I am not a sports fanatic. Not only am I not a sports fanatic, I possess an apathy for sports in general. I can think of no better day to declare this than on this “Superbowl Sunday”.
For me, the hype generated by professional sports has made in-roads into societies around the world, consuming the thought processes of ordinary human beings to such an extent that there is little time left to think about things that might actually have an impact on one’s life, or indeed, to make the world a better place to live.
The obscene amount of money associated with professional sports, especially the Superbowl, exceeds the annual value of the gross domestic product many smaller nations of the world, Costa Rica included. Apart from the fact that there is so much money at stake for those involved in professional sports, you would have to wonder if there isn’t some other motivating factor as to why it has been able to adopt such an “all consuming” nature in the passing of leisure time by the members of most societies of the world.
I have often thought that the promotion of professional sports plays right into the hands of the agendas of most governments. By occupying the masses with meaningless displays of prowess akin to the gladiators of ancient Rome, there is little time left for the population at large to engage in critical thought processes that might actually result in the holding of governments accountable for their political programs and actions.
The net result of this lack of meaningful time to formulate these critical thought processes is to allow governments to continue to pursue a “frolic of their own” apparently, the goal of most governments. Professional sports forms part of the “manufacturing consent” process, as that theory is depicted in the book written by MIT Professor, Noam Chomsky, with the same title, that governments seek to invoke on their populations.
Indeed, with the wasted thought processes of human beings spent on professional sporting activities being applied to critical thought processes instead, there could be a stimulation of decision making and solutions being undertaken within societies as a whole to advance their standard of life. Professional sports, in my opinion, does nothing meaningful for a society and in fact, may be harmful over-all in stifling the critical thought processes which would lead to a better way of life for all.
Having said the foregoing, I do recognize that some level of sporting activities is useful within a society, but I don’t believe that the level to which professional sports has advanced is healthy.