Off the field

Last week there was some sort of game on tv that got everybody all bunched up. Everybody except me, I guess. See, I'm not just uninterested in sports, I'm borderline hostile. I know, I know. That's sacrilege in the US of A. But it's just not in my genes, and so much of it I find offensive.

I've heard all the arguments, how participation in athletics builds character, teamwork, competition and cooperation. Wait, what? See, that sort of contradiction is part of the problem.

I come from a long line of non-athletes. Musicians, artists, writers, dancers, actors, and educators ---- the family is rife with folks of that ilk. The only calisthenics to be found in my family of origin were intellectual. We read aloud at the dinner table. We played word games, spelling games, information games. One of my favorites was being given a subject to look up in the encyclopedia and report back something I learned. I didn't learn to ride a bicycle, but I sure knew how to use a dictionary.

Being the oldest of 4 kids in 5 years, I had a built-in repertory group. We staged elaborate productions in the living room or basement or back yard. Since we were enrolled in dance classes, the choreography was a breeze, often developed by the sister who had staked out dance as her specialty. Sword fights bloomed in my brother's capable hands, whose biggest hero from the age of three had been Zorro. My youngest sister was most versatile, taking on roles from baby to prince to monkey queen.

It caused me some trouble at school. I couldn't throw a ball (still can't), return a volley, or shoot a basket. It's not that I particularly wanted to. Left to my own devices, I rarely would choose to play a sporty game. But in school, you were forced to play and watch sports, and the athletes were adored in a way that smart kids never would be. It was not a social advantage to be able to recite the states and capitals or write a poem.

I tried to make up for it by working magic onstage. I sang in small groups and large choirs. I wrote, acted and directed plays. I played clarinet and oboe in the school orchestra. It was not like playing football or being a cheerleader, but it helped fulfill a need to be recognized.

I was lucky to have gone to college during the years that education was not only encouraged by the larger society, it was affordable. Accepted to several colleges, I don't remember money being a large part of the decision. I married young (18) and we both needed to go to school. He had GI Bill but we would have to pay for my college expenses. We wound up at the University of Illinois. The state had a tuition waiver for in-state students whose grades stayed high enough. Mine did. Kids today are not so lucky. An athletic scholarship is the only way some young people can ever hope to go to college, but is that the best way to support their education? And what about the many youngin's who are like I was?

The money in sports and the money in politics fall into the same category to my way of thinking. Wasted resources. That money could be so much better spent to make up for the losses to public education, for after-school programs, preschools, quality daycare centers, health clinics, affordable housing. We have many people who are hurting, are even going hungry. The amount of money in big sports and big politics is positively obscene in the face of hungry and homeless people, working people who cannot afford healthcare or daycare, elderly people who live on social security. (By the way, check to see how much SS you would be getting if you were old, and see if that's a living.)

If people love to play pick-up soccer or basketball games with their friends, if children who like to play games are able to get together with friends and play at the park, more power to them. It's not my choice, but whatever floats your boat. I can understand the fun that sports can generate. What I find offensive, objectionable, obscene is the business of sports, the deathly competition that creates hooligans, the resources in time, money and effort that are siphoned off from other needs.

And please, don't tell me that the Met siphons off money, too. I know that. I can't afford to go to Broadway. Hell, I can hardly afford to go to Raleigh Little Theater. But when was the last time everyone gathered at work talking about the big opera that was on last night? Sorry. No comparison.

Oh wait, does this make me some sort of elite, smarty-pants, liberal? Yup. All my life.