The Super Bowl is nothing more than Circus and Bread for the ignorant masses...

Originally posted by reficul
reply to post by Char-Lee

 

i think we are out numbered her my friend! easier to hate than to understand!

I don't hate, i just have the blinders off...I am not part of your herd.

So many angry people...if you don't watch the games the game watchers hate you!

Football Brain-Injury Data May Show Evidence of Sport's Long-Term Risks

www.businessweek.com...

No one will argue that athletes make too much money. But unless you buy a team shirt or game ticket, it doesn't cost me a dime. The companies running the advertising are paying for it.

And while these athletes do make a lot of money, for one they rarely play past their late 30s when their careers end, so they have to cover the rest of their lives, and they end up with a lot of medical costs later on, and many with mental impairments from the impacts.

And many are educated, and have degrees in finance, engineering and business. The NFL is continually pushing education in their continuing education program on the players so they can have a second career after the nfl, and as role models for the kids.

reply to post by pityocamptes


Your first mistake is coming to ATS to look for love.

reply to post by nixie_nox


Just forget it you will never win with this guy. He will come back with a one sentence response that sounds like a 12 year old compiled it.

He is much better than us "Cro-magnon" football fans.

"Panem et Circensus"

Interesting...

www.bloomberg.com...

Rome in the first two centuries A.D. faced a yawning gulf between rich and poor. The mighty empire built on tribute reached its geographic limits. Its economy created few exportable goods. Slaves acquired by conquest built most of its bridges, roads and aqueducts and took jobs in farming, mining and construction. As this cheaper labor replaced Roman citizens, idle, unemployed, hungry people filled the capital.

The Caesars created make-work and part-time jobs, subsidized housing and doled out grain. Even more, they found, was needed. “A people that yawns is ripe for revolt,” wrote Jerome Carcopino in “Daily Life in Ancient Rome.”

The emperors added holidays until, eventually, the Romans spent half their days attending gladiator games, public executions and chariot races. Disgusted, the satirist Juvenal accused his fellow citizens of selling out for bribes of “bread and circuses.” The Romans did nothing to prove him wrong, until two centuries later the empire was divided forever and Rome was sacked by Visigoths.

The complicated causes of Rome’s decline have long fascinated historians, and provide a lens through which to examine the vulnerability of other dominant cultures. Americans’ addiction to entertainment has been compared to the circuses of ancient Rome. We can, and do, spend much of our free time watching dreck on TV like “Half Pint Brawlers,” about a company of self-styled “midget wrestlers” who attack each other with staple guns and broken bottles. In fact, in 2009, people over age 15 spent an average of 58 percent of their leisure time watching television, playing games and using the Internet -- an increase of 16 percent from 2003.

Digital Age
When entertainment dominates a society, it changes more than the culture; it also reshapes the economy. You can see that circuses are where the money is from the rise of digital entertainment, which has steered enormous amounts of discretionary income toward digital content and the devices that run it: laptops, televisions, gaming consoles, smart phones. In the decade leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, the only major industry other than health care that consistently showed strong real growth was consumer electronics.

Although hit hard by the recession, spending on digital media has now begun to rebound. The question is who benefits. We produce a lot of content, yet most of the devices it comes on are not made in the U.S.

Trade Imbalances
This exemplifies another problem that vexed the Romans and faces us today: Dominant economies tend to import more than they export, creating trade imbalances. The manufactured stuff of life, basic items such as food, clothing, cars, phones and furniture -- the bread, as opposed to the circuses -- costs less to buy if produced elsewhere than if made by a highly developed country’s own citizens. The result is a loss of jobs at home.

The conquest-driven Romans stand out in history as an extreme example. They brought home their imports, including slave labor, as plunder. This made the “bread” as cheap as it could be, and put the Romans themselves out of work.

We merely face a situation in which our labor costs, laws and regulations make U.S. business less competitive than that of other countries. In the 1990s, manufacturing workers went through a draconian loss of employment as work was sent offshore. The very thing that drove the jobs overseas made the bread cheap. During the high-growth bubble decade that culminated in 2008, the sales growth rates of basic consumer goods such as apparel, cars and sporting goods averaged less than 2 percent, so low as to be deflationary in real terms.

‘Service Economy’
Offsetting the loss of manufacturing work, the leverage- happy bubble era created so many jobs for bankers, hairstylists, airline ticket agents and home health aides that we began to describe ourselves as a “service economy.” But service businesses are vulnerable to the very same forces that drove the fat out of manufacturing. Take retailing. Since the 1990s, businesses that helped make the bread cheaper, such as superstores and warehouse clubs, were the only major category of retailers to show strong growth. Now these businesses, too, are severely pressured by more efficient online sellers, which are growing twice as fast as their offline counterparts.

