Siena College, which is very near Albany, did a Sports Fanship Poll, which claims that 73% of All New Yorkers (i.e., people from NYS, not just NYC) are Sports Fans: 89% of Men, 58% of Women. SRI reports that 18% of folks are "Avid" fans, 31% are "Involved" fans, 24% are "Casual" fans and 27% are "Non-fans."
There was certainly a time when I was an avid baseball and football fan, and briefly, an avid tennis fan. I was at least an involved basketball fan. But now, I'd put my interest level at least one level down. I don't participate in fantasy leagues or listen to sports radio, though I've been known to comment on a sports blog or two.
It also revealed that people think athletes are poor choices for role models, though Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods are a couple exception. For me, it usually has to really stand the test of time. I've been fond of Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (a JEOPARDY! champion). Muhammad Ali standing up to the US government forever affected me.
The survey said that people believe that kids learn teamwork, discipline from sports, but that the coaches need to lighten up. I think some of the parents need to lighten up as well.
I'm interested in how you see yourself.
1) Are you an avid fan, involved fan, casual fan or non-sports fans?
2) Who, if anyone, would you consider a sportsperson who is a good role model?
3) What are the positive and negative aspects of sports?
4) Stolen question: what is your favorite times of the sports year? Mine is early September: the NFL season starts, the baseball races heat up, and the U.S. Open (tennis) is in its second week.
5) If you have a subscription to Sports Illustrated, do you receive the swimsuit issue or do you opt out? If you do receive it, do you have an annual conversation with your significant other about it?
***
I went out and bought one of those instant publications after the Giants' Super Bowl win. On page 1, the editorial mentioned the fear that the team wouldn't even get a "playoff birth", rather than "playoff berth". Having read Evanier musing about typos, this definitely made me chuckle. It wasn't the ONLY typo I found so far, but I've been looking.
ROG
1994: the non-crossover #1s, AC and RB
12 hours ago
1 comment:
1) I would say that I am an involved to casual fan now of hockey and baseball. I used to be an avid fan of many, many sports. Life changes those things though.
2) The two you mentioned are good. I always though Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic were/are as well. But it's hard to say that any is.
3) Obviously the positives are learning to work as a team. The negatives are too numerous to list, but a good example is the tragedy that happened in Belgium at the UEFA Champions League final in 1984.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heysel_Stadium_disaster
4) Probably April. Baseball season has just started and there is a real wonderful air about that, a new chance to make it to October, and in the meantime the NHL season is wrapping up and teams are jockeying for playoff seeds.
5) Anytime I had a subscription to SI I was single, so the swimsuit issue was always kept, looked at quite a bit at first, but then easily forgotten.
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