tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34798599.post5191727535448375369..comments2023-11-14T11:44:10.396-05:00Comments on The Legion of Decency: THE MOMENT APPROACHESjimhenshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07815834271470133872noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34798599.post-64416107316044022362007-08-08T00:48:00.000-04:002007-08-08T00:48:00.000-04:00And now it's done.And now it's done.wcdixonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06511429457006302795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34798599.post-80268501991049369952007-08-07T10:05:00.000-04:002007-08-07T10:05:00.000-04:00“The job of every professional athlete is to make ...“The job of every professional athlete is to make me care.”<BR/><BR/>Nope, the job of a professional athlete is to excel. Whether you care or not is (and certainly should be) of little to no importance to them.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, this is all about glorified <I>rounders</I>, ferchrissakes...<BR/><BR/>Sorry Jim, I had to pop that last bit in. ;-)Riddley Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09488580029324036763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34798599.post-82712609612002792832007-08-07T03:21:00.000-04:002007-08-07T03:21:00.000-04:00This is crap. I don't care if records are arbitrar...This is crap. I don't care if records are arbitrary. I don't care if the term steroids encompasses a large family of pharmaceuticals (though I agree that's an issue all sports should address).<BR/>The fact is, I don't care about this at all. The only thing I care about is seeing someone call other people repugnant because they don't still like Barry Bonds.<BR/><BR/>This whole story has made me care less about baseball, and not at all about the home run record. Were it not for Bonds (and his problems go beyond the steroids), I would have cared about this record. I wanted to care. This is one of those numbers you remember. Twenty years from now, this is the kind of thing I could have told my kids about at the game. Now I'll remember this like I do the record for most hot dogs eaten in one inning.<BR/><BR/>Barry's job isn't to hit home runs, or score runs or to win games. His job is to make me care. The job of every professional athlete is to make me care. True, home runs and wins usually help, but as a Cubs fan I know there's more to it than that. Michael Jordan wasn't the greatest NBA player ever because of any scoring or Championship title. It was because every kid in the NBA watching world wanted to be like Mike. Or maybe they badly wanted to see him lose games. But they cared.<BR/><BR/>And let's not complain about the arbitrariness of one aspect of sports without recognizing that all judgement of sporting is arbitrary. All rules that aren't naturally occurring (like physics) are arbitrary.<BR/><BR/>Different parks are different sizes. So a home run at one field is short of the warning track of another. But that's what we've accepted. Someone (MLB) decided to make things so. And a consensus of everyone else has agreed to go along with it.<BR/>Practically speaking, what makes a home run in batting practice or the All-Star game different from a home run during an official record affecting game? What makes Barry Bonds steroids different from Gaylord Perry's spitballs?<BR/>What makes a fan's experience of those events different from each other?<BR/><BR/>Nothing. These distinctions are arbitrary. And them's the rules.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18246762630398060644noreply@blogger.com