The proportion of our total population that is currently working has fallen to 58.4 percent, the level it was in 1983, when far fewer women were in the job market.

Consumers and Workers
It’s true that this percentage should improve as the economy moves past the lingering effects of the financial crisis, but recovery won’t alter the fundamental trend. Structural forces are creating some very serious employment headwinds, faced especially by younger, less educated men.

Simply put, what has been good for American consumers hasn’t been good for workers.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
No one will argue that athletes make too much money. But unless you buy a team shirt or game ticket, it doesn't cost me a dime. The companies running the advertising are paying for it.

And while these athletes do make a lot of money, for one they rarely play past their late 30s when their careers end, so they have to cover the rest of their lives, and they end up with a lot of medical costs later on, and many with mental impairments from the impacts.

And many are educated, and have degrees in finance, engineering and business. The NFL is continually pushing education in their continuing education program on the players so they can have a second career after the nfl, and as role models for the kids.

Your wrong. It does cost you money... A LOT OF MONEY.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
No one will argue that athletes make too much money. But unless you buy a team shirt or game ticket, it doesn't cost me a dime. The companies running the advertising are paying for it.

And while these athletes do make a lot of money, for one they rarely play past their late 30s when their careers end, so they have to cover the rest of their lives, and they end up with a lot of medical costs later on, and many with mental impairments from the impacts.

And many are educated, and have degrees in finance, engineering and business. The NFL is continually pushing education in their continuing education program on the players so they can have a second career after the nfl, and as role models for the kids.

Name a handfull. The vast majority skate by on BS degrees that are 100% WORTHLESS in the real world.

reply to post by reficul


This really is an overused point.

My job IS to spend 40-50 hours a week worrying about other people's welfare.

People need a break from the grind.

And if your only knowledge of football is that some jock is throwing a ball, you really shouldn't criticize it till you know more about it.

reply to post by pityocamptes


Andrew Radovich~ Vikings~Sociology

Fred Robbins ~ Rams~Sociology

Billy Bajema ~Rams~Business

Leigh Bodden ~free agent, formerly Browns~ Business

Todd Johnson~just released from the Bills in 2010 due to injury, now a football coach~Kinesiology

Matt Forte~Bears~Economics

Ryan Fitzpatrick~Bills~ Harvard graduate

Matt Birk~Ravens~Harvard graduate

Craig Dahl~Rams~mechanical engineering

Usama Young~Browns~education

See NFL players can make twice as much as non degreed players in the NFL. But the NFL has found that the players with degrees, tend to be much better players as they show the tenacity to complete something and get what they want.
Which is why the number of players holding degrees is up to 50%,and the NFL is pushing the continuing education program.

And these are all current players, I can start listing former players...

And this doesn't include the slew of people on standby.

Originally posted by olliemc84

Originally posted by Char-Lee

Originally posted by seabhac-rua

Originally posted by reficul
reply to post by pityocamptes

 

i'm with you friend,what a waste of time! (not mine!)did ya see the commercials?did ya see the half time show? did ya see the pre game show? did ya get drunk out of yer face? did ya get corraled like the rest of the sheeple?
did you use your brain!?
did you see the football players standing around doing nothing for 10 min. at a time?
did you make sure your kids were loved and safe? did you think about the plight of your country,or the world,or the people starving around the world? DID YOU EVEN THINK??????
stupid game anyway,deserves its fans!
nice post,thank you!

If somebody wants to watch t.v. drink beer and cheer on their favorite team let 'em, what difference does it make to you? I'll tell you what difference.....none.
Too many snooty cooks make a sour broth.
Too many holier than thou cooks make a tasteless miserable stew.

edit on 6-2-2012 by seabhac-rua because: (no reason given)

Every year there is more violence associated with this fun that people will sometimes live and die for. Have you seen the latest research on what playing football does to the human brain..how sad that we need to have violent matches to root for and feel we are somehow part of one side or another.

Or a team that can be bought sold and moved... belongs to us..our city, and the players, our heroes only destroy their brains for millions of dollars...shallow way to keep the masses occupied identical to what was used by the Roman emperors to control the down trodden masses.

The game of football has been played since 1874. The first Super Bowl was played in 1967. This isn't a new phenomenon. So why don't you get off your high horse and get over yourself already.

I bet you were the kind of kid in high school that was picked on by all the jocks/football players.

