I wasnt suggesting that you were, Alison.
Actually, in some of the sports watched, like diving etc, it's clear
the athletes appreciate each other's best efforts. And watch with both
worry (because they want to win) & awe/inspiration because a really
well done routine is, indeed, beautiful.
So watching for those moments of beauty or sheer wonder is part of it.
Weren't George Best & Pele, etc. renowned for the beauty of their play?
Doug
On 20-Aug-08, at 5:31 PM, Alison Croggon wrote:
> I would never argue that sport & art are _the same thing_. I would
> argue (and probably have already - I'm beginning to repeat myself and
> will stop soon) that sport is about much more than who wins and that,
> like art, there are sublime moments when it exceeds its contexts.
> Those pseudo-religious tv images aren't entirely bullshit: and when
> you thinks of sports like Kendo or Ninjutsu, or Budo Taijutsu, or how
> the ancient Greeks lauded their athletes, I think it's clear that
> there are cultural contexts that are about much more than zero sum
> competitiveness (which is always ugly when you see it). And it's that
> excess that still moves people, for all the surrounding material. I
> hear commentators (well, not Australian commentators) talking about
> beauty all the time.
>
> I don't really care who wins most of the time, I watch sport for
> different reasons. I can't be that weird. Athletes tell me too that
> elite competitors are not competing with others, essentially: the
> major competition is with one's own limitations. You can absolutely
> see that in the best athletes. Truth is, I've learned a fair bit about
> making art from watching sport. And I failed sport miserably at
> school, always the person chosen last for teams...
>
> xA
Douglas Barbour
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
Latest books:
Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
A little planet blues, for the
deathwatch.
A season of rictus riffs.
Dennis Lee
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