Sorry about that. I disappeared for three months. From here, anyway. Life happens. There was so much going on I had to choose between writing about sports and watching sports in my free time, and I opted for the latter. Hopefully I can continue to do both from now on.
In the meantime, the long middle chunk of my favorite sports season — the NFL’s — happened. We’ve gone from 32 teams to 8 left standing; and within three days there will be only 4. But I don’t really see my role here as punditry, so I won’t be registering picks.
The last quarter of 2010 yielded numerous stories in the sporting world worthy of chewing over in a philosophy-of-sport blog like this.
- New mid-season NFL rule-changes to reduce the number and severity of brain injuries, and to punish defenders who feast on their rivals’ brains and spinal columns. Rule-change debates are always incredibly revealing about what various “stakeholders” value in a sport, and this particular debate reveals interesting facts about the (quite possibly slightly damaged) brains of players themselves.
- The “redemption” of Michael Vick, complete with a Sports Illustrated cover story on “What Michael Vick Tells Us About Ourselves.”
- A surprisingly terrific little HBO behind-the-seasons documentary series on the NHL.
- More shenanigans from the gnomes who run world soccer (football), upholding traditions when it comes to rules and officiating, but bending over backwards to hold a World Cup in the desert in air-conditioned stadiums.
- A potentially revealing ESPN documentary by noted director John Singleton called Marion Jones: Press Pause, in which the subject recounts many of the steps in her rags-to-riches-to-jail-to-somewhere-between-rags-and-riches story, but somehow never manages to tell us why exactly (and when) she decided to take steroids, and what exactly she now thinks was wrong about that.
- This blog is all about taking the sport spectator’s experience seriously. And about 99.9-something percent of the sporting events I have watched in my life have been on TV. But in recent weeks I have been to college and pro football games, an NHL game, and a college basketball game. (I was in London just as the deep-freeze set in, and must confess that I lacked the fortitude to sit in the terraces to see Fulham FC — the only Premiership match in the capital that weekend.) I think it is worth seriously reflecting on the “experience” constructed for live spectators in various North American sports, and how this differs from what TV viewers are offered. Hint: much of it ain’t pretty.
- Perennial, and I think mostly misguided, debates about whether there should be a play-off to decide the “national champion” in NCAA (college) football.
- Perennial, and mostly weird, if courageous, attempts by the NCAA to enforce a Maginot-line-like conception of amateurism in college athletics; which could yet strip this year’s consensus Heisman winner (for top football player) and football national champions of their trophies.
- Finally, I ran a marathon in December. But it never occurred to me at the time that this was a “sporting event;” that it was part of this sporting life. It was technically a “race,” and when I finished they strung a medal around my neck. But neither I nor anyone around me seemed to be racing against anyone else. (In fact, most of us were listening to special inspirational playlists we built for our iPods.) Is it not a sport if I’m not in a seat watching it?
I’ll get to some of these stories in the coming days, in order to clear the decks for new stories. If there’s anything else I’m forgetting, let me know in the comment space below.
In general, from this point forward, I will aim for posts that are more blog-length than essay-length. The blog is about a year old now, so I have had the chance to discover, highlight, and ponder a sports-calendar’s worth of issues. Further long reflections will mostly be reserved for a book and academic articles.
Previous readers will also note a new “theme” or “template.” Let me know what you think of it. I’m open to changing again in the near future if there’s something better for this type of blog.
Wayne Norman
This Sporting Life 
Steve Saideman
January 14, 2011
Glad to have you back. I would like to hear what you say about live sporting events. I have not been to any lately, so I am looking forward to your perspective.
Given how set I am in thinking about Vick, I am interested in your take. In brief, my take is that he has a right to a second chance in terms of pursuing a career in sports, but I simply enjoy it when he fails because of his past crimes. He may be sincere, but I don’t have to enjoy his success, although I did appreciate Obama’s point about second chances.
Also, what about the 18 game season for the NFL? Seems morally questionable to me: when do we reach the breaking point for these players? Well, we reach it all the time, but when will teams simply break down too much for competitive games? The Saints losing to the Seahawks due to a shortage of running backs (plus significant mistakes, etc.) points to the dangers of a very long season, especially now that we have discovered the problems of concusssions.
Sander
January 17, 2011
Good to have you back, I was wondering where you’d gone. Really enjoy your posts.
To Steve Saideman: I don’t think the lack of running backs for the Saints in the playoffs is a particularly relevant example. Each year there are some teams that are extraordinarily healthy or extraordinarily injured and a lot of year-to-year changes in records are fueled by that change. The Falcons and Bears have gone this far this season in large part because they’ve been the least injured teams in the league, while a large part of the collapse of teams like the Vikings was due to injuries. The NFL is a league where records are fueled by injuries, and due to the injury rate in the sport this will always remain the case. It was the case back when there was a 14-game season, too. Fewer games won’t change that and teams will continue to lose games because their players are injured.
Note that this makes the job the Packers have done this year as one of the most injured teams in the league pretty remarkable.
18 game seasons will add extra injuries to the careers of these players, but I don’t see how this is more morally questionable than what’s happening right now. The NFL (and many other sports) can only exist because people are willing to barter their health for money, fame and the thrill of winning. Adding 2 more games to a season doesn’t really change the fact that that exchange already forms the basis of the NFL.