Resolved: Sports are conservative.
While celebrities and other useless people tend to lean left, this is less so with well known sports players. This is because sports are conservative as there are objective standards judging who are good players. While one can be judged to be a good movie director even if failing at objective standards such as movie ticket sales, one will not be judged to be a good quarterback by many unless actual results are obtained. Objective standards means there must be actual results from efforts, making sport inherently conservative.
Discuss.
It’s reflected in their generosity as well. For example, my nephew is in the local 7th grade basketball team. They started their first game off on a very generous foot. They spotted the visiting team 2 pts. They still beat them by 25 pts! Of course it wasn’t really generosity, the guy that got the tip off just ran to the wrong end of the court and scored an easy layup!! But I agree, Frank!!
Most sports are conservative. Figure skating is inherently liberal. They look like sisys and don’t award extra points for whacking your opponent with a stick.
I’m very confused by NASCAR as I know most of those rednecks aren’t libs, but all they do is turn left. What gives?
Disclaimer: I’m a gun-toting redneck from Texas and I like NASCAR, so don’t bother with the insults for me calling NASCAR fans rednecks. I are one. It’s like a black dude calling another black dude a nigger. They can do it…we can’t. Deal with it.
Education is inherently conservative, because there are objective standards as to who is the most tolerant, who works the most for the environment, and who is the most compassionate toward those who don’t accel.
one will not be judged to be a good quarterback by many unless actual results are obtained.
Or you may be considered a good quarterback because you’re very beautiful, like Tom Brady.
Tennis is about the most individualistic sport, but can also give celebrity to persons like McEnroe who then spout off leftist talking points. I love the game, just you and your opponent staring each other down. and possibly you can win the point if you hit the other player with the ball.(most naughty, of course)
Well, if Northwest teams are an indication, we’re very conservative up here. All three major football teams lost – big time – in 2008 just like conservatives in Congressional elections. And the Sonics are so conservative, they’re actually leaving town. Then there’s the issue of our huge, billion-dollar stadiums payed for at taxpayer expense, a shining example of
liberalconservative politics in theSovietConservative State of Washington (I shan’t bore you with the details).Is Frank confusing conservatism with objectivity? You want to politicize sports?
Figure skating is not a sport anymore than ballet dancing is.
Pro golfers…99% cpnservative. Although he was giiddy and congratulated Obama, Tiger Woods is purported to be a staunch concervative
Soccer. Soccer is not a sport. It’s celebrated worldwide as The Sport, but it epitomizes collectivism and mediocrity, with a precious few notable exceptions, namely Pele. It is boring, gray and as barren as the nations that spawned this ridiculous pastime. Sure, it’s good for your heart and lungs to scamper around a large field for 90 minutes, but meanwhile the fans have nothing to do but drink copious amounts of Guinness and bash each other’s skulls. America took this sissy game and made it fun for the fans as well as the athletes. I do tip my hat to rugby and Aussie football for getting close. Some tough bastards on the rugby field.
Hmmm…interesting thought. I always assumed they were conservative because they didn’t like massive taxes on their even more massive salaries. Well, that and NASCAR is full of typical white people.
Ah, the Lord’s Own Hockey… Definitely conservative. One cannot get by only on scoring goals… in fact, even talented scorers are derided if they can’t also get into the corners or stand up for themselves. Players help police the game themselves – in every other sport any sort of altercation results in ejections, suspensions, and fines, but hockey is the sporting equivalent of the Second Amendment. You drop ’em, dust it up, and then after the game you shake the other guys’ hands. You respect the other guy, you respect the game, and you are expected to stand up and take your lumps if you cross the line.
God bless hockey.
All true at least until the Obama administration legislates the “Redistribution of Points” plan. Every time a team scores, they will have to give 1/2 of the total points gained to the other team.
Paleo,
What I like about soccer is the art involved. That is, the art of jumping into the air for no apparent reason, then writhing on the ground like you’ve been shot, all to draw a penalty. The Italians are masters at this art, I’ve heard. This art has infiltrated American football, most notably among punters when defenders are blocked into them.
Sports are only given time in the media because they distract conservatives from real things.
If conservatives can get riled up about some sports team, that keeps them from supporting the real conservative team, as their money, time, and emotions are spent on sports-pretend things.
No sport outcome ever made a smidgen of difference in the real world.
Frank has something here. Liberals hate clarity — “there is no right or wrong”, “I’m OK, You’re OK”, etc. (should be I”‘m OK, you’re a lazy, leech-hippie about to be punched in the face”).
Sports (for the most part) are brutally clear in terms of winning or losing. Conservatives are OK with the concept of winners and losers in the game of life. Not all men are created equal, actually — and success (or failure) in life reflects that. Life is not fair and that’s OK. You lost the game? Work harder to get better and maybe you’ll win next time.
On a different note, I think golfers are the most conservative pro athletes, politically speaking. But does that make golf a sport?
No sport outcome ever made a smidgen of difference in the real world.
And violence never solved anything.
I would suggest you ask Detroit residents if a sports outcome has made a smidgen of difference in the real world.
http://theplaybyplay.com/2008/11/25/rooting-and-looting-when-sports-fans-attack-in-america/
And you might want to ask Jessie Owens about that too.
Obama shall have all points scored given to the government who will “distribute” them based upon need…and campaign jing! Men’s skating is way gay as they nance and flit about the ice…
I’m gonna say that sports are inherently conservative because liberals are too big a bunch of pansies to do anything that requires physical exertion. Also, liberals have an innate fear of confrontation and hate being the losers, so they tend not to play sports.
