So, I watched a television show on HBO called, “When It Was A Game”. It was, basically, a collection of 8mm and 16mm film of baseball taken by players and fans from 1934 and 1957, back when it was a game. Maybe some of you have seen it. If not, it is a really good watch if you are of that ilk.
I’m a pretty avid sports fan and enjoy a good baseball game as much as the next guy. My 89-year-old dad is one of the biggest Minnesota Twins fans in the house. We never missed a game on the radio, even when we went fishing at The Bog. We would take along an old transistor. Those are some of the best memories I have of time my dad spent with me. I remember clearly a collection of old black and white signed glossies he used to have of the original Twins team. I was enamored with them. I have no idea whatever happened to them. My mom probably threw them out. It would be nice to see them again.
Anyway, this documentary got me thinking about the many differences between today’s professional sports personalities and those of the by-gone era. What struck me the most was in the day, a player or coach’s personal life was, for the most part, separated from his professional life. There was no TMZ to stalk them and “a guy was a guy”. A little womanizing or hard drinking was almost expected of them, and it was left alone, generally because of a professional courtesy between the sports stars and the media. I’m not saying that living that sort of lifestyle was right; I’m just saying.
The sports stars were looked at as heroes; virtually untouchable; people that a kid could aspire to become. And, that was okay, because a kid would aspire to emulate what was good about the sports star at the time. We didn't hear much about the bad. Even though they were ahead of my day, I still get a starry-eyed exuberance when I think of Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, or Lou Gehrig, and what they represented to the game.
I found myself smiling a lot as I watched the documentary, but, at times, I felt a great amount of sadness. Today, we hear of every personal inadequacy and falter of our sports personalities. I don’t really think that today’s players live a worse personal life than their predecessors. I just think that an entire business has been created for people who want to hear about the gossip of a sports star’s missteps. We love to build up and tear down. Why is that? Are there really any sports idols anymore? Will people 80 years from now watch the “old films” of this era and feel the same exuberance that I felt watching the show?
I kind of miss the mystique.
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i tend to agree dane. i think it was oliver wendell holmes who when asked what section of the newspaper he read first replied, "the sports section, because it is the only part of the paper that records man's accomplishments rather than his failures."
not so sure if that is true anymore. i too yearn for the innocence of our youth.
a good read on journalism in general and how things have changed in that regard over the years is "right in the old gazoo" by alan simpson. he makes some good points about how things are different than they used to be in journalism and the media. his main beef is the ubiquitous "anonymous source"
he is a former senator from wyoming. you would probly get a kick out of it.
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