Are Sports Fans Really Fans Anymore?

In yesterdays Blog I mused about the Standing Room Only sections of football stadiums and baseball parks. I referred to these areas as social gatherings, which begged the question are the people inhabiting these zones there to watch the sport? I'm not sure I was emphatic enough with my answer. Today I will be. The answer is No. Part of the social media generation, the people in the Standin Room Only sections are there primarily to socialize; they are not there to watch the sport.

Musing, further, on this new phenomena, I found myself thinking how many people in all the other sections of the stadiums, ballparks, and arenas are there actually watching the game? I mean seriously watching the action? Ask yourself, how many times during a game (any of the Big Three sports) are you able to sit uninterrupted in your seat without someone excusing him or herself over you or in front of you or just behind you to go the the concession stands? Or wherever? Never, would be my guess. Throughout the game there are always people leaving or returning. It's my experience that this behavior has increased over the years.

In addition, have you noticed how many people in their seats while the games are going on (not during timeouts) are concentrating on their electronic devices? I bet that after a game has ended, few fans today could provide a clear quarter by quarter, inning by inning account of the event they just saw. Why? Because they really didn't see it; they were buying beer, shmoozing in the lounge, or responding to their Twitter or Facebook.

So, I ask you, can you call today's fans really fans? As you sit in your seat at your next game, look around you and ask yourself that question. I'd be interested to know your answer.

It's the dead of summer and the heart of fishing season. I remember in grad school in Iowa City, oh so many years ago, heading to the ponds in the morning, fishing for small mouth bass and picking Morrell mushrooms. Later frying the bass and sauteing the mushrooms in butter and garlic. All of us, young and sassy, washing the meal down with cheap wine.

The Pike   by Theodore Roethke

The river turns,
Leaving a place for the eye to rest,
A furred, a rocky pool,
A bottom of water.

The crabs tilt and eat, leisurely,
And the small fish lie, without shadow, motionless,
Or drift lazily in and out of the weeds.
The bottom-stones shimmer back their irregular striations,
And the half-sunk branch bends away from the gazer's eye.

A scene for the self to abjure! -
And I lean, almost into the water,
My eye always beyond the surface reflection;
I lean, and love these manifold shapes,
Until, out from a dark cove,
From beyond the end of a mossy log,
With one sinuous ripple, then a rush,
A thrashing-up of the whole pool,
The pike strikes.  

New Edition: Knuckleheads Club

As of today I'lll begin posting as part of my regular blog commentary on stupid stuff in sports and life entitled The Knuckleheads Club. (notice plural, not singular). This will not be a regular feature of my blog, but one that will appear from time to time as the mood strikes me.

Knuckleheads Club Post #1: I read in the Sacramento Bee this morning that community colleges in the area will restrict repetition of recreational courses. Here's the quote from the Bee: "In the wake of recessionary budget cuts, the new rule is designed to shift resources away from courses such as tennis and painting in order to free up funds for more basic academic classes." What Knucklehead linked "painting" (we're talking art classes) with tennis? My wife, Melanie, taught art for years at Sacramento City College, and I can assure you that "art" is NOT recreational, but the hardest of disciplines. That's not to denigrate tennis. Learning how to play a sport is difficult and requires a lot of energy and time. But, it is, nonetheless, sport, and not academic by nature. The powers that be will do what they have to do to deal with budget cuts, but let's not bunch art, sculpture, music, and poetry with tennis, badminton, volleyball, and swimming. We're talking apples and oranges here, and some knuckehead numbers crunchers don't know the difference.
Why is it that the Knuckleheads always consider right brain activity such as art (and sport) less important to human growth than left brain courses, such as math and science?

I'm intrigued by the new trend in baseball and football to create standing room only areas in outfields and in the high cheap seat sections of stadiums where people can watch the action on the field either directly or on a large tv screen while eating, drinking, and shoomozing with friends. Sports thus turns into a social club not a sporting event. In one stadium, people are given the choice of buying season tickets for the standing room only section. As this way of being part of the sport scene increases in popularity, I predict tickets prices for standing room will increase as management realizes its bottom line potential. As this trend continues, are sports bars doomed to extinction?

By the way, don't you think at some point some boozer will eventually take a header over a railing as he or she leans over for a better view?

I can't say that I'm exactly against this standing room only strategy. I've always thought the cheap seats value at any sporting event is a huge rip, vis-a-vis any chance of truly watching and enjoying the play on the field or court being that the players, from that distance and height, look like Lilliputians. (There are very few seats in a modern arena or stadium that are better than my easy chair in front of my 48 inch tv screen. And my seat is virtually free.)

