I was going to start this post with: "I am in despair" before I realised I was 'in despair' only two posts ago. Damn, I really am turning into a grumpy old man. I must either try to control this and make a deliberate effort to see the sunny side or take my miserablist self outside for a walk and tell him he will only be allowed back if he is clear eyed and sharp, not at all if he is merely gloomy. As one of my core beliefs is that running lifts the spirits and helps you connect with the world in a more positive way, I cannot constantly be holding my head in my hands.
Anyway back to today's peeve and just like two posts ago it is not about running, or my own experiences; it is to do with the way sport and exercise is talked or written about. In this case the way football dominates the airways and sucks the oxygen away from other, more interesting, topics.
This morning the sports bulletin in the Today programme carried a piece about the UK Sport’s World Class Performance Conference, which brings together top coaches from all disciplines so they can exchange knowledge. Fair play to Today for picking up on this item but the interview with the representative was lamentable. He was allowed to state the purpose of the meeting but after that he was only asked about Rafa Benetiz and how it might help him with his bad string of results or what it would say about his decision to field a weakened team in one competition. It was very, very strange, as if the only purpose of the item was to make back-handed, and unrelated, digs at the Liverpool manager
All the time it was frustrating because I really wanted to hear what they would be talking about, what would be the focus of the presentations, and who would be talking. (It is now even more frustrating because the UK Sport website only provides the marketing blurb and no programme).
I am sure I am not unusual in being a back-pack runner who is interested in how the elite reach their high standards and the latest developments in coaching and sports science. There must be many of us who participate in all types of sport, who know how difficult they are to master and are in awe of the top performers. We are curious about how they became so good and want to know both about their methods and the capabilities of the human body. It is a far more fascinating subject than the endless speculation on the current status of a various football manager.
5 comments:
I am totally with you on this rant. It drives me mad that I have to leaf through all the tosh about football before I stumble upon a tiny column about athletics. Even outside of the football season the papers are full of 'news' about transfers and where the players are going on holiday. Grrrrrr.
Something odd keeps happening in our kitchen. I leave the kitchen and the radio is tuned to Radio 4, I come back in and it's blurting out nonsense from Radio 5 Live 'sport radio'. It is primarily about football, with cricket and rugby to fill out any quiet moments. I stopped what I was doing this morning though when they talked briefly about women in sport and a new fund to encourage adult women to take up sport. A tiny section of an otherwise football dominated schedule.
Strangely I like football. I just get bored with the endless chatter that surrounds it and the way it dominates the national conversation.
As for 5 Live, I think Simon Mayo is good
I have an interest too, just find it a bit dull when they clutch at straws as they do and talk endlessly about the really unimportant stuff.
The phone-ins are good for a laugh; are those people for real?!
My favourite was someone saying: "Well you can prove anything with facts"
I think he meant to say statistics but in every single way he was confused
It's like 'Down the Line, but for real. Even funnier.
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