Sports people

[Bulldawg]

When choosing sports people (like race car drivers or football players) to be a fan of. Should you only look at what they do on the field/track? Or just what they off the field/track? Or both?

 

[Larowyn]

I guess you could just focus on interesting players who are particularly beneficial to their team and don’t rely on drugs to give them a boost. Just be careful that it doesn’t turn into hero worship, and completely avoid bloodsports like boxing, football, auto racing, and cockfighting.

I honestly don’t see a need to be a fan of any particular athlete or team. In my book a good athlete who doesn’t use drugs gets +10 respect automatically. Then again, I’m only interested in sports if I’m actually playing, so I don’t watch other people playing.

 

[BamaRider]

I love sports (play them and watch) but I look at superstar athletes just as I would anybody else. I admire their skills and appreciate those that change the game such as Tiger Woods, but then I like exceptionalism in anyone. But if he were walking down the street I wouldn’t bother to cross it to get an autograph.

 

[Island_Oak]

…completely avoid bloodsports like boxing, football, auto racing, and cockfighting.

When did football become a “bloodsport?” Guess I’ll have to tell my 10 y.o…then again, he’d probably think that makes it even more cool.

 

[Cat]

I am a huge fan of figure skating and have been since I was a little tot. My parents were fans, and some of my earliest memories are watching figure skating on our old black and white TV back in the 1960s.

But I like to watch other sports, too.

I tend to be a fan of the complete person. I admire figure skaters like Paul Wylie, who consistently presented a strong Christian testimony to the world during his amateur and professional career, is a devoted family man (wife, children), and gives back to his community and his sport.

I do NOT admire figure skaters who are rude and crude, irreverent, self-centered, etc. Thankfully, there don’t seem to be a lot of figure skaters with these flaws. Figure skating is a very “parent-involved” sport–kids can’t skate unless parents are involved, so parents tend to stick close and usually train them to be good people, while the coach is training them to be good skaters.

Same for other sports–the complete person.

However, I do think it’s possible to admire an athlete’s athletic prowess without being a fan.

E.g., I really enjoy watching Kobe Bryant play basketball. He is so talented and entertaining. But I don’t think I could ever be a fan after the way he treated his wife. I realize that it is possible for someone to repent and change their life, and I hope that Kobe Bryant has done that. He certainly conducted himself admirably in Beijing a few weeks ago, and really served as a good ambassador from the U.S.A. But I still have a hard time trusting him. Once someone blows it, especially sexually, well, they really have to work hard to earn trust again.

 

[Larowyn]

When did football become a “bloodsport?” Guess I’ll have to tell my 10 y.o…then again, he’d probably think that makes it even more cool.

Unless it’s touch or flag football, it’s a bloodsport. Players may not routinely die like in ancient Roman gladiatorial combat or chariot racing, but the amount of hard physical contact makes it a bloodsport. I would never allow my child to play football unless it was restricted to flags or tagging simply because I’d love him too much to want him to get seriously hurt.