Do you know that in Rome, the vast majority of spectators stood. Only the emperor and a few dignitaries had the privilege of seats. Besides, why would anyone want to sit down and miss a Christian being torn to shreds by a lion?

Just a brief comment on the 2012 NBA championship. I do not believe that the Heat and the Thunder represent a new trend in professional basketball, ie: small ball. Granted big, slow footed centers will not cut it in today's game, but an active shot blocking center will always make the difference between excellence and greatness. The 2012 Heat were marginally great. Keep in mind as a standard the Lakers with Jabbar and Wilt; Portland with Walton, and the 76er's with Malone, Boston with Russell. Those were excellent teams.

Congratulations to Serena Williams wining Wimbledon. Terrific physical and emotional comeback. Let's hear it for comebacks! This is a lovely tennis poem by Frank Higgins

Tennis in the City
      for Arthur Ashe

He could help us out
selling papers or sacking groceries
but that's what I did growing up.
Every day he's in the alley
knocking the ball against the building.
Whomp    take that     Forest Hills
whomp    whomp    take that    Wimbledon
whomp      whomp       whomp
all         day      long,
the wife tells me so.
Says she watches him from the window
when the bossman has her clean 'em,
says she doesn't know about that boy.
But I know about that boy
and i know this ball's worn
and I know this racket's gonna split
no matter how much tape you put on,
so tonight after super
we're going for new ones, son.
And I want you to start staying
in that alley an hour longer, hear?

Warrior Ist Round Pick and post travels catching up

Just returned from a month's vacation in Italy and Croatia, part of it spent on a cruise where I couldn't get a lot of American sport's information, and where I couldn't find a Ricky Rubio shirt in any store in Italy. It's soccer or nothing. They way the Italians played against Spain for the Euro Cup, they would be better served if they paid a little more attention to hoops.

So there I was getting NBA withdrawals as draft day approached. Two days later I got the result. Harrison Barnes, soph from N. Carolina to the Warriors. Interesting choice since it creates a serious log jam at the three position. The times I saw Barnes on TV, he certainly looked like he had a stroke. But the question is is he more than a catch and shoot guy? It seems to me the Warriors desperately need a three who can create his own shot, a player who can penetrate off the wing. I thought Rush managed a little in that area. As for D Wright, he is definitely mostly a corner shooter, Richard Jefferson, close to retirement, is a step slow, and not too smart according to Coach Don Nelson.

Anyway, if Barnes does prove to be the offensive three threat he is supposed to be, the Warriors will have plenty of fire power. I was hoping the Warriors would pick up Jason Kidd but he's heading to the Knicks, a smart move by the Knicks. Kidd can mentor Lin and still has plenty of legs left to give the Knicks strong minutes as a reserve. I wouldn't be surprised if Kidd winds up playing significant minutes.

I was sorry to see Nash go to LA only because I have so little respect for LA's coach Brown. I think he'll screw up whatever chance Nash has of going out in style. On the other hand, if they simply ignore Brown, let Nash run the show, Kobe could wind up breaking Wilt's 50 pts per game season average.

I like the Warriors' next two picks, Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green. Green is undersized for his position, but so was I at the power forward. So I'm pulling for him. Rebounding has a lot to do with desire, instinct, and body positioning as much as it is about strength and jumping. So I'm pulling for the kid. As for Festus Ezeli, at 6'11 and 260 pounds and very little experience, he looks like he has a lot of development left in him before he reaches his potential. He's a worthy gamble.

In the end, the Warriors' season depends on the gamble they took trading for Andrew Bogut and their bet that Curry is due some years sans ankle injury.

Rookie Harrison Barnes says he's a big fan of Michael Jordan. Here's poem for our first rounder about his hero.

Forty-one Seconds on a Sunday in June, in Salt Lake City, Utah.   by Quincy Troupe

rising up in time, micharl jordan hangs like an icon, suspended in
     space,
cocks his right arm, fires a jump shot for two, the title game on the line,
his eyes two radar screens screwed like nails into the mask of this face

bore in on the basket, gaze focused, a thing of beauty, no shadow, or
     trace,
no hint of fear, in this, his showplace, his ultimate place to shine,
rising up in time michael jordan hangs like an icon suspended in space,

after he has moved from baseline to baseline, sideline to sideline, his
    coal-face
shining, wagging his tongue, he dribbles through chaos, snaking
     serpentine
his eyes two radar screens screwed like nails into the mask of his face,

he bolts a flash up the court, takes off, focuses in for two more in this race
for glory, it is his time, what he was put on earth for, he can see the
     headline,
rising up in time, michael jordan hangs like an icon, suspended in
    space,

inside his imagination, he feels trhe moment he will embrace, knows his
     place
is written here, inside this quickening pace of nerves, he will define,
his eyes two radar  screens screwed like nails into the mask of his face,

inside this moment he will rule on his own terms, quick as a cat he
    interfaces
time, victory & glory, as he crosses over his dribbe he is king of this
     shrine,
rising up in time, michael jordan hangs like an icon, suspended in
     space,
his eyes two radar screens screwed like nails into the mask of his face.

A Few Notes Before the NBA Finals Begin

Thank God, no more EJ, Shaq, Charles, and Kenny blather. Weren't they becoming predictable, boring, and silly? For the finals, we'll be able to listen to basketball talk, possible strategies, match-ups, personel evaluations, etc, important stuff, that the above mentioned TNT foursome felt was irrelevant.

My prediction: The Thunder in six. Reason? The Thunder is too deep at all positions. The odds favor the Thunder bench out producing the Heat's bench. Any caveats? Yes, if Mario Chalmers can have an exceptional series, shooting and defending, the Heat have a chance.

Basketball    by Louis Jenkins

A huge summer afternoon with no sign of rain.... Elm trees
in the farmyard bend and creak in the wind. The leaves are
dry and gray. In the driveway a boy shoots a bastetball at a
goal above the garage door. Wind makes shooting difficult
and time after time he chases the loose ball. He shoots, re-
bounds, turns, shoots....on into the afernoon. In the silence
between the gust of wind the only sounds are the thump of
the ball on the ground and the rattle of the bare steel rim of
the goal. The gate bangs in the wind, the dog in the yard yawns,
stretcthes and goes back to sleep. A film of dust covers the
water in the trough. Great clouds of dust rise from open fields
that stretch thousand miles beyond the horizon.

On Recent Sporting News and etc

Dear Readers, were you as thoroughly disgusted with the numbers of commercials that interrupted Sunday's Memorial PGA golf finals as I was? One of the nicest things about watching golf on TV is it's peaceful transitions from the T to fareway to green with few interruption except for the calm and subdued voices of the commentators.

I have recently become a fan of golf playing and watching coinciding with my first feeble attempts at this frustrating sport, and I take back anything I ever said about golf not being a sport. I don't think I have ever seen a golf shot as difficult as the one Tiger made on the 16th to cinch his lead. Let's hope Tiger has finally conquered his demons and will go on to surpass Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA tournament wins. What a great athlete he is.

Speaking of sports commentators. What in the world does Shaq add to the EJ, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley triumvirate? Sir Charles is far funnier and Kenny more knowledgeable. All I can tell that Shaq does is add to the now interminable guffaws and confusion that prior to Shaq's arrival was manageable and endurable. I haven't heard one interesting insight into the game of basketball yet from Shaq. And all the back and forth between him and Charles is finally annoying and distracting. Adios Shaq and EJ. I'm tuning in to ESPN's Magic, Barry show for real basketball talk.

Despite my desire to see the "old guys" the Celts and Spurs win, I'm fascinated by a Heat Thunder match up. I'll be pulling for the Thunder. I like the steady and smart way they drafted and traded their way to a championship team. Mind you, I'm not against a bunch of good players getting together to play ball, but it's a bit like stacking the deck, isn't it like those playground days when all the best players chose each other so they could kick everybody else's butt and stay on the court.

Lots of ball players heading to the big game in the sky recently: Jack Twyman and Orlando Woolridge. To them I dedicate this poem. Not the most uplifting, but very interesting.

The Advantages of Being a World Class Athlete  by  Anthony Lacavaro

In the end when the doctors circle around
Like doctors, they can find nothing wrong,

A perfect body they murmur over
And over like a prehistoric discovery,

Nothing wrong, nothing wrong except it's dead.
There will be no reason for this tragedy

Which catapults your death into the world
Of public myth: were you too good

for us, did they take you, or were you not
Of this earth to begin with and just returned.

The results of the tests say nothing about it,
Though one of the doctors speaking

Out of turn, will say softly,
"One foot appears to be larger than the other."