It is Super Bowl weekend. The festivities are already in motion. Super Bowl is the highest watched single sporting event in the world and the hype is always high. Last year advertisers shelled out $5 million for a 30-sec advertisement spot. They know the audience will be huge. Millions are eager to put their lives on hold just to make sure the big game is seen.
According to one statistic, the NFL generates 9 billion dollars a year. That’s a lot of money for a sport that is turning out to be concerning for a number of the players in terms of their health. And while LeBron James is getting paid millions to throw a ball into a hoop, many teachers, who are responsible for the education of our young people, struggle with an average salary of $35,672 per year. School coaches are paid more than teachers and professors. We are obsessed.
And the big business of sports trickles down to the college level as well. The NCAA Division I colleges spend three to six times more on each of their athletes than on educating each of their students, leading some to conclude that perhaps sports are too high a priority.
Yes, there are many benefits to playing sports and having them as a focus of American life. Columnist George Will, who has written a number of excellent books on baseball, once said,
“Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.”
Yet, there is a dark side to playing sports that also involves safety and the health of athletes. And these health concerns should cause us to pause and consider the costs.
The questions we raised in this weekend’s show concerns balance in our lives. Should we challenge ourselves to have a proper perspective when it comes to playing and watching sports? What goes in to making a decision to allow your kids to play sports? Are safety issues real? How do you protect your kids? Do the pros outweigh the cons? And do we need all need to take a breath, enjoy the game, have fun this weekend, but not be obsessed?
The goal of our conversation this week with special guest, Dr. Mark Rolfs (Sports Medicine) is to help your family make a decision concerning the role of sports in our culture. We trust that you will provide balance –discussing the importance of team work, perseverance and discipline that is needed to play sports, but also consider the risks with more children and adults suffering from injuries that could affect their future.
This weekend, many of us will gather in someone’s home, cheer for our team, enjoy great food and friends and end the night feeling entertained. And hopefully we will see the game for what it is—just a game.
Are we Super Bowl obsessed?
