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Diving in the Ustica Islands
Although it is not commonly known as a diving destination, Sicily, in Italy, does offer a great diving area which is the Ustica Islands. The Ustica Islands is a very beautiful area for divers to visit, since they could not only practice their sport...
How To Choose a Baseball Pitching Machine
Before we start, let me just add one thought on how I believe ballplayers are made. FIRST… you must learn the proper mechanics! SECOND… you do it over and over and over again! The player that has the privilege of being able to hit just by walking...
How to Choose an Elliptical Trainer that Suits Your Needs
When choosing an elliptical trainer, you'll want to consider a variety of things to determine which elliptical machine will best suit your needs. You should pay attention to the quality and durability, features, brand reputation (important when...
Road Bikes For Sale
How to choose your road bike, different level of riders.
How to chose your road bike? Well the first question is how much do you want to spend and how much cycling will you do? The answer to the first question is a difficult one, many people when...
What will you use this sit on top kayak for?
Purchasing a sit on top kayak can be quite a daunting task because there are now kayaks designed for virtually every possible use. You have to know exactly what you are going to use it for or you will be dissatisfied with it.
Here are some...
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Media Musings
I was watching television the other night and was jolted from the commentary, which incidentally was on the World Athletics Championships in Paris, by a series of rather ill-timed commercial interruptions. It was really amazing how one minute I'd be totally engrossed by the one hundred metres and all the nonsense of the false start rulings and such and then, just as I was getting quite into the whole thing, bang! On comes some totally incongruous advert about goodness knows what, cutting right across the commentator in mid-sentence. Real class and so respectful of the athletes' years of dedication! And, as this was repeated throughout the night, I came to realize that "it's not about the sport, stupid" it's about the money and the television revenues. The sport is just something that goes in between the ads.
Anyway that's what started me off thinking over the whole question of how certain sports become absolutely essential, and the staple diet for whole countries. For example, you could be showing the Stanley Cup in Brazil and I doubt they'd raise their eyes from their game of chequers, but if that were soccer, they'd be glued to the set. Now, why is that? Is it because all the folks down there are born with a predestined disposition in favour of soccer, or is it that the media have created a national fervour for that particular sport? Or is it that a certain familiarity with a particular sport is like a safe sanctuary for certain reporters? They sort-of know the jargon for hockey or football and so, from then on, it gets shoved up front in any piece they do regardless of what sport we're talking about.
I mean it seems that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Brian Williams just can't get through a broadcast without relating some of the action to hockey (or football): he'll jump in with the most banal comparisons, trying to suggest that there are
parallels to be drawn between the pole vault in athletics and the quarterback's long bomb downfield for touchdown in football.
Brian, what are you talking about!?!
Anyway this whole train of thought brought me to the coverage of the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, and how that didn't manage to rank better than an 11:30 pm slot on the goggle box. Shoved in after the news, when everyone was basically on their way to bed, and really a token presentation of the day's events for the die-hard amateur sports fan. Bingo, there is the operative and all important word "Amateur", no limo to and from the venue, no fat endorsement cheques coming through the mail and, let's be honest here, what does Wayne Gretzky and his dad care about a sale of Ford cars!? C'mon if you are paid in the millions to stuff wads of chewing tobacco into your mouth and scratch occasionally, then you're hot, but if you have to go it alone with subsistence funding and take on the world competition without a whole team behind you, then probably you are an amateur athlete, and boy you better watch out that you don't let the country down at the Olympics or they'll want that money back!
About The Author
Gordon Black is a world-ranked Master swimmer and Canadian national record holder. A member of the British swim team in the late '60s, after thirty years out of the pool, last year Gordon returned to competitive swimming in the Masters forum. He offers an online weight loss, fitness and motivational coaching service through his web site www.gordonblack.com where his competitive comeback is chronicled. Gordon is currently working on a book based on his own weight management and fitness system - publisher's enquiries welcome!
gordon@gordonblack.com
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