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The link between sports and society is fascinating - consumerism is only one example in which the worlds intertwine
I, like many others, tuned into the Mayweather – Pacquiao fight with great interest on Saturday. I didn't have to pay for it, thankfully, as it was free on TV in Poland. Many did. Since the fight disappointment and even anger about the quality of fight that the two fighters put on display have been expressed with great passion and abundance. To those that were disappointed with the fight – you didn't know what you were buying. You got caught up in the madness. You wanted to be a part of it, didn't want to be on the outside. Wanted to take a selfie and check-in on Facebook.
Even if the label “casual observer of boxing” is an overstatement for you, which is the case with me, but you were entertaining the idea of buying the fight, you should have known that that's exactly what it was going to look like all along.
One of the numerous reasons why I truly love sports is its relative disconnect from reality. Though I understand sports is a business, I think it's a relatively healthy business. In other words, there is so much money to be made based merely on the irreplaceable addictive quality that sports possess, that nobody really needs to get fucked. And that's a breath of fresh air in a world where, let's be frank, we get fucked all the time.
I want to watch about 8 TV channels. Why must I pay for 160 other ones?! Why must I buy a new phone once I make my “upgrade” to the new software because my phone slowly starts malfunctioning? Remember those running shoes that barely had a sole and had separated toes because “science showed” that you run best barefoot so they sold you a product that pretended to be something like a running sock and charged you 90 bucks per pair. It has since been proven that that science and the entire idea was a bullshit scheme and the company has since been ordered to give back money for purchases. My bank calls me and wants me to feel like I'm the most precious human being on earth because I am being offered this 'amaaazing deal' where I will pay my bank for allowing me to borrow money before I borrow it, which I have to pay back at a ridiculously high interest rate at the end. Thus, paying for the same “privilege” twice. Most of the contracts for services, such as cell phones, TV, or Internet which we sign today, get automatically extended after the time period for which it is signed expires. So, you sign a contract for cable for 2 years, two years pass, you do nothing, your provider automatically extends the contract for an indefinite amount of time with 60 or 90 day notice period. What is the point of the 2 year contract?!
And, more importantly, why does it seem like we never question it?
The worlds of sports and hardcore consumerism got tangled up on May 2nd in Las Vegas. First seeing Jimmy Kimmel do whatever he was doing behind Manny was cringe-worthy. Then seeing the Burger King hop behind Mayweather made people look around the room as if somebody has been doin' some serious farting. Then you found out Burger King paid Floyd a cool million for that entry and it all makes sense. Floyd was straight clownin' us. He denied credentials to journalists that have been critical of him, he set up the whole event way past Pacquiao's prime, entirely on his terms, refused his opponent a painkilling shot before the fight, and then ran around the ring so he couldn't be hit.
Floyd figured out the system. His genius is two-fold - as an athlete and as a businessman. The old cliché says that you've got to knock out the champ to get his belts. And Floyd knew all along that you either have to knock him out or at least beat him up enough so that there is no doubt who had been better. So he dedicated his entire training regimen, one that is as challenging as any, to never allow himself to get hit. His goal was to be untouchable. Floyd is a brilliant fighter. But he'll never be considered one of the greatest of all time because of his ultra defensive style. There's no epic fight on his resume, there sure isn't an epic punch, and his last knock-out was nearly a decade ago (not counting Ortiz). He dodged and weaved his way to an unblemished record and to the summit of his sport.
And the spoils and riches awaiting him at that summit were luxurious, extravagant, shiny, and most importantly expensive. Mayweather's wealth is well documented so I will waste no more time describing it. The reason for this wealth, however, is his other genius. Floyd doesn't share his money. No agents, managers, promoters, nobody. Just he and his people. He negotiates his own deals, which is unprecedented for an athlete of that caliber, and he must be pretty good at it since, along with his sheer athletic prowess, his negotiation skills continue to earn him some of the biggest paydays in sports history.
To make a complete mockery of the whole thing, we learned after the fight that Manny fought injured. He didn't disclose the injury and potentially open himself to a postponement or cancellation of the fight which took years and a tremendous amount of effort to put together. Not knowing if he'd get another shot, he fought hurt to make sure he gets that massive paycheck - a sensible decision, but considering people had to fork over 100 bucks for this thing you have an excuse to get angry. This was supposed to be the fight of the century but it wasn't even a fair fight 'cause one guy was hurt? People want their money back!
