This is the Statt Mann Baby!! Time to Scatt a little bit.
We’ve spent many years now emphasizing sports as entertainment. I was on that bandwagon when it first rolled but I jumped off years ago.
When we create entertainment stars we have entertainment problems. And all sports have those problems including alleged drug abuse and a conviction for child abuse in the NASCAR community.
When athletes buy into the star treatment in the entertainment world, they believe they’re above the team. And we see the results in the headlines almost daily.
It’s obviously entertaining and fun to watch the competition of sports and motorsports in OUR case. Part of the entertainment is seeing young people grow into adults with a singleness of purpose in becoming team and competing for a common goal of success.
Oddly enough the same can be said for the true entertainment business in Hollywood or Las Vegas. But in those venues, when the project is over, the individuals disperse until the next project.
In sports, when the event is over, there’s another event coming soon involving the same team of adults. That’s sport.
Sports, at its core, is competition. Entertainment, at its core, is diversion.
When we confuse the two, it’s sport that suffers and I, for one, aren’t ready to turn all athletic competition into The Globetrotters.
Peace.