Memphis, Kansas, and auto racing

In the aftermath of what http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3332081&sportCat=ncb describes as a NCAA Men's Final Four in need of saving this Monday night, I thought long and hard about what it is that might really need saving in the 21st century sports world that we inhabit. Fast breaks, legendary deep passes, impossible points and veritable gamut of explosions aside...for all the entertainment qualities that sports can provide, I had to ask myself, while reading that article, one very simple question.

So?

There are two definitions of the word Sport in modern American English. People believe in one or the other, but never both; if they give you lip service to the contrary, it means they're either lying to you, believe in the first of the two I will name (most likely this one), or simply don't understand the vital differences between the two. Either way, there are two.

1) Sport: action undertaken for fun and leisure.
2) Sport: rule-regulated competition.

Simple as that. It cannot be both.

Sports cars provide a good lense through which to view this. The commercials attempting to sell sports car can and will advertise the former, always. Taking a high-octane, never-mind-the-fuel-mileage machine out to turn fast speeds in the wild plains or wilderness of the Great American West or, now, the concrete jungle highways of one of the Gigantic Supercities...living a life free of responsibility, free of worry...all of that makes it into sports car commercials. It sells.

On the other hand, sports cars are raced, as well. The "prototype" inventions of such teams as Audi, in the American Le Mans Series, provide a suitably exotic appearance to catch the eye of even the most jaded viewers. With just how ALIEN some of those machines look, while still being SPORTS cars, it places the definition of the term Sport securely in the latter of those two above. They are built the way they are to win: sport...rule-regulated competition.

I myself believe, to a religious degree, in the latter. People who want to play fast and loose with rules, who want to just make shit up as they go, will find not only no sympathy from me, they will find only derision. Or, better said, if two men named Mr. Barnum & Mr. Bailey believed in just doing whatever is necessary to attract the crowds to sell those tickets and make some money...the same mindset used so often in the ancient Roman Colosseum, al la Bread & Circuses...then here's wishing I could've been there to personally assassinate either of them, and by all means, Bring On The Barbarians.

Sport should be governed by rules. Changing rules to suit need for entertainment is only valid (not to say it doesn't happen, mind you) when it means making a better GAME: a better competition. Doing it in order to sell more seats is the path to the madness of relativism...and to all you people out there who have EVER seen or competed in a baseball game in your life, I'll put it this way: imagine a world where all stats have become meaningless.

That's the future of a world where everyone pines for the next exciting thing, and who gives a damn about the rules in the process. That's the NASCAR future, among other things: a future of emptiness. I for one don't want that future. I for one don't want to tell others "meh, it's just my thing that I like." I'd prefer to say "Here's why it matters. Here's why Ted Williams was one of the most astounding hitters in the history of major league. Here's why the legends of Bill Vukovich and Frank Lockhart are so incredible. Here's meaning."

The Memphis Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks played better, in their blowouts of UCLA and North Carolina, respectively. They will face each other for the National Collegiate Athletic Association's 2008 Division I-A Men's Basketball Championship Monday night. I do not care who wins, as regards this post. The fact that by the rules of the game, they played accurately, aggressively, and good enough to both blow away their opponents is the point: as it should be in automobile racing. Both are sports; may the best participant, be they the best by outright talent (driver skill or technology, in racing) or by strategic moves, win. Period. If either Memphis or Kansas destroy the other in the Monday night game, the moral is this: one team was that much better, this year. Next year will be different, either a little or a lot. Just like in racing.

Let the fools have nonstop excitement. I'll take real, with a dash of meaning, thank you.