Oh, and I’ve got to echo the sentiments in the earlier comment about hockey. In the NBA, if you get in a bench clearing brawl, you get suspended for half the season (see Pacers vs. Pistons 2004); in hockey, if you get in a 10 minute brawl where there are 6 separate fights going on at once cause the goalies came out to mix it up, you get an individual 5 minute penalty each, plus they have to wait for 15 minutes to scrape the blood off the ice (see Red Wings vs Avalanche 1997). Now you tell me which is the better way to settle things.
If all sports were like hockey in regards to fighting, they’d be a lot more interesting.
Losing builds character better than winning. Only by losing can you appreciate winning.
Keeping Churchill’s old quote in mind(young lib, old conservative), sports are the perfect metaphor for life:
The youth leagues are indifferent to winning/losing, and everybody gets a participation ribbon or trophy, no matter How Much They Suck. Later they reach leagues where the coach actually cuts players who don’t perform. Eventually they get to a point where they have to Bust Ass just to stay on the team and get some playing time.
And any “contest” that is resolved by subjective judging (skating, diving, etc) aren’t sports. Even the judging is almost socialist – throw out the highest and lowest scores, average the remaining three to get a final result – what a bunch of crap. That’s why UFC and such have become so popular – there is a clear winner and a clear loser!
Well, there are conservative sports like hockey, rugby, and stock car racing. Plenty of fast, manly action and bloodshed.
Then there are liberal sports like polo, golf, and croquet. They require either large amounts of money or large amounts of patience. Or both.
Then there are centrist sports like volleyball, tennis, and swimming. Not very interesting, but some of the women athletes are so GORGEOUS!
Then I facepalm when I think about how many UFC matches have been decided by stupid judges!
#11 nightfly Thanks for pointing out the obvious! Hockey is the ultimate conservative sport, invented by Canadiens before they turned into Europeans and adopted by conservatives in both the US and Canada. And the success of Europeans in the NHL is indicative of the fact that some Swedes and Finns and Russians and Czechs would rather work for a living then live in socialist mediocrity. And even though losers like Sean Avery get attention from the MSM, most hockey people are quiet, hard-working citizens. So…excuse we while I get funky with with some video of Sarah Palin dropping the puck…..
#9 PaleoMedic……..Wow! You are so right. Man, you hit the nail on the head in regards to soccer. My hat is off to you sir.
The problem with conservative sports todays is that the French have obtained
stoleour playbook. We now must regain this French victory and the best chance of doing this would be getting Bobby Jindal as Commander in Chief. He currently governs the biggest swath of Frenchman in the States -and moreover, they are southern-fried Frenchman. The Euro-French conservative novices will stand no chance and will be beaten at their own game – -and should that fail, we take them on in do-it-yourself football.Agreed, Frank.
Why , though, are so many sports reporters left-leaning?
Ballet as a sport?
Wearing tight costumes and jumping around in graceful and elaborate ways to music? – sounds like Olympic Gymnastics. Now if they could just slide a few rings, balance beams and uneven parallel bars into a production of Swan Lake, That’s entertainment!
Paleo, you go to hell and you die.
I quit playing rugby in college because it bored me. I went back to coaching the girls’ soccer team (and got paid for it, ain’t this country great?). As a soccer player from my youth, I was recruited for many less intensive sports by college coaches. I told them all to suckle it and then I joined the military.
Basketball is the king of all sport suck.
Athletes are conservative because they work for what they get, period, end of story.
I’d say that sports reporters are a heck of a lot less liberal than any other kind of reporter. Think about ESPN radio vs NPR. Notice a difference?
boring.
HellBender please.
As Rush said, libs are infesting sports. But how the hell could they do that given their metrosexual nature? These are the marines of the left. Willing to throw themselves on that loose grenade. The Taliban of anti-sports. They really deserve a bear hug. So by all means buy yourself a big-ass Kodiak bear for all those deserving metrosexuals.
Oromin–
If sports reporters are less liberal than other reporters, how do you explain Keith Olbermann? He started out on ESPN.
Real sports derive from warcraft. Throwing a javelin is warcraft. Throwing a football, not.
Team ball games were introduced by socialists to foment socialism. Period.
Games of ball were pacifists’ method for distracting young men from manly pursuits like hunting and target practice. Kipling called ball players “flanneled fools.”
And the fact that most of us grew up playing these games only goes to show how far back the influence of these world movements goes. So, if “conservative” means “how I remember my childhood,” okay ‘sports’ is conservative.
Inherently liberal! Pro football/baseball/basketball can best be summed up as a bunch of billionaires who own teams composed of millionaires playing a child’s game in a venue paid for by the taxpayers who cannot afford tickets to the game.
Yeah, I would say that team sports are, for the most part, liberal. I still love them. Hell, I even love soccer. When people insult it they bring up arguments that are inherent in their own favorite sports, but for some reason they don’t mind all the wasted time in baseball and football. I will say, though, I do hate all the faking. Holy Lord, it ruins the game.
Individual sports, like golf and tennis, are extremely conservative. You perform, you get paid. Team sports try to be like that, but really you just have to put butts in the seats. Be entertaining enough, and you’ll make money. Sure, you can have a good player, but as a team you don’t have to win sh*t. With revenue sharing, it’s enough to make you vomit. Also annoying, when teams charge flat rates for their games. I can pay pretty much the same for tickets to see the Chicago White Sox come play the Indians as I can the Kansas City Royals. That’s dumb. Then they bitch when Stub Hub and ebay are selling all their tickets at high prices. It’s supply and demand. Jeeze.