Sports: Just a distraction from things that matter?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

29. When Lover Boy and I were dating I got to enjoy football because it's a thing in their family

and their enthusiasm is contagious. I don't have a team. I can cheer well-executed plays from both teams in the same game.

That being said I have to take exception to the notion that it is "another crucial example of the indoctrination system." Oh really? And what should we do? Rigorously instruct our children to set aside their naturally occurring competitive impulses? (HINT: that's another way of saying "indoctrinate.&quot Sports didn't evolve in a vacuum Mr. Chomsky.

The Olympics were born from warriors testing their warrior skills in a venue that wasn't war. If the need for contest can be satisfied without resorting to bloodshed in fair, measured competition then Mr. Chomsky should be supporting, not grousing.

And if you complain about the competitive impulses of Man then you complain about Man.

And Woman too.

Here, after millennium of exclusion women finally get to compete on their own terms because they want to. They want to test themselves. They want to push their limits. They want to excel to ever-higher peaks -- and we're told they're just feeding the distraction from more important things. Society came to terms with women athletes and because of women athletes society realizes how much more women have to contribute in fields of practical science, government and social welfare.

(ASIDE -- We were watching the women's beach volleyball and I asked Lover Boy which sport his male sexist urges made him appreciate more: beach volleyball or gymnastics. He replied: curling, because it was good to see a woman with a broom in her hand for a change. So, I slugged him.)

What are we to do, Mr. Chomsky. Sit in sackcloth and ashes until the world is perfect? None of us has that kind of time. These aren't distractions, these are respites. We don't live to toil, we toil that we may live. We are to love and dance and share laughs and -- yes -- even try for the occasional 4th and goal.

Yes, there are those that take things too far. Such is the case with everything. But the incessant drunkard is not sufficient cause to impose a tee-totaling morality on the occasional reveler.