@Plinky: Sports - An Insight

I do not personally enjoy sports. I think that sports are, overall, uninteresting. But, that's just my personal opinion.

However, there are two types of people who DO enjoy sports. Those who watch sports and those who play sports. Those who watch - but do not play - bother me relentlessly. If it's such a great game, then why not play it yourself? If everyone who watched a sport managed to play that for at least one hour a week, we'd be a more fit nation. (Oh, and NASCAR is not a goddamn sport.)

On the other hand, there are many talented athletes, but a good number of them are egotistical and obsessive, allowing little considering for other people and for other activities.

While sports could be a great thing for our country - especially due to the weight problem we have - sports do not seem to be helping. Why, you ask? Aside from the obvious answer of "some people are lazy", consider this example: You are overweight. Not obese, but enough that it is noticeable. You are not an athlete; sure, you might toss the baseball with mom or dad from time to time, but you're no A-Rod. So, you show up at your school's intramural sports practice, to hopefully get into shape. On the way there, you picture an environment in which you and people similar to you work out, play games or sports, and have a good time while getting into shape. No pressure, no embarrassing moments, no sweat (metaphorically speaking). Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, this is not the case. You are placed into a huge class of people with the minority who ARE athletes and for whatever reason decided against playing a legitimate sport. These people manage to intimidate you - and others - enough so that little exercise or enjoyment is exerted from the intramural sport.

While this may seem "unrealistic" to some, this happens everyday. From talking to many people - each with completely different background - I can tell you that it happens every single day to millions of well intentioned young people. In fact, this has sort-of happened to myself. While I am not overweight, intramural sports have always been dominated by the overconfident pricks who decided it would be fun to torment those who are not as talented as them - or so it would seem.

While there is no easy solution to this, there are a few small possibilities. While punishing talent is not an overall good idea, there are some extremely able players who play intramural. Some sort of regulation or quality control would definitely help this problem. Schools or organizations should also invest in innovative and new ways to help keep kids fit. Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) and Wii Fit are two video games which allow kids to work out while playing a video game - double whammy! Of course, some kids would simply prefer to watch cable television or listen to their iPods while running on treadmills - whatever works.

While not all athletes are "egotistical", "overconfident", or "pricks", far too many are. While no one should not be allowed to celebrate his or her own success, belittling others is never acceptable. Furthermore, if you are a talented athlete who chose to play in intramural sports, what the hell type of sick satisfaction do you gain from beating those who clearly don't play sports very often? You disgust me.