Athlete interviews... Re: [thechat] Olympics...

[Luther, Ron]

I dunno ... I don't think I buy it ...

Moses Malone was pretty successful in a team sport .... and the folks
I've run into down here who've met him claim he certainly isn't the
brightest bulb on the Cristmas tree ...

OTOH - Didn't Bill Nelson (old Cleveland Browns QB) have a PhD in math?

I think it may be more of a 'statistical thing'.

I always thought there was more of a correlation between how successful
an athlete (or whatever [artist/performer/anthropologist/etc.]) is and
how "one dimensional" they are.  I kinda figured it was because of how
much time and effort they had to put in - in order to achieve that level
of proficiency in their craft.

I think it's unfair to them (and to us) to cast these folks as 'role
models' and project onto them some supranatural status as a 'goal to be
striven for'. "Be Like Mike"? No thanks! [Why is Wilt's 100 points in a
game "great", while some shorter Californian guy's catching 100 quarters
off his elbow just a diversion? They're both amusing and entertaining -
but neither one pays my rent this month.]

What is it that causes us to expect refined social sensibilities or the
ability to engagingly discuss classical literature from the world's
greatest hockey 'enforcer'?  It doesn't make sense to me - but
culturally we seem to expect athletes to be "Renaissance" individuals.
Why do we expect wisdom from a 23 year-old in a post-game interview just
because they happened to put the ball through the hoop 26 times in last
night's game? What are we looking for?  Do we expect them to personally
thank us for watching?  Asinine!


Puzzled,

RonL.
(Who finds it disturbing that an individual that most would consider
more than a little 'obsessive/compulsive' is suddenly revered as
'dedicated' and 'driven to excel' -- but only on the odd chance that
they happen to get 'good' at some activity.  This certainly is a wierd
world you folks have - glad I'm only a visitor!)

Don't get me started on the jingoistic Olympic reporting!

-----Original Message-----
From: noah [mailto:noah at tookish.net]
Subject: Re: Athlete interviews... Re: [thechat] Olympics...

There definitely seems to be a correlation between how smart an athlete
is
(in a team sport, anyway), and how successful he or she is, e.g., Wayne
Gretzky, Michael Jordan.