Sports?

Zombie_Babies said:

First, the folks that get paid all those millions very often do mean a lot to the cities they play for. They set up a lot of charity and do a lot of charity work. Additionally, they're part of the reason all of those empty menswear stores you appreciate so much are actually staffed. See, major sports are big business and they bring all sorts of money into the city which creates all sorts of jobs. Bars, restaurants and stores of all kinds see people pop in that they wouldn't otherwise. These teams are a major part of the economy in most of the cities they're in and the players very often make a lot of charitable donations to the area as well. If you doubt it ask the folks in New Orleans what they think about Drew Brees. That's just one example of many.

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The Florida Marlins would disagree with you.

Dannyalcatraz said:

With football, at least, it can be summed up with 3 letters: AFL. Or to use more letters: competition.

The plutocrats who wanted to join the pro football game couldn't get into the NFL, so they made the AFL. And due to a lot of factors- populations, demographics, stadium availability, convenience (to them)- they plunked their teams in the Midwest and beyond.

And because they put out a good product, the AFL became the AFC when they merged.

The other leagues have similar stories, though ABA didn't fare quite as well while the AL did.

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Yeah, that's true. I can tell you as a Browns fan that I wish we'd go back to the AFL. The Browns dominated the AFL. Lotsa peeps think the Browns have always been terrible but the truth of the matter is that they are, historically, one of the most successful franchises ever ... and that's why these days it's so, so painful to be a fan (er, not that I was a fan back during the AFL, of course - closest I came to a good Browns team was the Kosar era).

billd91 said:

If you mean the 1960s-70s, then maybe. But since then (and before then), there have been quite a few bright spots for Detroit sports. The Pistons have 9 division titles and 3 championships since 1988, the Lions were in the playoffs more often than not in the 1990s, the Red Wings have won the Stanley cup 4 times since 1996 (and were pretty hot in the 1950s too). So it's not like there's been a total dearth of good sports during Detroit's decline. Detroit may be a good example of a case in which the economic benefits of half-way decent sports franchises can't outperform the twin disasters of departure of major industry and flight to the suburbs.

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Yeah, you're right. There were some decent to good teams during that time and they still couldn't hold on. Thinking about it, it's a damned miracle Cleveland still exists.

Typical German, here. I have some interest in Fußball (the 'real' soccer), which extends to reading in the newspaper and talking about but rarely watching it - with the exception of the European and World Championships. With the latest developments in information technology I sometimes watch our local soccer team (3rd division) via live stream.

Another sports is handball, which I played for some ten years, but didn't watch - until our son started to play himself. Now I'm one of those enervating fathers cheering up their kids in some school gym.

Personally, I always loved participation in sports more than watching or talking about it. But for a variety of reasons, sports always took a back seat to other activities.

Not that I was bad, at least, not uniformly so. I had sports I excelled in, and others I was completely abysmal at. I just had a lot of other things to do. FWIW:

Bad: raquet sports, baseball/softball, basketball

Good: football, fußball, volleyball, bowling, swimming, powerlifting, hockey (with a ball)

Some of those, I failed at because of my skill in a different sport. For instance, I am terrible at raquet sports because of my skill at volleyball. I am so accustomed to getting my hands and forearms to connecting with a volleyball, that when I swing a raquet at a ball, I almost always hit it with the shaft of the raquet. This is not very effective.

With basketball, I simply can't score points. Block, steal, pass? Sure! But make a shot? Not a chance. That may not sound like much of a detriment, but it guaranteed that someone else was always available to double cover someone else. (No fancy dribbling, either.)

There were other sports I participated in that I was good at...with qualifiers. As in, I was better at them than anyone would expect me to be. Even though I am 5'7", I could actually clear standard men's hurdles pretty well, and had a pretty good long jump. However, I was so slow, it didn't matter that I could clear the hurdles, because I was coming in last. And my long jump, ridiculous for my size, was still not competitive.