I haven't seen much here regarding sports, but I am here to say that I am SICK AND TIRED of our major sports right now! All of them and I'm not a big sports fan! Freddie (my husband) and Eric (our 15 year old son) love to watch sports together, but with all the crap that's been going on in recent days it makes you want to "Blow up the t.v. and throw away the paper"!!! - as well as throw up!!!!! Eric asked me if there was some sport that was not tainted - I told him probably Hurling! I wish we could get the Hurling matches at our house. We do have an Irish pub in Atlanta that carries them, but the place is TOO crowded - especially during the All Ireland matches.
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"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."" Psalm 91:1-2
"Be what you would seem to be--or, if you'd like it put more simply--Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise." from "Alice in Wonderland"
Gwynhwyvar- you are a brave lass indeed to post a message about hating sports. I think, in reflection, you could actually narrow down your disgust for competition to our modern day athletics hero worship culture. It's completely out of proportion to reality and promotes a strange and twisted set of values to our children.
In my humble opinion, the only true sporting competition left in the world is the Olympics.
Well I have to say that I'm of your opinion TandVh and Gwynhwyvar about sport but as far as the Olympics goes, yes it's still competitive to a point but with a lot of problems among athletes with their performance if you know what I mean. There was some scandal after all in the past.
So all this said I think that our society pay these athletes too much money for nothing and again I think T.V and what they let you believe and see IS out of proportion.
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"Few men are brave:many become so through training and discipline." Flavius Vegetius Renatus
"I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strenght to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." Christopher Reeve
I would have to agree. The whole sporting thing (major sports anyway) has gone to the gogs with the money and the endorsement deals. I heard the other day some one got booted out of a golf tournament for steroids-can you believe steroids for golf. I told my brother about it-hes a pro golfer-and he just shook his head. I myself always went for those sporting events that were rarely heard of-fencing, badminton, volleyball (well not anymore for that one) and now hurling which I usually watch on youtube. Im getting into sword and rapier fighting now. Fun stuff and you have to use your head more than your strength.
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Unavoidably Detained by the World
"Irishness is not primary a question of birth or blood or language; it is the condition on being involved in the Irish situation, and usually of being mauled by it."-Conor Cruise O'Brien
Honest competition is actually pretty exciting. I forgot to mention the Scottish Highland games. These are usually excellent events and the athletes are pretty down to earth people. We attend whenever we can- when there's one close enough to us. My son participates in the local games.
So much for the addage that "sports build character". I to have watched the deterioration of sports whether local, high school, college and professional.
ONe of the sad things out of all this is that there are a lot of kids here in the Atlanta area who have looked up to Michael Vick and consider him a hero. Even my 15 year old son back a couple of years ago was given a very nice personally autographed framed picture of Michael Vick from a close friend who is in the sports media field. I asked him what he was going to do with it. He told me that he was going to box it up and save - becuase he said years down the road it may be worth something! Who knows? Speaking of Eric, my son, he has a good perspective on hero worship - his heros are 5 - Jesus Christ, his dad, Eric Liddell (the Scottish olympic runner/missionary to China), Robert E. Lee & Stonewall Jackson. He and his dad have some very interesting conversations about this subject - and for 15 he's got it right!!!
Speaking of Eric, my son, he has a good perspective on hero worship - his heros are 5 - Jesus Christ, his dad, Eric Liddell (the Scottish olympic runner/missionary to China), Robert E. Lee & Stonewall Jackson. He and his dad have some very interesting conversations about this subject - and for 15 he's got it right!!!
It's fun to see these yahoos coming up with thier own original ideas as to who they admire. Sounds like Eric has got himself some fine moral standards. Being homeschooled, our kids weren't exposed to much mainstream sports or peer pressure about it. My son Woody got involved in Scottish Highland athletics due to his interest in his heritage. 'Course old Dad had to jump in there with him just to see if I could- ugh! Not as flexible as I used to be! He's 21 and I'm 54 so it's impossible for me to keep up with him.
I stopped watching mainstream sports years ago, but I got into MMA cus you never hear about the fighters bitching over contracts. They seem to honestly love fighting. I really hope they don't go the way of boxing with shady promoters. This mess with the Big 3 (NBA, NFL. MLB) has been going on for Gods know how long, but Congress got bored trying to fix the mess in Iraq, so they go after sports. If this was peace time, they'd never say a word.
I have to say that I am not now nor have I ever been a sports fan. I think it is ridiculous the way people idolize sports figures and treat them like heroes. I'm sorry, I have a much stricter definitions of a hero... firefighter risks his life to go in and save a child... yep that's a hero... mother donates a kidney to save her child... yep that too is a hero... movie star gives time and money to help a worthy charity... yep thats a hero too... but calling someone a hero just because they make more home runs or touch downs than someone else.... sorry, that's no hero.
And I think it's a shame that most sports figures make millions of dollars, and yet the REAL heroes, our school teachers, can barely afford to feed their own families....
Wiz steps off the soap box and goes back to being a wandering vagabond...
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Slàn agus beannachd, Allen R. Alderman
'S i Alba tìr mo chridhe. 'S i Gàidhlig cànan m' anama. Scotland is the land of my heart. Gaelic is the language of my soul.
I hear you Wiz but unfortunately this is call "capitalism" in our society. It has its good and bad side to it. Like you i'm no fan at all with sports on T.V and not a fan of telelvision itself because of this.
I watch programs that I know I'll learn something from or otherwise its not on.Best to listen to Highlander Radio and read and write stuff in the forum. More intelligent topics.eh!
Ted, Thanks for the compliment about Eric. I did fail to mention that he is named for Eric Liddell. Now he was someone who you can look up to as a wonderful example of a sports hero - someone hwo had his priorities straight! Both Eric and Shannon have been and are being homeschooled and have had very little exposure to peer pressure, etc. They are both very neat kids that Freddie and I love to be around.