Word: sporting
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...longer history of the grudge match: The ancient Greeks invented games as a way of allowing men to fight one another without all that messy killing. Sport was literally a lifesaving idea: I hit you, you hit me, and an impartial observer determines who wins. (This became known as boxing.) I insult you, you trip me and the rest of the clan decides who played dirty better. (This became known as politics...
Shorter and Masback share the opinion that athletes will accept any playing field that is level."If sport were clean, the athletes would happily compete on that new level, even without setting records," claims Shorter. "I think we can make this look like a quirk of history. I think we can go from several generations who were predisposed to cheat to a new generation that says, 'Cheating...
Whether he's right or dreaming, Olympic sport clearly needs a sea change in attitude. Without one, the future is scary indeed. According to Dr. Gary I. Wadler, professor of medicine at New York University and an expert on performance-enhancing drugs, "The question is whether we're going to start genetically engineering superstars." The answer is, sure, of course--if methodology exists and rewards are great. We're doing everything we can to win now. Why wouldn't we tomorrow? It isn't cheating if everybody else is doing...
From classical times to today--roughly, from Ben-Hur vs. Messala to the Rock vs. the Undertaker--grudge matches have spiced the playing and watching of sport. Badminton? Fiercely contested by the Chinese and the Danes. Volleyball? Watch out for that Cuba-Brazil match. Swimming? You should hear the trash talking. Basketball? Everyone would love to knock our block off. Man was not automatically civilized simply because he agreed to live, or play, by the rules. He did not abandon rancor, envy or the thirst for vengeance. Just watch any match between Yugoslavia and Croatia...
...people want to go to the Olympics, and only so many tickets are available. So to keep everybody happy, you sometimes have to stretch the definition of sport. This, no doubt, is how the Greeks came up with the pole vault. And this year offers a bounty of stupid sports to mollify the masses. Not only did I score you gymnastics tickets, you valuable client you, but they're for this year's newest Olympic sport, trampolining...