Fit Man, you're a welcome relief (at least for now) from all the spammers I've had to ban and all of the spam I've had to delete for I don't know how long. When I first saw your username, I assumed you were actually a genuine new member, although the thought crossed my mind that you could be a spammer hawking exercise equipment.
First, it probably would be helpful for me to briefly give some background info about myself so wrong assumptions about me won't be made. I'm a happily married (for over 30 years) 61-year-old man with two daughters. I never had any interest in sports, not even when I was a kid. However, since the summer of 2007, I've been working out at a local health club. I've even hired what has turned out to be a succession of personal trainers (only four) to work with me on a bodybuilding program. On "off" days I take a brisk, nonstop hour-long walk in the neighborhood. Since I have late onset type II diabetes, I exercise to help control my blood sugar levels.
Although I never had an interest in sports when I was a kid, I was ashamed of being physically weak and having an undeveloped physique. So, I'm on a bodybuilding program to feel better about myself; but I'm not engaged upon some macho quest to prove that I'm supposedly more "manly" than nonathletic guys. What other guys do or don't do with their bodies is none of my business, as far as I'm concerned. The ridicule and social stigmatization of fat people is clearly wrong from a moral standpoint; and, no, I've never been overweight in my life. Incidentally, I've noticed that Richard Simmons -- who, as we all know, is an advocate of slimming down, having been overweight himself when he was a kid -- condemns the ridicule of fat people.Â
We live in a society that judges people according to their physical appearance. That's clearly superficial and wrong. I once came across an interesting picture in a book about World War II. The photograph showed a group of young men who had assembled in military array. Interestingly enough, they were all shirtless. Each one of them had great physiques. There was only a slight problem: They were all German Nazi SS officers.
What I'm concerned about is a particular sports subculture that is associated with (but not inherently a part of) extremely popular school sports, certainly not all sports. I almost don't know where to begin; so, I'll just ramble ...
I challenge the notion that sports is the only way to get into shape. Fit Man, there are guys who have attained high levels of physical fitness who have never participated in sports. The truth is that a sport is a physical contest, not an exercise program. Forcing nonathletic kids who aren't interested in sports to participate in competitive games is downright foolish and stupid and does not encourage them to become physically active.Â
I ought to know just from my own personal experience. When I was a boy, all students were forced to take "sports only" P.E. classes that offered no exercise programs and often didn't even offer any instruction in sports. The assumption seems to have been made that all boys aspired to be athletes. When I started the fourth grade in the fall of 1960, the unsupervised recess period that I had had no problem with was replaced by a form of mandatory P.E. without the gym. Of course, in junior high I was exposed to gym P.E., which I came to dread every single school day. In high school I continued to take band so I wouldn't have to take P.E., which I heard was even more hellish for nonathletic boys than the junior-high version was. I'm talking institutionalized bullying. The physical education establishment has a shameful history of the way scrawny boys and fat boys were mistreated in classes that were essentially useless to them. When I started mandatory "sports only" P.E., I was weak and scrawny. When my last class of 8th-grade P.E. had mercifully ended, I was ... weak and scrawny.
My childhood mandatory P.E. experience and my health-club experience have been as different as night and day. All the personal trainers at my health club respect me because of my dedication to bodybuilding. I know what works and what doesn't work for nonathletic boys from my own personal experience.
Nonathletic boys who have no interest in sports don't have an easy time growing up in a sports-saturated culture. Before they even reach their teens, they're told they're "unmanly" for having no interest in sports. This self-hatred can have a negative impact later in their lives if it's internalized. There's abundant evidence that such boys are likely to be bullied. The former professional football player Joe Ehrmann has said that sports have become the new national religion of the United States. I dare say that this "new" religion is not always tolerant.
I could say more about my own views, but this is all I'll say about them now. To summarize, I've never denigrated anyone for participating in a sport. Merely playing a ball game alone does not turn a guy into a jerk, but the culture can make a difference. My best friend, who is a deacon of my congregation, played football in high school. A dedicated Christian, he's a very gentle, warm-hearted guy who has never bullied anyone. In contrast, a former university football player with whom I had the misfortune to grow up was an arrogant bully. He once beat up a friend of mine who was so short that he was having to take injections of growth hormone. The two football players subscribed to different value systems.
