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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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Sports
Sports fans must expand their horizons once again
By Stephen DawkinsTuesday, February 26, 2008 10:05 PM CST
There was a time when, and please hear me out before you show up at our building with torches and pitchforks, most people wouldn’t have considered stock car racing a sport.Some of that attitude could have been attributed to ignorance about the skill it takes to drive something at breakneck speeds in a situation where every second is important. Some of that attitude could have been attributed to the fundamental differences between NASCAR and, for example, baseball or football.Those traditional sports take combinations of speed, strength, agility and hand-eye coordination. Racing just doesn’t require as many skills, per se. Slowly, however, those perceptions have been forgotten. People realized how difficult it is to drive a racecar and how good at it one had to be to take a checkered flag. Then, the media realized just how many people had realized these things.The acceptance of stock car racing was far from an isolated case. A channel surfer that stops at ESPN during various parts of the day and week might see paintball or even poker. The choice to include these activities on a channel that calls itself “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” is questionable, but, then again, I’ve thought that before.But a recent story changed my mind about one aspect of the channel’s laughable fodder: competitive eating. One factor in being classified as a sport, for me, is the inherent risk involved. I can’t play professional football because Ray Lewis would paralyze me with one hit - and he would probably dance afterward. I can’t drive a racecar because it would end in a fiery mess.Sure, Japanese hot dog-eating sensation Kobayashi might keel over one day because he took in too much sodium nitrite, but that doesn’t count. But, apparently, competitive eating - at least of the cupcake variety - entails some more serious dangers.
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BBC News reported Adam Deeley, 34, choked to death last week during a cupcake-eating contest at a pub in Wales. The South Wales Evening Post reported Deeley was thought to have had about five of the cakes lodged in his throat.Unbelievable. Pretty soon, cupcake eating will have its own channel on DirecTV. I’ll give in to that and NASCAR, but you’ll never convince me that any game that involves playing cards is a sport.Note: Stephen Dawkins is the sports editor for The Clanton Advertiser. His column appears on Sundays and Wednesdays.
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