Re:Evaluating State and Local Business Tax Incentives [pdf]
by munificent on Tuesday January 07, 2020 @03:32PM
(#21984467)
> I more often notice people who do not like watching sports vocalizing negative feelings towards people who do.
I'm on the not-liking sports side. I try to not vocalize negative feelings about it because I respect other people's choices, but I do have a lot of negative experiences around it:
* Sports, even spectator sports, remind me of my personal experience with sports. That was mostly being a very skinny unathletic kid who got picked on and bullied in PE every day. Sports fans remind me of jocks and jocks remind me of abuse. (Obviously, I understand that there is no logical connection between these groups of people. It's an irrational emotional reaction.)
* It's frustrating having to deal with entire sections of a city being sometimes off limits for events I have no interest in. I used to live in Baton Rouge and LSU games were so big there that they would turn streets one-way to get people in and out. If you were close to the stadium, you could literally find your home inaccessible by road — you could be trapped either in or out — until the game traffic was over. If you parked on allowed student parking, they'd tow your car to make room for tailgaters. When my kids' parkour class moved to close to CenturyLink Field, we just stopped going because it was too much of a nightmare dealing with traffic and parking.
* I get so tired of 80% of restaurants and bars being festooned with giant TVs blaring sports. My wife and daughter have ADHD and it's virtually impossible for them to tune out a TV if it's in their line of sight.
I have also enjoyed watching sports and playing them. I think sports are great and wish more people both participated in them. I like the community-building aspect of spectator sports. But America's spectator sport culture is generally a net negative in my life. And, like second-hand smoke, it's one I can never really escape because it is so pervasive in our culture.
I'm on the not-liking sports side. I try to not vocalize negative feelings about it because I respect other people's choices, but I do have a lot of negative experiences around it:
* Sports, even spectator sports, remind me of my personal experience with sports. That was mostly being a very skinny unathletic kid who got picked on and bullied in PE every day. Sports fans remind me of jocks and jocks remind me of abuse. (Obviously, I understand that there is no logical connection between these groups of people. It's an irrational emotional reaction.)
* It's frustrating having to deal with entire sections of a city being sometimes off limits for events I have no interest in. I used to live in Baton Rouge and LSU games were so big there that they would turn streets one-way to get people in and out. If you were close to the stadium, you could literally find your home inaccessible by road — you could be trapped either in or out — until the game traffic was over. If you parked on allowed student parking, they'd tow your car to make room for tailgaters. When my kids' parkour class moved to close to CenturyLink Field, we just stopped going because it was too much of a nightmare dealing with traffic and parking.
* I get so tired of 80% of restaurants and bars being festooned with giant TVs blaring sports. My wife and daughter have ADHD and it's virtually impossible for them to tune out a TV if it's in their line of sight.
I have also enjoyed watching sports and playing them. I think sports are great and wish more people both participated in them. I like the community-building aspect of spectator sports. But America's spectator sport culture is generally a net negative in my life. And, like second-hand smoke, it's one I can never really escape because it is so pervasive in our culture.