Great comments; I’ve rarely seen a consensus in a thread here that so perfectly mirrors my own thoughts. Completely agree with not being that good, don’t want to spend that much time on a game, concerned about injuries, etc. Just would like to add that for a lot of us, school, particularly high school, is a HUGE turnoff for ever wanting to waste another second with sports ever again. It certainly was for me. Lessee, kids with a huge range of athletic ability and competitive drive (high end, captain of the boys’ basketball team, low end, me) divided into teams, made to play some ridiculous game (with really lousy equipment, too) that has absolutely no effect on anything…and everyone acts like it matters. And the ones who screw up the most, even if they can’t help it because they’re, y’know unathletic, get torn to pieces for it. Oh, did I mention that the instructor was the third most useless pile of crap in the entire school (#2: the West-Point-degree-which-completely-gives-him-the-right-to-shove-his-head-firmly-up-his-rectum principal, #1: that alcoholic sociopath they called a “counselor”) who was full of helpful suggestions like “Come ON!” and “I’m not gonna BABY you anymore!” This is “physical education” how??
Other than that, one of the things that seemingly every sportsman has to accept, and which I will never, ever accept, is that mistakes and even gross injustices not only cannot ever be fixed, we have to accept the result as legitimate.
I work in accounting. Accuracy is paramount. Without it, my entire reason for being there does not exist. I make mistakes. The people who give me figures make mistakes. My clients make mistakes. This is acceptable. Allowing these mistakes to stand is not acceptable. It doesn’t matter how small the amount is or how much time has passed. There is no “statute of limitations” on making a rent figure, or a payment, or a utility allowance, or a security deposit what it should be and what it should’ve always been in the first place. And the slightest hint of corruption is grounds for immediate termination. (I’ve already seen it happen to one co-worker.)
So please, how do I accept the following:
Olympics, men’s basketball gold medal game. Game, already concluded, is restarted by some random putz with no more authority than Woody Harrelson. Then on the final-final play, the referees enforce at least two nonexistent rules and fail to call a flagrant foul on the winning bucket. Finally, in the protest, three out of five judges are USSR puppets and uphold the injustice. Honestly, the Soviets may have well just bought the damn medal and saved everyone the trouble.
Olympics, women’s all-around. Vault is set several inches lower than it’s supposed to. It’s not discovered until the contest has already begun. In any sane sport, when this happens, it’s called off (there’s even a term for it, “no contest”). However, due to [murmur murmur mumble murmur], play on!
One out from a perfect game. On what should’ve been a final at-bat, batter is out by at least a full step, but the first-base umpire makes the wrong, wrong, wrong, wrongwrongwrongwrongWRONG call (which he himself admitted afterward!); immortality lost. Then Bud Selig, of course, makes the soft, easy, craven, pathetic, cowardly, spineless, zero-effort decision to uphold the incorrect call, for which he gets praised for upholding the integrity of the sport or some crap. (Oh, red herring slippery slope arguments? Loved those.
World Cup. TWO nations get boned on nakedly corrupt officiating, and everyone laughs and sings about the “home field advantage”. Later, England gets bounced when goal that was at least three feet past the line isn’t counted (I think another scored on what should’ve been an offsides call), and still no call for even instant replay, and don’t even bother explaining why because there’s nothing you can tell me that I could possibly believe.
Olympics (last time, promise), pairs figure skating final. Russians edge out Canadians in long program final. 5-4. But then one of the judges who had the Russians ahead turns out to be crooked. Seeing as this has changed the result of a figure skating event, oh, ZERO times, nobody things much of it. But this time is different; out goes the French judge, and since there’s no provision for using one of the subs here, it’s a 4-4 tie! Which should mean…nothing, since the Russians finished higher in the short program. But NBC, or the Olympic committee, or whatever, wanted a feel-good ending, so in the end, someone (and I have no idea who’d have the authority of this) declared a double gold medal. Just like that. Hell, who needs rules? And setting a terrible precedent, very nice!
How about the football games won on a “fifth down”, one of which decided a national championship? One, possibly two Super Bowls won on horrible calls (and it would be more if so many of then weren’t blowouts)? How about hockey’s ridiculous “crease” rule, enforced with all the consistency of a drunk archer? Do I even need to mention boxing?
And those are just the big disasters. Everyone in the NBA knows that superstar calls are a reality, and refs actually get criticized for doing their jobs late in the game (“let them play” = turn into the ref in Arch Rivals). Tennis gets so many line calls wrong that even John freaking McEnroe stopped couldn’t be bothered to raise a stink anymore. The Tour de France has several completely pure dumb luck random ways a rider can get fragged in every stage. And except for the one-in-a-million case, none of this is ever allowed to be corrected, and absolutely not with readily available technology.
I’m supposed to look at junk and call it fine art? I’m supposed to care what the results of these spurious “contests” are? And then be inspired to do it myself? No, no, and hell no.
And this is the last I’ll ever say about the matter. (Yeah, I’m sure you’re relieved. 
) No more for me. Life really is too short.