There are a lot of people out there who insist that it's better to watch the NCAA than the top professional leagues. The arguments rely on the idea that the NCAA is more pure because the players are playing for the love of the game rather than money. I have usually dismissed that idea because lower levels of sports generally feel sloppy to me. Over the years, sports have changes. My support for the top leagues has declined.
I don't want to get into details about my issues with the NCAA, but I want to point out that I will not support that horrible organization. Sports should not be connected to schools, and the NCAA cares more about developing the technical skills of elite athletes than entertainment or recreation. Additionally, the athletes who the NCAA focuses on are playing for the purpose of becoming high-paid athletes. Money is definitely a driving influence on the athletes.
I have generally defended the pay of elite athletes. A lot of money goes into professional sports, and the revenue is generated by fans who enjoy watching those athletes. It seems fair that they can receive a respectable share of the money that they are earning their teams and their leagues.
I have been saying for years that greed and wealth are two different things. When athlete pay started taking off, I had no complaints. Athletes were making more money, but only a handful of those athletes seemed truly greedy. Personally, I wouldn't reject millions of dollars to do something I loved. As salaries increased to insane levels, however, greedy individuals started to take notice. People started to pursue careers in sports because they wanted money. The increased competition for the jobs available made it more difficult for athletes who legitimately enjoy their sports to reach the top.
Modern athletes rely on a boring technical approach designed to maximize their ability to win. There is no more love of the game. Winning is no longer about proving your abilities. Instead athletes are taking a win-at-all-costs mentality in order to pursue fame and fortune. This win-at-all-costs mentality means sacrificing honor. To put it another way, modern athletes don't hesitate to cheat if they think they can get away with it. The athlete profession has never had less integrity, and it's difficult to watch a sport when it's more about who excels at cheating than who is better at playing the sport.
Greed within the leagues themselves is even worse. When given a choice between marketing and excitement, all top-tier leagues will consistently pick marketing. In baseball, we have shifted from a deep game with aggressive baserunning and solid defense to a homerun derby filled with all-or-nothing hitters. In hockey, offensive players are no longer putting in the work for exciting goals because it has become easier to score and it is no longer worth the effort to try for a goal that would create excitment. The NFL is pretty much unwatchable because the entire season builds toward the guaranteed disappointment that is the Ad Bowl. I'm not even going to get started on the sleep-inducing NBA.
Let's add one more group filled with greed, the media. The American media is undeniably biased and corrupt. In sports, they try to dictate which teams we like. They misrepresent teams to try to get fans to back the same northeastern teams. Due to their common influence, this can potentially sway opinions of officials.
When the corruption of the media is combined with the corruption being seen from the leagues and the players, game results rarely properly reflect the play. This raises an important question. What's the point of watching the game if the game itself becomes irrelevant?
Perhaps these NCAA fans were right about professional sports (but not the NCAA). These sports are becoming very difficult to watch thanks to the money involved. We are no longer watching exciting and creative athletic feats. We are now watching self-centered greedy individuals who don't seem to have any fun working for their profit-driven and corrupt employers.
What's even worse about all of this is that I don't see a way back. Sports leagues will not suddenly insist that we give them less money. Athletes are not going to demand the the leagues give them a significantly smaller portion of the revenue. Excitement and creativity aren't going to displace the value of technical skills and unethical play in regards to winning.
I think the best thing to do right now is to completely reevaluate the sports world. I would like to say that I'm ready to completely scrap all forms of support for all of these leagues, but I have to admit that I don't have it in me to abandon the Canucks. I have long been thinking about how I would handle sports if I had full control and could start completely from scratch. While not a realistic scenario, this might at least produce some interesting ideas. Perhaps I will share them in the future.
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