Why can't sports be civil?

People who call into sports talk shows (and people who post in forums) are rarely objective.  For some reason the particular topic they believe in overtakes them.  Which begs the question, reality based infotainment is the direction of the future but is it better for us?

What brought this to mind was listening to talk radio snippets from LSU and Alabama fans.  I go to a lot of road games and it occasionally strikes me that the opponents of LSU are the exact stereotype that everyone has about people from Alabama.  The only thing that stops me from saying so is that would reinforce their stereotype of people from Louisiana and for the most part the people on my side are no better than the Alabama fans.  Why don’t you ever see this type of sniping in other arenas, like say broadway plays? “I think Wicked is the best” says the lady with loosened hair and more than a slight aroma of Chardonnay.  Meanwhile the man across the bar virtually chokes on his $50 bleu cheese extolling the virtues of Les Miserable.  They are more civil than sports fans and I am likely not smart enough to know why both can’t be civil.  Which is a shame, watching that game yesterday you saw kids from Alabama fighting tooth and nail with kids from Louisiana, it meant something to both groups. 

Which brings me to my next point, yesterday I took my daughters to see “The Lion King”, which is still one of the best plays visually I have ever seen.  Even though it was long my kids enjoyed it and I am certain it sparked some enthusiasm for the art form.  Later that evening the same thing happened when my daughter watched a long pass from the LSU quarterback and as the wide receiver crossed the end zone she started cheering “LSU, LSU, LSU”, which I have to admit choked me up a bit.  She knows the LSU Tigers are important to me and because of that they are important to her.  The question is, should they be from a parenting perspective? I don’t care who you are, boy or girl; Saturday nights in Tiger Stadium is a special time.  But so is “Wicked” on Broadway, less the drunken brawling, cursing idiots who have lost touch with reality.

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