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Author Topic: Favoritism in sports
Starsnuffer
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So I have recently been annoyed by the antics of highschools in promoting sports games. I have heard on numerous occasions official announcements from the student government or from the front office suggesting that students "come support our school at THE GAME tonight." To which I have genuinely asked "what sport is this game?" Because there is more than one sport going on at any given time at the school and the attitude demonstrated by not deigning to preface "game" with what sport is being played seems intensely disrespectful to every other sports team. -This spoken as a diver, conscientious person annoyed about basketball's assumed superiority and greater school support than other teams.
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Launchywiggin
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Our student reporter (daily announcements) was on the academic bowl team (called MACC where I'm from)--so we always got our matches called out loud and clear. No better turnout, of course.

The turnout at all sports events at my college was always miserable. I was always too busy in the music building/going to concerts. Oh--and I don't care too much about sports. I did go to a few Virginia Tech games--those were awesome.

As for "intensely disrespectful"...well...I personally don't think it's a big deal, but you should definitely put in a request if it matters that much to you.

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Starsnuffer
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I mean, it just puts across the message that the only sport that matters is the one with the greatest apparent interest/most coverage in professional sports/that has the highest-paid professional athletes in it.
hrm..

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Saephon
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Football: The Academy Awards of high school sports [Wink]
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AvidReader
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Here in the South, everyone knows football is the most important sport. It's just a given with the rest of life ordered somewhere after it. They get the most money, they make the most money, they have pep rallies and decorations, they have the best turnout. It's all one giant feedback loop.

No, disrespect in sports is a little different. That's like when the wrestling team got a name change to boys' wrestling after I joined.

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Samprimary
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quote:
So I have recently been annoyed by the antics of highschools in promoting sports games. I have heard on numerous occasions official announcements from the student government or from the front office suggesting that students "come support our school at THE GAME tonight." To which I have genuinely asked "what sport is this game?" Because there is more than one sport going on at any given time at the school and the attitude demonstrated by not deigning to preface "game" with what sport is being played seems intensely disrespectful to every other sports team.
Not to sound rude, but I'm amazed that someone could find that 'disrespectful,' you know?

If somebody's talking about "THE GAME tonight" it is easily inferred that they are talking about "the game tonight," in effect, the game that seems to be taking place that night. That they aren't prefacing that it is basketball and not diving matters not at all.

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Starsnuffer
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I don't know. I'm a big fan of unambiguous things when a message is trying to be conveyed, and it seems sloppy to me for the school/people in charge of advertising these things to not make it clear what they're advertising.
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MightyCow
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Isn't there usually only 1 "game" sport going at a time for a given period in school? Nobody would say, "Let's go to the diving game tonight at 7pm."
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Itsame
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They announced one time that my chess team won the state championship... and came in third at the national championship.
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Samprimary
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quote:
I don't know. I'm a big fan of unambiguous things when a message is trying to be conveyed, and it seems sloppy to me for the school/people in charge of advertising these things to not make it clear what they're advertising.
It's not sloppy. It's what you refer to a big-time game event as. I know I do. It's not accidental withholding or in any way a demeaning of other games. It's just hey man, you gonna go to the game tonight? To get annoyed at the ambiguity of the shorthand "The Game" is maybe taking it too far. I mean, unless we're talking about a message broadcast to G-Unit or sommat.

Yayo
You better lay low
Cause the M.O.B. got some killers on the payroll
I put a million dollar hit on you snitches

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Belle
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Diving matches are called matches or competitions are they not? Rather than "games?" Do they differentiate between girls and boys basketball games? Do they promote the girls games as much? Or the volleyball games? (though my daughter's friends who play volleball usually call them "matches" as well).
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breyerchic04
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My high school did favor football and basketball but all of the sports made the announcements, the weekly in school tv show, the newspaper for some achievement at least once. So did Science Olympiad, Speech team, accademic superbowl, all of the advanced music groups, solar bike, and robotics. Generally if you wanted an announcement, you filled out a form, had an assistant principal sign it (there were 4) and it got on.
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Starsnuffer
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Ok, I think I was too vehement in what I said. I understand the short-hand of "are you going to the game tonight" but it does irk me slightly that they never announce "Go support your school at "the meet" "The match" "the race."" This is more a rant than anything, as you've probably noticed... just about the general attitude towards anything other than the most popular ball-oriented sport of the season and the disproportionate attention that sport gets from public.

Feel free to not reply to this, as it is not a question: I find it interesting how the most popular sports are the ones with an inherent back-and-forth struggle of direct competition and that are dependent on team-work. Perhaps it's just human nature that the conflict of a football game is more entertaining than a fierce cross country race or wrestling match, although, ARGUABLY, there is far more willpower and competition being shown in either of those events than in a football game.

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Shanna
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At my school, football was so favored that no one even bothered to make such announcements. On game day, tickets are already sold-out so its kind of pointless.

Of course, our team earned its attention.

Announcements were made for the basketball team or wrestling team since the audience is a smaller percentage of the school and fewer people were in the "know" and therefore, needed reminding and encouragement.

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