I should have known better and not checked the topic listings of this board to see who had posted lately. But I couldn't resist the temptation to check out ossobucco's post. So, when I did, I naturally had to respond. Makes me look foolish, I know, after saying that I would not come back to the Sports Board. So much for my pledge.
Ossobucco urged me to get a grip and go back and argue my points. After trepidation, I viewed fbaezer’s last post (which I had ignored) so I would be able to respond to his comments. As it has turned out, he has not said much, which is not intended to be a criticism. In fact, he has handled himself well by exercising restraint. I lost my temper because I got frustrated, and the reason I got frustrated was that I thought compelling arguments I had already made were being ignored. I am personally involved in this issue; it’s not a mere academic exercise to me. So, I cannot think of anything else to say specifically to fbaezer. I will make a few comments to clarify my own position.
There is a very real sense in which I am not anti-sports. I appreciate the dedication and self-discipline that is involved in the mastery of a sport, just as I appreciate dedication and self-discipline in any endeavor. Would anyone deny that dedication and self-discipline is not involved in academic achievement, such as becoming proficient in chemistry or physics? Yet nonathletic boys who do achieve in this way are often dismissed as “nerds.”
I have no problem with the actual games themselves, although an argument could be made that some sports are actually risky to one’s health. Participating in a sport is a morally neutral activity. I don’t object to sports; I object to
compulsory sports. And I’m also convinced that there is a culture associated with (but not inherently a part of) certain school sports (certainly not all sports) that denigrates and actually promotes the bullying of nonathletic boys. Over the years I’ve seen way too much evidence of this being true for me to think otherwise.
Please notice what I said. I said this culture is associated with
certain sports. I did not say that this culture is inherently a part of them. Big difference here. Culture can be changed. Please notice that I also said “certainly not all sports.” I’ve noticed over the years that different sports have different cultures associated with them. For example, I’ve not heard reports of high-school swimmers bullying nonathletic boys. I’m not saying there aren’t any. I’ve just not heard of any. Interestingly enough, there was an Olympic swimmer from the United States who was bullied when he was in school, in large part, because he was participating in the “wrong” sport. (If I remember correctly, his name was Michael Phelps.) This is what he has said publicly. I also recognize that boys can participate in one of the school sports that is most afflicted by this machismo, such as football, and still bring his own moral values to the sport and not succumb to the culture that would encourage him to become arrogant and bully physically weaker, non-athletic boys at his school. I would even say that the majority of school athletes in those sports do not actually bully nonathletes, but I’m convinced that more than just a few of them do.
I once read an interesting post at another website that had been submitted by a high-school football player who was a decent kid. He said that most of his teammates viewed all the nonathletic guys at their school as fags. Last year a childhood friend of mine who played football in high school during the late 1960s told me that most of his teammates thought that nonathletic boys who had no interest in sports were inferior. What am I supposed to think when I hear such reports? The next step after viewing a particular group of people as supposedly being inferior is to start bullying them.
Finally (for now), at the risk of being repetitive, I think I’m in a unique position to comment on the issue of mandatory “sports only” P.E. regarding nonathletic boys. As a nonathlete I went through the disgrace of the hypocritical mandatory “sports only” P.E; and as a middle-aged adult (well, I’m 60 years old now), I’ve shown myself committed possibly for life to a bodybuilding program at a health club. I’ve kept with it for over two years, and I obviously will not give up. In other words, I’m neither a sports fan/athlete nor a guy who’s been sedentary his whole life; and I have seen for myself (in other words, have
experienced) what works and what
doesn't work for nonathletic guys..
My time is limited. I cannot spend as much time on the Internet as some people do. I will post again later if I see that there is any point to do so.
I'll continue to post elsewhere, but I'll avoid this Sports Board like the plague (starting right now).
