Go Woke and Go Broke
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
It’s characteristic of the left in our time that they do not recognize separate spheres of life. Normal people see each sphere as having it’s own standards and dynamic. And in each sphere, we are now assaulted by those pushing struggle sessions. Since the bench and the elite bar are implicated in this, we’re all operating under injunctions.
There seems to be an extra eagerness to get the baseball season canceled this year versus basketball and football. Weird, huh?
The end of professional sports would probably be a giant net plus for conservatives. Sports – bread and circuses, literally – distract people from the real problems around them. For some, it’s a healthy minor distraction. For many more, it’s a very unhealthy major distraction.
Everyone involved, athletes and owners, tend to be horrible people. The obsession at the college level is probably even less healthy. A total distortion to the concept of higher education.
I don’t think professional football can survive the collapse of college football. Will fan interest be maintained at the professional level if the massively unprofitable college programs are closed?
Basketball will probably survive. Their fanbase and players have been in ideological sync for a generation.
Good riddance to football, if that comes. Growing up around and NFL town, I saw what the sports addiction turned people into.
I’ve had a hunch that a few months away from sports could get people out of the habit. But the NBA was declining in ratings for the past year. Partly politics, partly low quality. It’ll be interesting to see how college basketball does next year.
I agree with a lot of what Brian wrote, particularly that college sports distort the whole concept of college. But I disagree about a decline of sports helping conservatives. It’s important to have things other than politics in one’s life. It’s a good thing to get away from the ideological fights. But if sports would get the message and retreat from politics, that would be a huge precedent and a big help for the conservative side.
Last time I took interest in the NBA Willis Reed, Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, et al were playing for the Knicks. I used to see Dave Debusschere (RIP) on the LIRR going home from his real job in NYC.
My buddies were big into St. John’s b-ball when they and Georgetown were national powers. Recently, I watched some college basketball when poker wasn’t on and I was on the road for business; see I had desisted drinking to excess. .
I don’t know. Maybe some of the absentee sports fans are tired of being lectured at by unlettered, extra-large multimillionaires, whose causes are essentially lies.