New year, new blog until it gets to June and I stop and reevaluate my life and realize how futile it is to blog about sports.
The main thrust of my interest is and always be Baseball; specifically the San Francisco Giants. Beyond that I try to keep a passing interest in all other things “sports”. Before I devolve into all things Giants related here are a few issues at hand that pique my interest; my analysis is half cooked, but still has reasoning beyond what the major media outlets are willing to concede…
The Olympics: Brazil will host the Olympic Games shortly after their economic disaster with their foray into corrupt politics with the World Cup. All of the news in the main stream media is focusing on unsafe water conditions in sites planned for major events. It seems insane that a country so unstable could host 2 of the worlds most prestigious events within a 2 year span. Brazil was once a country on the rise, hence the two successful bids for the World Cup and Olympics, but has since entered into a historic recession (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/12/brazil-carnival-economic-crisis-recession). Brazil’s problems shine a bright light on privilege vs. reality. The IOAC (Olympics) and FIFA (World Cup) behave as privileged international bullies without a real constituency to hold them accountable. Major world events will have to change in the coming years and we will see them only hosted by countries that are willing to eat their multi-billion dollar price tag. Goodbye world games, hello Los Angeles/Beijing/Tokyo/Sochi.
Education vs. Sports: The University of Tennessee has been in the news lately for a systemic failure to report sexual abuse. There is a class action suit that blames the University for covering up/non-reporting of sexual assault within the sports department. This would have been a big case had it not involved one of America’s top advertising spokesman, Peyton Manning. The involvement of Peyton has made this case an indictment of “sports idolitry" rather and than merely an indictment of “sports culture”. Manning has addressed the allegations levied against him in the past (http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/02/13/peyton-manning-tennessee-sexual-assault-allegations-Jamie-Naughright) but the fact that it has become a national story now calls into question a change in politics. Are we now becoming more sensitive to human rights in general, or are we caught in a TMZ spin cycle where we target our idols? I am less interested in demonizing Peyton Manning than critiquing idolitry. Was he in the wrong? Probably. But the coach who was accused of verbally attacking a player who testified against the “establishment” in favor of a female victim makes me question how a STATE FUNDED University could stand against a class action suit against its culture (http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14839413/butch-jones-told-tennessee-wr-betrayed-team-helping-alleged-assault-victim). The NCAA and University politics in general are suspect beyond belief, but it flummoxes me that in 2016 we cannot disassociate sports culture from higher learning. What is the function of higher learning if this issue of systemic abuse has gone unresolved for 20+ years?
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