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Sometime back my daughter and I had a brief conversation about the nature of athletic performance. I expressed the opinion that athletic endeavor is actually artistic performance. She would have none of that. She did not, however, articulate reasons for her opinion. To be fair, I'm certain she'd never thought about it.
My argument: To generalize sweepingly, competitive sports involve public exhibitions that demand of their performers adherence to exacting rules (incorporating, more often than not, strong ritualistic elements) and whose critical reception by their audience depends on primarily aesthetic judgements. On this view, one might argue (as a reducto ad absurdum) the crucial distinction between a baseball game and a performance of Hamlet is that in the latter case, a performer need worry less about getting a career-ending injury. (But watch out for those sandbags!)
I'm not exactly knowledgeable about most forms of athletic endeavor. The only sport I ever competed in was analytic foil, and it has been decades since I last fought a bout. I don't even follow professional sports. But here's the thing: I read almost every obituary of a professional athlete I see in the newspaper. As best as I can articulate it, my reason for doing that is to try and get some sense of the personal struggle than lay behind the public performance. One does not have to be a fan of boxing-or even approve of boxing-to find Muhammad Ali's life astonishing.
I'm curious to learn what others think.
My argument: To generalize sweepingly, competitive sports involve public exhibitions that demand of their performers adherence to exacting rules (incorporating, more often than not, strong ritualistic elements) and whose critical reception by their audience depends on primarily aesthetic judgements. On this view, one might argue (as a reducto ad absurdum) the crucial distinction between a baseball game and a performance of Hamlet is that in the latter case, a performer need worry less about getting a career-ending injury. (But watch out for those sandbags!)
I'm not exactly knowledgeable about most forms of athletic endeavor. The only sport I ever competed in was analytic foil, and it has been decades since I last fought a bout. I don't even follow professional sports. But here's the thing: I read almost every obituary of a professional athlete I see in the newspaper. As best as I can articulate it, my reason for doing that is to try and get some sense of the personal struggle than lay behind the public performance. One does not have to be a fan of boxing-or even approve of boxing-to find Muhammad Ali's life astonishing.
I'm curious to learn what others think.
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