Has sport become too professional?

[Mikus LFC]

It might seem mad to suggest this, but has sport become *too* professional?

Over the last few years, I find myself watching general sport less and less. I regularly used to watch the tennis, F1, golf, and so on, but I can’t quite put my finger on it, but just don’t seem as interested as I once was. Is it just a case of getting older? Perhaps, and maybe this thread will quickly die a death. But I’ll put a case forward anyway.

Whilst the professionalism in sport now has undoubtedly elevated the athleticism of the players, I do wonder if, at the same time, we’ve lost some of the character, off the cuff play and fun of it all. Has it all become rather clinical? In tennis we now seem to get the same few players dominating every tournament, and others have to now sacrifice an awful lot to try and get near them to put the work in that’s needed. You see players having to batter their bodies to get anywhere near those players. It’s putting a huge demand on players in all sports. And I’m afraid you can’t expect every player to want to sacrifice everything to the nth degree. Everyone is different and we have to accept that. Yes, players are paid a lot now, but you’re not going to change players attitude even with the money. Then you get the anger over players deemed lazy.

There is the case of Bjorn Borg in the 80s who retired at 26, the peak of his career because he apparently said tennis was no longer fun. It was a brave decision. I wonder if there may well be many others today that would want to do similar but the money now is so big and lucrative that there’s too many making money around them.

So I do wonder if we’re driving too much towards perfection which is raising unrealistic demands and just causing a handful of players or teams who can dominate. I also think we take it all too seriously, which I think is heavily driven by the media, and which puts unrealistic demands on players who as I say, are not all hell bent on world domination. Yet more money will continue to get thrown at it, leading to more demands, and inevitably, more frustration.

For me sport is supposed to be fun, a challenge, an endeavour to try. It’s not an endeavour to reach absolute robotic perfection, nor is it one to absolutely obliterate your opponent.

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[Nike19]

Definitely some correlation, Mikus.

What I do see is analysis that’s very strong from a result that hasn’t resulted in a victory (if that makes sense). Equally the other way, a win is a little too analyzed.

There is a word which I’m sure you’ve sensed, beginning with ‘P’. Pressure quite simply. Expectations heighten and that inflicts pressure upon an individual or a team.

Plus, notice more than ever the scale of money and exposure globally with the phenomenon of the World Wide Web and Social Media.

In Essence, one can’t put a foot wrong and that in itself is criminal.

Good Subject Talking Point. I must admit I don’t enjoy to a degree as much as I did before and perhaps it’s because I’m getting older and plus having fighting my demons unfortunately of depression.

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[nine nine nine]

Cream always rises to the top and whatever sport anyone plays and at whatever level you have to give your all.

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[Editor]

Over the last few years, I find myself watching general sport less and less. I regularly used to watch the tennis, F1, golf, and so on, but I can’t quite put my finger on it, but just don’t seem as interested as I once was. Is it just a case of getting older? Perhaps, and maybe this thread will quickly die a death. But I’ll put a case forward anyway.

I have to say, re the tennis reference, I found Kyrgios a breath of fresh air in the Wimbledon final. A throwback to the characters of times gone by. He has his faults, for sure, but it’s those faults, combined with the undoubted ability which make for a great recipe for entertainment.

Someone like Grealish in football today has been causing a lot of headlines for his title celebrations but I want to see more of that. I don’t mean drunkenness per se but I want to see more of players reacting and behaving exactly as the man on the street would if their team won something.

I’d love to see more Cantona, Balotelli, Suarez type characters in the game. The love/hate they cause amongst fanbases and rivals are somewhat missing in today’s game and will probably be seen less and less as the levels of dedication and professionalism required to succeed continues to increase.

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[Mikus LFC]

We’ve definitely lost something Ed, particularly over the last 15 years or so. The big money has helped fuel some of it in terms of business like objectives and looking for perfection. And sports science and fitness has developed a lot also. Of course you want players to take their profession seriously and give everything, but not to the point where they almost lose the idea of actually enjoying it. And you do wonder as I say, if you asked a lot of these players behind closed doors whether they’re enjoying their football with the obsessive managerial demands now, how many would actually say yes? Is this partly why you don’t tend to get players staying for the long term now? Is this generally why managers have a short self life now?

I was always moved at the end of that wonderful film “Senna” – when asked who was the best driver he raced, he didn’t say it was anyone during his F1 career. He instead he said it was someone he raced during his earlier go karting days when it was just pure racing, no politics or anything, no money involved. That always stuck with me.

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[Nike19]

It’s the same in the music industry and Liam Gallagher has often referred to this; too softy softy and any real personalities and individualism more than anything is of lacking. The problem or one of the problems is the invention of the media file sharing and images that catches fire.

People are more self-conscious when they step out. There’s so much emphasis on behaviours because a lot of them are tied to endorsements outside their sport so one wrong foot forward ‘tarnishes’ the brand.

The Tennis guy I think does need to condition himself a little, but he really was a good sport and worshipped Djokovic. A decent heart somewhere beneath.

Personally it’s been somewhat hard as these weeks have dragged and really hanging in there till the new season comes back. Hopefully this sweltering heat begins to descend sooner than later!