This brings up a particular question. All my life I've heard people blather nonsense such as "Athletics builds character," "Sports builds character," "Football builds characfter"; yet, Fit Man, you acknowledge that some athletes are -- Since I'm a Christian, I won't use the A-word. I'll just say "rectal orifices." If sports build character, why are some "jocks" jerks?
Fit Man, I'm surprised you didn't notice a particular outrageous fact about the mandatory P.E. of our generation to which Fat Man alluded. Even though he was physically handicapped, he wasn't exempt from P.E.! This forum has another member of our generation who hasn't posted recently who also was handicapped (by a congenital lack of depth perception) but was still required to take P.E. No one gave him a pass for something over which he had no control. When he finally retaliated against an athlete classmate who had been bullying him constantly by slamming his head against a concrete wall, guess whom the coach punished? Why, the nonathlete, of course! (But, incidentally, the bullying stopped.)
I'd still have more to say about my own observations, but I need to make observations about some of your specific comments.Â
You mean there's no understandable reason why someone might not be so enamored of the sports culture? Anyone who doesn't like sports is just a poor excuse for a human being?Fit Man wrote:No wonder Fat Man hates sports so much: he's fat and simply un-athletic.
This is not the reason Fat Man doesn't like sports.Fit Man wrote:Just because you aren't good at something [my italics], Fat Man, doesn't give you the right to call it wrong and hate on it so much.
Your lack of compassion doesn't speak well of you.Fit Man wrote:Another reason you claim to hate sports is because bullies picked on you? Well BOO-HOO!
You offer a pathetic defense of bullying. Bullying is a character flaw. There's no excuse for it.Fit Man wrote:You wouldn't have been such an easy target if you weren't so fat and out of shape to begin with. Stay in shape, and you won't be messed with. It's called survival of the fittest, and that's basic evolution.
Fat Man can be quite rude, as he once was to a decent Montana State football player who once posted here under the username of Andy. But you have started off being rude from the very beginning instead of doing the right thing. Try to be civil, please.Fit Man wrote:But you probably failed biology class, didn't you? You seem to have the IQ of a dog. Fat Man is a disgrace to humanity.
Not all sports fans are automatically assigned the title "Sports Bore." For example, last year a high-school football player posted in this forum under the username "SportsGuy92." Although he was a strong critic of this website, he was never given the title of "Sports Bore," but was given the title "Sportsman." What made the difference was that he made an effort to be civil and did not immediately begin insulting people he had never met before. (Incidentally, my functions as a moderator don't include the ability to assign titles or the ability to change avatars or the letter color of usernames.)Fit Man wrote:... and I Proudly will accept the title of Sports Bore. Better than being "Fat Man".
You don't get the joke. I made reference to the sports subculture that is associated with some sports. One of the aspects of this culture is to misuse sports as a phony standard of masculinity and denigrate nonathletic boys as supposedly being effeminate wimps. Even today some people will automatically suspect that any boy who doesn't like sports should be suspected of having homosexual tendencies. Hence, the joke jersey, which was not my idea.Fit Man wrote:I'm also not the least bit homophobic and I'm secure in my sexuality, so that "Gay" jersey doesn't phase me at all.
How do you know? How could you possibly know? It's quite possible there was bullying you weren't aware of. You don't seem to be opposed to bullying, anyway.Fit Man wrote:At the high school I went to, the jocks never bullied anybody.
That very well may have been true at your high school, but that doesn't mean it's true at every other high school in this country.
Oh, brother ... Considering your belligerence and the fact that you've expressed not the slightest sympathy for a man who has been diagnosed with PTSD (a man who was raped at the age of 17 in a mental institution by a homosexual inmate in his 40s), you should be concerned about your own soul. You're responsible for your own behavior, not Fat Man's.Fit Man wrote:... and may God have mercy on your soul.
Actually, you're not the most extreme of the angry critics of this website. You make some intelligent arguments, along with the personal insults. I disagree with Fat Man when he rants and makes hateful statements and engages in simplistic stereotyping. But to provide some balance, you should check out posts by Samdaman, an extremely hateful high-school football player who posted in this forum until he was banned in 2007. I wonder if you would find any of his comments to be offensive. I know that going back five years to read his posts might be a bit of a bother, but tell me if his attitudes are better than Fat Man's. Or are the Samdamans of this world to be exempt from any criticism because they love sports instead of "hating" them?