There are plenty of crazy sports out there these days. It just seems to be getting stranger and weirder. Once you think you’ve seen the weirdest sport possible, you’ll tune into a sports station one day and see something which takes the cake (probably a cake-eating sport). While not so long ago it seemed strange to watch billiards on tv, the extent things have led to in today’s world makes hitting a few balls around with pool cues look pretty conservative. Why have sports come to this? What is it about the style in which we live that makes us think such crazy sports would be interesting?
One such game that actually has its own show is that of hot-dog eating. This is absolutely true. The show consists of one guy (or girl) standing at a podium with a plate full of hot-dogs, and trying to eat as many as he can before the time ends. There’s a crowd cheering the competitor on, and commentators discussing strategies used by the “sportsmen” to achieve their wanted goal without throwing up. Half of the challenge tends to land with the viewer, who’ll likely also be battling a case of sickness after watching this show for too long.
Another game that has gained an ever-increasing amount of popularity is that of poker. While there’s no doubting that it’s more interesting to see and requires more skill and mental prowess than hot-dog consuming, it’s still strange to watch an hour-long show purely based on people playing poker. In years to come, will we be watching the solitaire Olympics? How will we know who’s winning?
These new sports are funny to watch, but they’re also a bit disconcerting as well. In ancient times, sport was usually something that was actually a life and death scenario for those playing, and the reason sport was created by the elites of a nation was to keep people distracted from the problems of their nation, such as the corruption of their government. Have sports truly gotten any better since then? Okay, so nobody’s being killed, but people are majorly damaging their health if they’re able to eat as much as fifteen dogs within the space of a few minutes. And mixed-martial arts fighting hasn’t even been mentioned.
It may be possible that just like the ancient Greeks, governments of today like their people to take a keen interest in sports at the cost of taking an interest in the way their country is run. Certainly this is the case in Brazil, where massive levels of poverty and corruption are everywhere throughout the political system. The response by those in power isn’t to fix these problems, but to focus money and attention on getting the football team to the World Cup every time.
Perhaps it’s time we took a step back and looked at the way we treat sport in this society. While a little entertainment can be a good thing, there’s no use gaining an interest in a sport that’s ridiculous, or to lose focus on our lives and start to think sport is the most important thing of all.