This last weekend I went home to Boca
Raton and attended a little league soccer game. The one thing
I notice more and more about children is how serious they are
when they play a game. Automatically before the coach said anything
they had already put on their gear and began practice. The players
all looked about the same age, six to eight. Their siblings were
in the stands playing some electronic games and three parents
were filming the event.
It was a slow day at first but once the game began all eyes turned
toward the field. One big burly guy viewed the game as intensely
as I’ve seen from spectators at professional games. The
players were very disciplined on the field. The game went well,
few injuries and no one were terribly upset when the red team
won 7 to 2.
It would have been a very normal game however something I’ve
never seen before happened. As the spectators watched they did
other things beside cheer on the players. Some talked on their
cell phones, had conversations with each other and walked their
dogs during some of the slower portions of the game. It wasn’t
carelessness or callousness or the typical attitude of many Boca
Raton snobs but just the fact that people were able to watch the
game and do other things at the same time.
According to the website http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/papers/kemper.html,
“Video games become positioned within a historical line
of sports spectatorship and its attendant notions of interactivity.”
It seemed many people were able to watch the game and do other
things at the time with the same amount of enthusiasm. The game
brought back memories of when I played in little league. Back
then, I found despite my physical ability I felt great being part
of the game and being watched by all the spectators. There’s
definite charge from watching live sports where anything can happen.
Even if it’s a brief moment of confusion or just an odd
occurrence, there is something that can be replicated by videogames
and can only be experienced live.
Back
to Sporting Event