Which brings me to the class action lawsuit filed against Pacquiao and his people for lying to the Nevada boxing committee and to consumers and charging such an amount for a fight in which he was at a competitive disadvantage. So people got upset about the quality of entertainment they were provided for their money and filed a lawsuit - also a sensible decision. But why are we so bothered by the quality of boxing during this event and not about anything else for which we pay money?
Is it that sports is usually so reliable when it comes to top notch entertainment for cheap that we expected more and got less and in other areas of life we just have lower expectations? Or do we actually expect to be dicked around in the real world? Why does Floyd and Manny getting your money bother you so much more than when it's some nameless suit who puts his hand in your pocket every day of your life?
The class action lawsuit, along with the internet, are two of the remaining tools that relatively powerless individual consumers have at their disposal. Though far from perfect, the court systems in the civilized world, is quite just and reasonable compered to the ultra corrupt, often ruthless worlds of business and politics. Many of you recall a woman who sued McDonald's for her coffee being too hot. Since that lawsuit, the world has largely made this woman into a laughingstock and called her lawsuit “frivolous”. You've heard that word before, right? It's the word used by many high-powered lawyers who charge their clients $1000 an hour to get them out of yet another mess in which they suck their junk into the backside of consumers just a little bit too far.
That woman's name was Stella Liebeck and she's not a laughingstock, she's a hero. That coffee wasn't hot, it was scalding, way hotter than any sort of regulations stipulate, and almost instantaneously pierced through that her skin, flesh, and muscles. Before we laugh at Americans “trying to get a dime” through the court system let's read the facts of these cases and then ask ourselves what it takes for a 70 something year old woman to beat a giant like McDonald's, with all its resources and legal instruments at its disposal in a court battle. Moreover, we must realize the crucial role that this sort of behavior plays in our society. To some small degree, it keeps the giants in check. But only if we care enough to put up a fight.
Sports provide us with so many tremendous things that make our lives better every day. For me, the greatest thing it's ever done is that it provided free therapy to deal with the world's problems. I've always known that no matter what stress I may have in my life, when I stepped on that basketball court, I was gone. Unable to be touched by any issue or any person who didn't share that court with me. My mind is then incapable of anything other than a complete immersion in the game. Doing whatever it takes to beat your opponent. Doing the exact thing, maybe the only thing, you truly love. But when sports can penetrate our actual every-day experiences and stimulate you to improve your life outside of sports, that's when we should really pay attention.
We are very deep into the process of being scared into being controlled into apathy. There are few things I find funnier than a group of 10 to 15 people standing helplessly at a crosswalk staring stupidly at the red light even though there isn't a car within miles. Why don't those people just cross the street? In Poland, where I now live, the average monthly salary will only last you for fines for running a red light 6 times. Think about that. The government thinks you should be charged about 20% of the average income int his country of you commit a classic act of nonconformity. Our societies have largely been conditioned into being content with a nine-to-five, a reliable car, a massive mortgage, and a headache of how to put kids through college. In the meantime, we accept the continually decreasing quality of our music, theater, art, and most importantly TV – the tool best capable of turning people into machines that buy. When the only thing you watch on TV is sports, once you catch a glimpse of the quality of programming displayed on television, you're dumbfounded. Reality shows like Jersey Shore, The Kardashians, and a million other brainless pieces of utter shit actually get ratings, while shows like American Idol, X Factor, and Some country's Got Talent pull numbers that are often numbers that are comparable to voting turnouts. In the meantime we allow ourselves to be watched all the time as we've been convinced that a camera on every corner is a great idea for our “security”, which is also the reason why we find nothing wrong with the sky-rocketing use of drones by governments all around the world.
For the purposes of this piece, I'm not interested in talks of conspiracy theories, revolutions, political ideologies, or election campaigns. There are enough people on the Internet wasting your time with that. I merely encourage you to ponder why it is that we feel so outraged at Floyd and Manny merely because something that we expected to be great didn't blow our minds and fail to display that same anger when the culprits are not athletes. I then encourage you to dream. Dream about what world we'd live in if we were this vigilant with everyone.