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[Mikus LFC]

Nil, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Personality. That’s what we’ve lost. My fellow Liverpool fans may not appreciate me saying this, but Real Madrid played with real personality in the CL this season and thats what won it for them. Many of their games were great to watch, particularly the PSG ties. They were entertainment pure and simple. Ancelotti of course instils discipline but he let’s his teams play and they have personality. That’s why theve won the CL so many times and why the English teams just can’t dominate that competition the way the Spanish teams have. City and Liverpool dominate the ball and completely squeeze the opposition, but it didn’t really help them to dominate the CL. Interesting that.

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[Adlab]

Those characters get frowned on by the woke brigade in our society. I used to love watching MacEroe, hate (as a City fan) Cantina, loved rock musicians trashing guitars etc etc.
Today everything has to be sanitised and very politically correct.
I remember one line from Yes Minister in an episode where they were looking for an appointee to a Quango, Sir Humphrey said the ideal person would be a a black, one legged, Welsh person. Imagine saying that today. My point is that if anybody reacts about anything anywhere it is just tut tut or worse.
Yes professional sport is too professional meaning quash any individualism with a tut or worse.
That’s why for male sports we have to have female presenters etc etc …which I won’t say

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[nine nine nine]

As a guitarist albeit a below average one I’ve always hated seeing Guitars trashed on stage by anyone.

Nil I don’t think Liam Gallagher has ever lacked personality or individualism in fact the reverse.😊

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[Mikus LFC]

Just to be clear, I’m not so much advocating bad behaviour, more that I’d rather see more expressive off the cuff performances as opposed to machine like strategies formulated to dominate and wear the opposition down where even a draw can no longer be tolerated. Some of the most important stats now are how far players have run and how many sprints have been made. Is that really what fans should be getting excited about?

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[Nike19]

Nine Absolutely mate. I used him as an example as he often gets asked that question during interviews. Liam and rock stars of his ilk that was on scene and in the industry during that time got up to a lot of antics and they were characters that back themselves with talent.

For me, I don’t really see that and its rge same with football. Players really are just plain and more interesting in immersing themselves in social media etc.

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[nine nine nine]

Social media definitely has a lot to answer for Nil.😊

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[Brian blue]

A good subject you have brought up Mikus and I would go along with what you say / I would add my pennyworth as well. “Suits and over commercialism” is my theory of why everything goes backwards
People try and change different sport games for the £/$ whatever The numbers are unsustainable for the future. It is true, in football we have lost major talent and all that goes with it. I recall the days of Matthews, Lawton, Swift Shackleton. Iranian. I could go on. Fans actually went to watch them and applaud no matter if it was against there own team. Football had to move on and it did but it also brought cravings of Chairman, Directors etc. Ruleing bodies suddenly released they had a golden opportunity to organise, I prefer another word and the the 5 letter word rose to prominence…GREED. Of course it happened in other sports and we have to day the break away Golfers from the PGA. Cricket has become more akin to village green slogs, we have no real test cricketers any more, maybe I should exclude Anderson and Broad but they are now in the twilight zone. Finally, we will loose the EPL at some point in the near future, again , the picture and global revenue,Domestic football will no longer have the clout, it will still go on no doubt but in a much abbreviated way. I have accepted change will come and not for the better because the innocence of the games in all sports left us years ago. I look at my local village football and cricket teams and they are all heavily sponsored (relatively) to demonstrate the point. It never was like that in my long lifetime

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[Brian blue]

Correction….iranion. should read Manion. sorry Boro fans

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[Mikus LFC]

Cream always rises to the top and whatever sport anyone plays and at whatever level you have to give your all.

I don’t disagree with that Nine, and even decades ago you had teams and players who were still dominant. So you can’t change that reality. But what you can change or reduce is the over seriousness with which we, the viewing public, attaches to these things, which in turn would create fewer dominant periods as that culture would filter up to the players as our demands would reduce. You’d also probably reduce the bad behaviour of some fans.

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[Adlab]

This is very interesting. I think we have a cultural and generational issue. The point raised about social media is entirely correct. When you see the abuse black players get on Twitter etc it is a disgrace. Those morons would never say such things to their faces.
Also players from all teams should stop all these “messages ” to other teams. None of it helps.
Players should express themselves on the pitch and leave behaviour there. Too much Twitter etc is no good.
Whilst we are on behaviour, something needs to be done about cheating and diving. Some pundits call this professional..no its cheating. Professional is when you don’t cheat.

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[Mikus LFC]

Whilst we are on behaviour, something needs to be done about cheating and diving. Some pundits call this professional..no its cheating. Professional is when you don’t cheat.

Again, Adlab, I think this all links back to us fans now wanting to win at all costs. If you’re on the receiving end of a dive, you’re furious. If one of your players does it and wins a penalty, suddenly, you tend to look the other way. Just look at the hate all this drives. Look at the absurd salaries we’re funding. We get too obsessed and demanding with it all.

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[nine nine nine]

Mikus, in terms of football you’ve summarised one of the problems perfectly above, you only have to review the football forums after a poor result by the top Clubs to see how such results effect some fans so negatively.

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[Brian blue]

That is a problem Nine, a self generated one over many years. Adlab was perfectly right in the cheating, diving and tweets context. Sorry to bore everyone but I stick to my view, that I go to watch a football match, naturally, I want my team to win but it does not supersede my love for the game first so I enjoy 22 players on the pitch there skills and those that have it , intelligence.
In to days world, Post match re actions are always debatable

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[Brian blue]

I know I am a minority of 1 in millions

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