References to War in Sports

[IrishCanadian25]

Mike and Mike, as always, act as my muse.

Some controversy has creeped up regarding the use of certain analogies in sports that involve war. This weekend, Dwayne Wade and Tim McCarver made some ill-advised comparisons of sports to either war time practices or major tragedies. Wade claimed that fans and media would treat a 3-game losing streak by the Heat like "the World Trade coming down all over again" when it's just a couple basketball games. McCarver likened the Yankees removal of Joe Torre from visual team history to the propograndous regimes in Germany and Russia during World War 2 and the Cold War.

Both have drawn the ire of fans and writers alike.

Similarly, some outrage has been seen when a pro athlete - millions of dollars and all - refer to themselves as a "soldier" or "warrior." When highly anticipated rivalry games are about to be played, the term "off to war" is thrown around rather carelessly. Fans who paint their faces are often said to be wearing "war paint." A long pass in football is a "bomb." Etc.

So my question is this - do references and comparisons to war have any real place in sports? Is the use of such verbal imagry insulting to the men and woman who have actually fought - and in many cases died - in actual wars? Is this practice indicative of a society that clearly takes sports too seriously?

 

[People's Champ]

There is absolutely no place for those kind of comments in sports at all. Didn't hear Wade's comments but the fact that he said that is really surprising. To compare a losing streak in sports with the worst tragedy in American history is just rediculous. You have to know better than that. Maybe saying that if they had a losing streak fans would treat it as if they were swept in the Finals would be a better analogy.

I've always hated hearing these terms in sports. There is nothing warlike about making millions to play a sport, nothing. However this does show just how serious sports is taken here. It starts at a very young age. These kids are taught early, not to enjoy the game, but to win. Watch the LLWS. Parents get all worked up. Kids start crying when they lose. Where's the joy that use to come with playing sports? When I played basketball, we were told its all about winning. And it was then that I started hearing these references to war. That's what's happenning here. Kids grow up hearing these type of war references and use them as they grow up. Nobody tells them that's this in the end is just a game, and there is a bigger picture.

Having lost a cousin in the Iraq war, I do find it to be insensitive and insulting to refer to a sports game as war, or these guys a warriors when there are real warriors who are fighting every day not knowing if they are going to make it back to see their family or not. I love sports don't get me wrong. And there are times where I get into it more than I probably should. But at the end of the day, I still know its just sports, just entertainment and nothing more. Sometimes these guys need to understand that as well.

 

[gd]

He compared it to 9/11? Yikes. Not only is that ridiculous, but the fact that the fans in Miami are fair weather and don't really care for the most part doesn't even make it a legitimate analogy. Poor form Dwayne, poor form.

There are a lot of war terms used in sports, the trenches, sacrifcing, etc. For the most part, I don't really mind. They're only words after all. Obviously no one believes sports and war are in any way the same. It's just a figure of speech, I don't even think about it most of the time.

As long as you don't go completely overboard and say that the Yankees not winning the World Series is similar to the Holocaust, it isn't really a big deal.

 

[Slyfox696]

First of all, if you don't know what D-Wade said, don't comment on it. What D-Wade said was mocking the media, not drawing an analogy to his team and 9/11. He said if the Heat lose a couple games in a row, the media would act like it was 9/11...meaning they would all converge on Miami and come up with all sorts of reporting and stuff on why the team was doing bad whether it was true or not, just like media did when 9/11 occurred. He was talking about the type of media reporting, not saying his team losing was a great tragedy.

Second of all, why shouldn't war analogies be made in sports? Hell, sports originated as war like activities. What do you think the Olympics were about? The gladiatorial arena? Why do you think things like hunting and fishing are considered sporting? Sports history is rooted war activities.

So why do we get so offended today? How can we claim to be football fans, and then get upset because Kellen Winslow calls himself a "soldier"? It makes no sense. People need to quit being so damn sensitive about everything. Perhaps my opinion would change had I lost someone close to me in a great tragedy, but I don't think so. Sports are little more than a miniature version of war, and to get so offended every time some one comments on something close to war and sports is just silly to me.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

First of all, if you don't know what D-Wade said, don't comment on it.

Not sure if this comment was directed to me or not. But I absolutely heard what he said (they played the audio) and I am aware that he didn't personally compare a losing streak to 9/11 - he, as Sly said, stated that the media would treat it as such. But you have to look at perception, and that was a highly ill-advised comment to make.

Second of all, why shouldn't war analogies be made in sports? Hell, sports originated as war like activities. What do you think the Olympics were about? The gladiatorial arena? Why do you think things like hunting and fishing are considered sporting? Sports history is rooted war activities.

Great point. Most sports - except maybe Baseball - are a variant on war. Most sports are a complicated version of capture the flag. But in the middle of a war - when soldiers are dying - can you sympathize at all with the idea that it's inappropriate for athletes who make millions of dollars and change teams like cars to compare themselves with service men and woman who are paid on par with what a teacher or a cop make and can be killed by the enemy at a moment's notice?

So why do we get so offended today?

Because lawyers say we can. It sucks.

How can we claim to be football fans, and then get upset because Kellen Winslow calls himself a "soldier"?

Would you have an issue with a surgeon claiming to be like a God because of their job being to keep people alive?

 

[Big Sexy]

The only "war reference" that may have been a little inappropriate was Kellen Winslow's "I'm a soldier" comment. I don't really blame him for it as it was just a heat of the moment comment but it was still something in hindsight that should have been kept to himself. Even that was more of the time period he said it in then anything.

However, when I hear things like "These two teams are about to do battle" and "Today's game is going to be a war" I don't find anything wrong with that. It's nothing more then an analogy and in a lot of ways is very fitting. Like Sly said some people are way too sensitive and need to stop taking things so literal.

 

[People's Champ]

Having heard his comments, I will tone down the response, but will not take it away. I don't care if he's talking about fans or the media, 9/11 and sports should not go together. Again, there are plenty of different comparasions he could have used. So I'll definately bring it down, but again, got find a better choice of words.

And honestly, I could care less whether people think its being oversensitive or not. I'm not sit here and talk about what life has been like for our family since losing one of us. Has it changed my view on how I see things? Probably. Might it be over the top? That's a matter of opinion. But for me, I personally would rather not hear guys making millions of dollars a year refer to their work like their going to war. Some have problems with it, some don't.

 

[CobraVenom]

Um, sports is war. Two sides coming together on a field to do battle. Does that sound like the definition of a three letter word? Why, yes it does.

My Dad's side of my family is full of veterans. None of them have a problem with that analogy. It's mostly the uber-sensitive younger generation who has been brainwashed by the media to think that it is a bad analogy. The generation of "you stepped on my shoe. Now I sue you."