I'm really starting to despise ATS and the stupid threads that get started by uptight citizens that like to relate modern times with times of antiquity. And also sick of hearing about how much better they are because of the way they raise their kids. My 3 year old son wore a Giants jersey all day yesterday and cheered for the Giants along with his family and had a blast. The way I see it, as long as he is happy, I am happy.

Actually I was the kind of kid that was hit on by all the Jocks/football players. No one makes anyone choose to read a certain thread...
Kids do anything to please their adults.

Care to divulge any additional details to this thread, OP?

How was the Super Bowl "like Rome" all over again?

Because the half-time show has Roman influences in its settings?

Sorry, but this is a weak thread..

Yes, the Super Bowl is quite the spectacle, is it not?! In all reality I believe ALL sports are dangerous and destructive to the connection we should all seek as these spiritual beings in human suits! In my humble and honest opinion all sports are a divisionary, distractive tactic put in place by tptb! Honestly, the amount of infighting amongst us human beings caused by either winning or losing a "game"!!

My 13 yr old played football for his middle school this past season and I can not even express effectively just how catty and snotty and pretentous the whole thing was from start to finish! The coaches screaming about slaughtering the other team, making them eat turf and so on. The parents screaming about whose son was better and whining about the lack of "on field time" their boy's had! It just gets worse! At games, grown adults, screaming about killing children who played dirty and there was even a fight in the parking lot after a game by two mothers whose son's were on opposing teams!

Just disgusting and a senseless waste of our valuable time! As I said, I. Believe this to be true in all sports and among all sports fans! Wasn't it somewhere in Europs where fans were literally collapsing bleachers due to fighting over a soccer (or football) game and people died?! Open your mind and think a little, this is entrapment of the human soul, plain and simple!

Needless to say, no more sports for my children!

reply to post by olliemc84


you sir are a #ing idiot! i don't put my whole life on line for people like you to pick apart,o.k.
go enjoy your foot ball and find another hobby besides masterbating at your computer while you try to put me down.
go spend some time with your children. your candor is most uncalled for,and i have my right to my opinion on the stupidest game in the world called foot ball,which is a dumb american word that the rest of the world calls soccer!
how many times do their feet actually touch the ball?
go shoot your gun to get rid of any hostillities you have.
i'm done.
peace

Originally posted by reficul
reply to post by Char-Lee

 

but football has all those cute cheerleaders!
what ever happened to good old mayan soccer when the losing team gets brutally murdered?

for some strange reason i chuckled at this statement

Originally posted by Starchild23
Let people enjoy their time how they want! Seriously, I enjoy the chance to sit and relax and enjoy a few beers while something's on tv...

And generally, it leads to more beer afterward.

Win win, bruh.

thats right... indulge with the rest of the mindless "no harm done" masses...

in my humble opinion sports fans are one of the most mind numbingly ignorant/arrogant/ brain dead audience of them all..

"nothing wrong with sitting my fat ass on the couch bruh, while i kill a couple of brain cells with the, im cool and hip with society cuz i drink beer mentality"

human race disgusts me

reply to post by ooYODAoo


thanx for the chuckle! but i got some gun toting as##hole buggin me about a stupid foot ball game and the fact
my kids are into martial arts. he'd rather use automatic rifles! the guy is a dink and should be kicked off ats!
hes been buggin me all day with his stupid mindless rant!

reply to post by ooYODAoo


YA! i'm with you! now how do you get this stupid football guy off my ass?
olliemc84

reply to post by reficul




lol just ignore him, sometimes silence is your best weapon against those who seek attention

reply to post by ooYODAoo

ya i suppose your right! my passion gets the better of me sometimes.
i enjoy the thought that calmer minds prevail on this site,and thats why i keep coming back!
stupidity does not preveil,no?
peace,and thanx!

Originally posted by ooYODAoo

in my humble opinion sports fans are one of the most mind numbingly ignorant/arrogant/ brain dead audience of them all..


human race disgusts me

That's a real ignorant/arrogant statement right there. A 'humble opinion'?? More like a sweeping generalization from somebody who likes to look down their nose at people they deem inferior.

I'm no sports fan, but whatever my interests may be I don't have to look far to find somebody who thinks they're better than me, or doesn't like the way I look, the clothes I wear, what I drink or smoke. What I do with my time on this planet is my business....and that includes whether I like to enjoy watching sports or Star Wars.
Yoda my arse.

I also doubt the OP knows much about Roman society other than what he's watched on TV or in movies. Rome all over again? Were you there the first time?