The Business of Cheating

I've admitted before that I am not a sports fan - at all - at least not professional sports. I can't think of anything more boring than sitting on a couch watching other people exercise. I'd much rather be out on my bicycle, kayak, roller blades or even just walking the dog. But, I do understand almost everyone else does enjoy watching professional sports and it is a multi-billion dollar industry. While I find it odd how much money people are willing to spend watching organized sports on TV or in the stadium, I'm not really against the business part of the industry. What I do have a problem with is how the "sport" is removed from sports.

Someone comes up with challenging game that involves skill, agility, and teamwork. Then lots of folks go to work finding ways to make the game less and less challenging. Massive technology goes into designing balls with better grips, that fly further and/or straighter. We have expensive golf clubs and precision golf balls that make getting to the tiny hole much easier. There are constant expensive developments in shoes and clothing that give a tiny advantage to those who can afford them. Some people resort to performance enhancing drugs to gain an unfair advantage. Even if the only point of the game is to put a ball in a hoop that is mounted really high - we find 7 foot people to play that game. How hard can that be?

To be fair, when I did my cross country bicycle trip, I invested in a bicycle with proper gearing to help me get over those mountains. It also had all the necessary attachments to carry my gear and a seat that would prevent injuries. There was a lot of great technology in my bike. The difference is that my ride wasn't a competition and even with a nicely equipped bicycle there were still many great challenges including weather, food, animals, and unexpected equipment failure (flats!). Plus, nobody was paying me to do that trip and the challenge was for me alone.

If I were a fan of professional sports, I would rather watch a basketball game where everyone was nearly the same size - with that size being closer to 6 foot. Show me the originally designed golf club and golf balls and I might enjoy watching someone try to get it in the tiny hole. Let see some drug free, normal clothed athletes with original game pieces and maybe I'll enjoy watching that. Well, truthfully I'd likely still be out on my bike - but my point is, lets put some challenge back in sports!

NOTE: I do watch some TV. This article was inspired by my yearly "summer of learning" when my silly sitcoms are off the air and I turn to informative shows on Science or Learning channel. I saw a program on "How Do They Do It" about bowling ball technology that helps people roll more strikes and one on designing the perfect golf ball. I was amazed at the technology and the incredibly complicated process!