you can always tell a town's character by the sports page in their paper
I was going to talk about this a few days ago but I forgot.
The other day I was gathering up the paper for recycling and I noticed a striking thing about the sports section. There were five stories on the front page of the section. Across the top, a story about surfing (regular surfing, not big-wave surfing). Down the side, a story about the baseball hall of fame induction and a story about collegiate men's volleyball (UCSC doesn't have any big-money sports, just things like volleyball, lacrosse, and so on. Slugs rock). In the middle, with a large color picture across the fold, a story about high school women's soccer. At the bottom of the page, something about professional football -- the Forty-niners, I think, maybe about the manager. I don't actually read the sports pages. But I was just struck by what that said about our town's priorities. The surfing story was not a huge one, but it was on top where everyone could see it. The baseball and volleyball ones were over to the side where they were moderately visible (I think the baseball hall of fame one was above the UCSC one, but I'm not sure about that, and if it was, I think the second headline was right below the fold). The high school girls were plastered all over the middle of the page, and not because they were looking cute, either: they were muddy and fierce in that photo. And, even though we're coming up to Superbowl (yes, I do live in the same universe as the rest of the US, I know what Superbowl is), the football story was tucked away on the bottom where only real sports fans would bother to look for it.
When the New York Times covers the upcoming Mavericks contest they stick it in to a weirdo category they call "other sports">.
Other sports. As if there are any other sports besides surfing, really.
I am beginning to form an opinion of big-wave surfing, by the way, and I don't think I approve, overall. It's not really such a great idea, I think, to haul surfers around in jet skis and helicopters. It's sort of antithetical to what surfers are traditionally about. I don't like the idea of all that fuel being burnt and spilled out there, and I don't like the idea of hundreds of people driving around on a narrow stretch of road and clomping around on friable cliffs, stomping on a fragile and endangered shore habitat, with all the garbage that implies. I guess that makes me a spoilsport -- but no, I can't spoilt the sport by my simple disapproval.
Meanwhile, remember that thing about how Huntington Beach got a law passed that says they're the true and only "surf city" and then went about suing small shops in Santa Cruz who sold "surf city" tshirts and hats and things?
You can now get tourist crap that proclaims that Santa Cruz is too the real surf city, lawsuit notwithstanding.
The other day I was gathering up the paper for recycling and I noticed a striking thing about the sports section. There were five stories on the front page of the section. Across the top, a story about surfing (regular surfing, not big-wave surfing). Down the side, a story about the baseball hall of fame induction and a story about collegiate men's volleyball (UCSC doesn't have any big-money sports, just things like volleyball, lacrosse, and so on. Slugs rock). In the middle, with a large color picture across the fold, a story about high school women's soccer. At the bottom of the page, something about professional football -- the Forty-niners, I think, maybe about the manager. I don't actually read the sports pages. But I was just struck by what that said about our town's priorities. The surfing story was not a huge one, but it was on top where everyone could see it. The baseball and volleyball ones were over to the side where they were moderately visible (I think the baseball hall of fame one was above the UCSC one, but I'm not sure about that, and if it was, I think the second headline was right below the fold). The high school girls were plastered all over the middle of the page, and not because they were looking cute, either: they were muddy and fierce in that photo. And, even though we're coming up to Superbowl (yes, I do live in the same universe as the rest of the US, I know what Superbowl is), the football story was tucked away on the bottom where only real sports fans would bother to look for it.
When the New York Times covers the upcoming Mavericks contest they stick it in to a weirdo category they call "other sports">.
Other sports. As if there are any other sports besides surfing, really.
I am beginning to form an opinion of big-wave surfing, by the way, and I don't think I approve, overall. It's not really such a great idea, I think, to haul surfers around in jet skis and helicopters. It's sort of antithetical to what surfers are traditionally about. I don't like the idea of all that fuel being burnt and spilled out there, and I don't like the idea of hundreds of people driving around on a narrow stretch of road and clomping around on friable cliffs, stomping on a fragile and endangered shore habitat, with all the garbage that implies. I guess that makes me a spoilsport -- but no, I can't spoilt the sport by my simple disapproval.
Meanwhile, remember that thing about how Huntington Beach got a law passed that says they're the true and only "surf city" and then went about suing small shops in Santa Cruz who sold "surf city" tshirts and hats and things?
You can now get tourist crap that proclaims that Santa Cruz is too the real surf city, lawsuit notwithstanding.