SPORTS   or  $PORT$

Now lets get one thing clear – I invariably watch the New Zealand All Blacks play, and the 4 tennis majors, plus whatever big events are on the tele … e.g the Olympics.

OK, so I'm an enthusiast … but I am also concerned !

To realise that sports were primarily invented as an incentive to get people like you and me off their butts and into some form of physical activity, and to keep reasonably fit.

Plus to learn team-work, and other associated benefits.

I can even remember when all sports were amateur … and that's not so very long ago !

When all sportsmen and women played for pleasure or basic expenses at most … ask Colin Meads, and those of his vintage.

But in my lifetime, with the advent of Sky TV coverage etc, everything has changed !

Now the absolute reverse has happened … in this professional era, we of the masses pay for and contribute for superstars to get obscene and exorbitant payments per game, while becoming spectators and couch potatoes ourselves. Not how it was supposed to be at all.

OK, there's the argument that men especially, if they weren't engaged in competitive sport would be killing each other off in WAR. And there's merit in that argument, but wars and feuds still seem to be prevalent none the less.

I recall that AW Tozer called a 20th Century prophet, whose books and writings I have devoured, was against competitive sports for that very reason … what competition breeds in the human heart.

And in my younger days I concur, and was competitive as anyone else.

But with age, one mellows, and appreciation of exercise for its own sake grows.

But, back to the current era of professional sports, the biggest influence of which is of course TV. Sky TV here has four 24x7 sports channels, plus another 5 for special events. So there is saturation viewing, and fantastic camera work with it.

With it all comes the huge crowds … and the look on their faces … 60,000 to 80,000 fans in Melbourne Australia for an Aussie Rules Club game ! The adulation / idolisation of the current superstars, who become instant national heros, the absolute seriousness of it all.

Sport becomes a national religion in itself, with its high priests, adulation and worship, devout followers and human sacrifices so to speak ... and one main topic of conversation until the next gathering and ritualistic performance ! And when the unthinkable happens, and heaven forbid - a favourite national team loses, then total depression descends over the masses.

Then there's the side effects … the drug taking, steroids … the scourge fostered by the win-at-all-costs mentality, and the gambling (and game fixing to deal with ) … huge and monstrous in some countries.

Then there's the obvious result of the TV watching , plus the Internet, Twitter, Facebook etc etc … O B E S I T Y which in the western world is epidemic, that strains the health system, together with all the sugar loaded drinks, fast foods, processed foods etc etc consumed, but that's another huge subject on its own !

All of this as a result of population growth and the enormous drift to the cities. The change from pastoral to urban living has increased all of the associated bad effects of urbanisation, as we all fight for space. Plus the use of the car and public transport, all leading to a sedentary lifestyle becoming commonplace, with diabetes and obesity as major and increasing western health problems. Oh, the problems for civilisation and our human society to have to contend with.

To see through the commercialisation, the influence of the TV moguls, the advertisers, the idolisation of superstars, the hype, the wind-up, the ra-ra-ra, and the colossal distraction that has resulted. To get up from the couch, to escape the TV, the mobile phone, the tablet, the internet, Twitter, Facebook, etc

Someone said that the best exercise to lose weight is to shake ones head from side to side when asked for a second helping !

My answer to all of this has been to find some activity that I can integrate with my lifestyle, on a regular and constant basis ... and that I can keep up for as long as possible.

For me now its a morning walk, around a nearby park. A walk and a talk with my Lord … great … little cost, minimum effort, start the day off right, touch nature … suits me well … plus whatever tennis I can manage, for over 50 years now.

Each to ones own, to suit ones lifestyle … but the secret is that it 'fits' and that it can be CONSTANT and REGULAR, and able to fend of all intruders ! Some activity that one can integrate and keep going through life, for as long as physically possible !

Interesting to examine the word FAN shortened from FANATIC

enthusiast, zealot, bigot, hothead, militant. Fanatic, zealot, militant, devotee refer to persons showing more than ordinary support for, adherence to, or interest in a cause, point of view, or activity. Fanatic and zealot both suggest excessive or overwhelming devotion to a cause or belief. Fanatic further implies unbalanced or obsessive behavior: