Today is kinda a big day in Seattle…the new NHL season begins and the Seattle Kraken make their regular season debut. As a kid growing up in the parries of Canada, in my two room school house we slapped on our ice skates everyday during lunch at school and hit the rink with sticks in hand. Every neighborhood had hockey rinks (plural), and many people made and maintained hockey rinks in their backyards. Hockey was always in the air.
Its so cool to see Seattleites wearing Kraken gear. I have to say, I think Seattle’s sport’s teams have some of the best uniforms and logos in pro sports. Now we just need the Sonics back.
BTW – I say all this and I’m not even a big sports fan, I don’t follow any of the teams very closely. But I do watch or attend an occasional game, more because my love for my city than anyone one sport. While as a kid played all the major sports to some degree, yet the professionalization of sport concerns me.
In fact, I have a growing sense that professional sports is – all too often – a violent form of systemic oppression.
I have deep concern for young athletes and feel as though they are often reduced to property… signing over their bodily rights to “owners” who control almost every aspect of their lives. These players are bought, sold, and traded; often never consulted, and having limited say in decisions that have a huge effect on their lives, relationships, and experience of community.
But what about the big pay checks – you may say – according to Sports Illustrated (quoted on Wikipedia) 35% of NFL players are broke within two years of retirement, its 60% in the NBA – professional athletes in the USA are 4X more likely to experience bankruptcy than other Americans. I’m sure all these numbers are debated yet the numbers appear to point to a system that may be doing serious harm to players for our entertainment and the profit of the owners.
These athletes are human beings. Their lives matter. Sport is part of the human experience, but the American system appears to be broken. Its the worst of capitalism, because it profits hinge on the commodification of people. The owners are profiting at the expense of human beings treated as expendable and replaceable. Athletes matter.
…And Seattle is getting Kraken, and there is much rejoicing!
Peace, dwight
