Do Team Sports Hurt Society?

I also have a problem with professional and college sports. Sports fans get way to into the games. I find it extremely sad that so many fans’ identities are based entirely on their favorite sports teams. When their team loses, they take it so personally and feel as though they, themselves, are failures in some cases. This cannot be psychologically healthy. I also find it disturbing that so many people cause violent riots after a game doesn’t go the way they want and that people hate other people for the simple fact that they like a different team. If racism and sexism weren’t already bad enough, now we have to discriminate based on sports team fandom. It’s kind of ridiculous when you think about it. 

It’s also really annoying when you want to watch a television show, only to find that it’s being preempted by extra innings of a baseball game. I find watching sports to be a pointless activity. Even though I don’t like team sports, I’d much rather play than just sit there watching someone else play. It’s the same way I feel about watching other people play video games and pornography. 

I can see watching sports that you, yourself, actively participate in to study techniques, but I know that 90% of the people who watch games on television or go to live sporting events couldn’t play their favorite sport if their lives depended on it (considering the sport’s fan’s diet of beer, hot dogs, and chicken wings). Perhaps watching sports is simply a social thing and an excuse to drink for most people. But there are plenty of other ways to socialize.

I do enjoy some individual sports, such as fencing and snowboarding, but I have no interest in watching other people compete in these sports. What enjoyment can you possibly get out of watching someone else play a game? Especially when you consider that these people are getting paid millions just to play a game that you probably played for fun on the playground as a child, whereas you have to work 40 hours a week doing actual work and can still barely afford to pay your bills. 

Don’t you think that people with jobs that are of actual importance, such as teachers or police officers, should be making more money than someone who just throws a ball? What kind of message is it sending to children when they see that society values a football player more than people who actually make a difference? What do kids think when they see these athletes that they idolize getting busted for using steroids or committing various crimes and then getting away with it?

Playing sports could be a fun activity to do to get exercise (though there are plenty of other things you can do to for exercise, such as yoga or jogging), but they have no place in schools or on television. Our society takes sports way too far and team sports do much more harm than good in the long run.