Why this obsession with sport?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 752.

Sport is everywhere

Sport used to be like fresh fruit and vegetables. Football had its season, then it ended, and you had to wait a while to get some more. Tennis was an explosion of Wimbledon at the end of June, Flushing Meadow in September and the Australian Open in January, and that was that. Now, just as you can get fresh strawberries all year round, there are major championships for every sport taking place somewhere in the world all of the time.

Sport is ubiquitous. Sky TV has at least thirteen sports channels. Throughout the world there is a proliferation of newspapers and magazines totally dedicated to sport. Sports personalities have become cultural icons, worshipped like movie-stars and sought after by sponsors and advertisers alike. Where sport was once for fun and amateurs, it is now the stuff of serious investment.

Of course, sport has always mattered. But the point is that in the past sport knew its place. Now it invades areas of life where previously it had no presence: fashion, showbiz, business. It is a worldwide obsession.

What is it that makes sport so enjoyable for so many?

First, we seriously believe that sport is something we can all do, however badly or however well. Tens of thousands set off on the London and New York Marathons. Amateur football matches take place all over the world every weekend. Sport is a democratic activity.

Second, sports stars are self-made people. Sport is dominated by athletes from ordinary backgrounds. This is why it is a classic means by which those from the poorest backgrounds can seek fame and fortune.

Third, we enjoy watching sport because we like to see the supreme skill of those who act like gladiators in the modern arena. There is the excitement of not knowing who is going to win. No rock concert, no movie, no play can offer that kind of spontaneous uncertainty. This gut-wrenching experience can be shared with a crowd of fifty round a widescreen TV in a pub, or a thronging mass of 100,000 live in a stadium.