of sets can change the outcome, especially in a closely fought match.' But the number of sets doesn't just affect the outcome, it redefines the game. A five set tennis match is not the same game as three sets any more than a 100 meter sprint is the same as a 5k race, and the same athlete may not win at both. No doubt there is artistry in finely honed skills, but don't underestimate the drama in survival.
Of course artistry and drama are mostly for spectators. Any time there is a competition, even if it's chess or poker, there will be people to watch it, and the better the competitors are, the more spectators it will have. With enough of them, somebody will say, 'Let's get the best players we can, have a game, and charge people to watch.' Then it turns into the PGA or NBA and entertainment values become as important as competition. In baseball, the Major Leagues are even sometimes called The Show.
Sports can become servant to the primary goal of getting bodies through the turnstile. Some signs that this has happened are sportswriters claiming 'the game belongs to the fans,' and owners fiddling with rules in order to create more excitement.
That is when I cringe, seeing the nobility of personal competition becoming more like Vince McMahon and professional wrestling.
Accuracy in Media on The Global Warming Scam.
Kevin McGehee has posted a Declaration of Independence War.
Never thought about it this way, but the document signed in 1776 could be called our first declaration of war.