E-Article on "Useless sports"

Eric Chang · Post by **Eric Chang** » 31 Jan 2010 19:06

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2010/ ... ogcomments

I'm not even a net player, and sure I poke fun at them. But as it stands I have nothing but respect for them, I have a hard time with two square as is much less something with a net.

Well I sent already posted a comment(waiting for an approval) but will be sending him an email.

Honestly, is this what passes for news these days? This is nothing more than a flame post online.

So if you do want to defend the sport of footbag, and the human ability to respect others and their passions, please keep it clean and intelligent.

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 31 Jan 2010 23:12

Hi Eric. Thanks for the post here. I sent him this email today, and I wonder if he'll respond to me:

Hi,

I recently read a fine piece of journalism which you wrote, entitled "Pro Bowl gets competition for uselessness." I have a couple of thoughts on this issue and thought I'd share them with you. Here we go . . .

You said, "We are a society in which killing time is an art." If our country has the fattest people in the world, maybe we're not so good a killing time after all. It might just be that we engage in too few "useless" sporting events and too much TV watching. I would argue that any sport or activity that gets fat Americans off of their couches is beneficial to our society. Maybe you should rethink your position on this.

Just because a sport or activity is not "mainstream," doesn't mean that it is not worth learning, playing regularly, or mastering, especially if you have fun doing so. Many people enjoy playing kickball or dodgeball, for example. They're very fun to play, can be social events for friends, and they get people exercising outside. One may not make money pursuing these as a past time, but that does not make them useless.

Now, one of the sports you mentioned, footbag net, is a sport I happen to play. While you may feel it is a useless pursuit, I and several hundred dedicated players around the world would argue differently. First off, for anyone interested in the "challenge" of learning an alternative sport, footbag net provides the greatest challenge of them all. Most athletes who are familiar with the range of foot sports played today consider footbag net to be the most difficult sport to learn and master due to 1) the size of the ball used, 2) the fact that while other sports allow foot, knee, chest, and head contacts, footbag net allows only foot contact, and 3) it necesitates alternating kicks between team mates. Secondly, playing footbag net has afforded me the opportunity to travel the world while competing in events across three continents. If not for playing footbag net, it is quite unlikely I would ever have visited Venezuela or Colombia, Czech Republic or Finland. Right now, I can travel to more than 20 countries and stay with friends, friends I've met through the pursuit of footbag net. There are very few people who can say they have the same opportunity. Thirdly, I have the ability to jump and kick a full foot above Shaquille O'neill's head and land on my feet. And you know what? It's pretty damn fun to do! Lastly, and most importantly, the process of mastering the sport of footbag net has helped me to attain levels of mental focus and self-trust that I NEVER developed while pursuing numerous other "mainstream" sports (e.g., tennis, golf, bowling).

I do not expect to be able to change your mind, only to possibly broaden your narrow perspective a bit. Just in case you haven't actually seen the sport you're trashing, here's a high-quality clip from the Green Cup, held annually in the Bay Area, CA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbbolfw5tH8

I'd love to hear your response. Have a nice day.

Sincerely,
Jeremy Mirken

max · Post by **max** » 01 Feb 2010 04:29

As expected: top notch journalism!

I'm fairly certain I could make a good case that ANY sporting event is a waste of time... Still let's see if Jeremy gets an answer!

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 01 Feb 2010 07:35

That video was awesome, hadn't seen that one previously.

Fade2black · Post by **Fade2black** » 01 Feb 2010 08:54

Stick it to the man Jeremy!

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 01 Feb 2010 14:57

Jeremy, if you give him your phone # he'll call you back & talk about it.

I called the author late last night (after I read this) and left a message, and he called me back just now. He was pretty reasonable about it.

Eric Chang · Post by **Eric Chang** » 01 Feb 2010 15:03

Frank_Sinatra wrote:Jeremy, if you give him your phone # he'll call you back & talk about it.

I called the author late last night (after I read this) and left a message, and he called me back just now. He was pretty reasonable about it.

What was the reply from him? Did I just look too into it? Ooooooor?

Curious to what his response was.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 01 Feb 2010 15:32

Well, he called me to apologize, he said he didn't mean to offend or be dismissive or derisive. He said he was trying to be funny and usually that's the goal of his columns, and usually he's making himself the target instead of other people. He said he didn't mean to insult anyone's efforts or athleticism, or even be insulting, but was just trying to be tongue-in-cheek.

Another thing he said was he googled "obscure sports" for research for the article, and though I'm not sure why he equated obscure with useless, he did admit that he didn't see any difference in validity between mainstream sports and smaller sports.

After he told me about googling "obscure sports" I told him I thought he was picking on a lot of easy targets. At one point I told him I thought it was a half-assed apology because he's saying on one hand that he's sorry if anyone was upset by what he wrote but on the other hand was justifying everything he said. So we argued about that for a minute. At another point he said that he can write whatever he wants in his column, and I said "then there's no difference between the Pueblo Chieftain and any blog on the internet." The big point of contention was I told him that as a reader who was already familiar with the subject he was writing about, he didn't seem particularly well-informed and didn't look like he put any effort into informing himself, which he disagreed with.

Overall he was very reasonable, and was trying to soothe any ill feelings. We talked for a little over 7 minutes. I wish I had recorded the call because its hard to recap it now.

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 01 Feb 2010 23:20

"Hey, Jeremy... Thanks for the note and thanks for reading... I wrote the column firmly tongue-in-cheek... If you have read my columns in the past, youâ€™ll realize I often poke fun at myself more than anyone, so it was a bit of humor and not meant to disparage any one or any sport... I poked fun at the NBA and NHL too, so it was my point just to say these all-star games are basically worthless... I am old enough to remember when hacky sack was in its infancy and was only played by the stoners and hippies... Congrats to you and your fellow footbaggers for taking it to a different and much more competitive level... Again, thanks for reading... Joe"

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 02 Feb 2010 13:41

Your letter was really well written, Jeremy.
Honestly, though, I only watched that net video to the end for the Boba Fett song

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 02 Feb 2010 16:40

The article is obviously tongue in cheek. I'm surprised it caused any offence. He's promoting footbag, not ridiculing it.

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 02 Feb 2010 23:40

If his article was togue in cheek, my response was dick in [his] mouth. lol.

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 03 Feb 2010 03:28

You should tell him that.

crazylegs32 · Post by **crazylegs32** » 06 Feb 2010 02:03

He was dissing net and not freestyle, so whats the problem

Elliott · Post by **Elliott** » 02 Mar 2010 09:36

if he googled obscure sports & footbag freestyle popped up he would've poked fun at that. footbag in general is just an easy target due to the stereoypes that we've been unable to alter. my friend justin is a boxing coach & while he views boxing as a form of art, the majority of people will continue to view it as a violent sport for those suffering from bloodlust.