Outside Oberlin

Physical Inactivity in Today’s Youth Steadily Growing
by Zach Pretzer

Although this editorial focuses on an issue unrelated to the terrorist attack on New York and Washington, D.C. last Tuesday, I would like to quickly address these happenings. After all, at this time a week ago, it would have been impossible for me to write a column on anything relating to sports, considering the importance and severity of the event. Many people have already expressed their opinions on the events that occurred across America last week, and without question, this tragic experience should take precedence over any other form or news in the country.
Whether it be on television, radio or in print, the attacks upon the World Trade Center and the Pentagon will for a long time be a featured topic of discussion and debate, and I find it fairly difficult to rationally relate sports to these recent attacks. The only question to be answered concerning sports and these acts of terrorism is if, for some ridiculous reason, we were to go war, what effect would it have on the sports world?
If the United States were to take action against Afghanistan, it is my opinion that sports would be become a relatively small issue in comparison to world news, but would still serve as an important outlet for many people. My sports editing partner in crime, Jamal Haynes, addresses this issue in his editorial below, but I would rather take the opportunity to use sports as an outlet for my own personal gain. Just like most people on this campus and more explicitly across the country, I could write indefinitely about the recent terrorist attacks, but as a sports editor I feel more qualified to express my opinions on solely sports-related issues affecting our society today. Hey, they don’t give us the last four or five pages of the paper for nothing.
There are many other issues that need to be addressed in our society, such as crime, drug abuse and a wounded economy, and there also those other issues that seldom get talked about, especially in hard times like those our country is facing now. I don’t consider myself an expert on any of the aforementioned issues, so I am going to discuss an issue that has certainly been talked about, but perhaps not to the degree of issues that have a more detrimental effect on society, such as crime and drugs.

Bad health, which is rarely the cause of such things as crime and drugs but rather is usually an after-effect, is an issue that directly affects our society. There are many reasons for this, whether it be the lack of time to exercise (a sure symptom of the information revolution, increasingly divided labor and busy, busy schedules), genetics or even the conscious decision to live a lazy and pathetic existence. Whatever the reason may be for bad health among some of us Americans, one sure thing is that it exists and it largely affects our country’s youth.
Just about everyone had to be addicted at some point in their childhood to “Super Mario Brothers”, “The Legend of Zelda”, “R.B.I. Baseball” or even “Nintendo Barbie” — heck, my roommate still is. But the main point which I’d address is that because of our fascination with video games and our ability to get our parents to buy them, video game systems and other technologies for kids have improved greatly since we were little tots, and consequently, it seems to me that a great number of kids today prefer to stay inside and play “Final Fantasy XXXVIII” rather than going outside to play a game of baseball or football. Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of us college peoples play video games (I’m personally addicted to “Triple Play 2001”), but it’s a different issue when it relates to kids.
It’s not that I have been counting exactly, but I have noticed increasing obesity in young children, and one of the main reasons for this I believe is the decreasing activity of kids, which is of course caused by video games, the amount of junk food that more kids seem to eat and the lack of physical activity that they take part in. Yes, as kids, we also spent a great amount of time playing video games, but it didn’t seem to be as big a priority as going outside and playing a sport or hanging out with your friends. I can remember my days as a kid spent playing freeze tag, scavenger hunts, hide and seek and just plain running around. However, what was once just an every once in a while indulgence, playing video games has now become a rather constant way of life for kids today.

When I go home, one of the most depressing things to me is seeing the parks by my house, where as a youngster, my brother, all of the kids in our neighborhood and I spent every day playing some form of sport, tag or other game, now empty and over-grown. The memories I have in those places are far from depressing; in fact they are some of the best I have of my early life. However, what is disheartening is that I know these are the only places around my town to play — there are three parks in a small area and all of them are empty.

Is this our fault? Did our intrigue in Luigi, Mario, Bowser, Princess Zelda and Mike Tyson’s uppercut lead to the eventual downfall of physical activity among our youth? Of course, this does not represent the entire population of kids in our country, but few can argue that new game systems and the growing number of junk food brands have affected children in a serious way. Can’t you remember when the only junk to buy at the store was Lemonheads, Atomic Fire Balls and Bubbalicious gum (can’t forget the gummy worms, either)? And the advances in video and computer games are really quite astonishing. There was a period in junior high and high school when I didn’t touch a video game, and then towards the end of high school I discovered that Nintendo’s new system and the Sony PlayStation are actually ten times better graphic-wise than the original “Mario Brothers,” which by all accounts and zero doubt, was the shiat.
Things change and, like anything else, so do people — but it is what influences us that is at the root of our transformation. In this case, technological advances in indoor games have proved to be both the good and the evil — they are entertaining for all, but harmful for the physical health of children.

Could American Sports Handle World War Three?
by Ian Haynes

With last Tuesday’s bombings stiffer security has been instated at all sporting events across the nation, especially college football games. The venues in which college football games are played dwarf any NFL stadium.
The largest of these stadiums is at the University of Michigan which seats over 107,000 people. Not only is security at the games tighter, in Michigan, planes are no longer allowed to fly over the stadium while a game is in progress. Anything can get you detained at the gates, from the obvious purses and jackets to the more obscure coolers, bottles and cameras. These are just a few of the security measures being taken in attempts to prevent another national tragedy from happening.
The question in my mind is whether or not American sports as a whole could handle a world war at this point in time. I submit that they could not. Even without the installation of the draft, a declaration of war could see thousands of American athletes at every level of competition trading in their spikes for combat boots and their bats and balls for heavy-duty artillery. Please understand that I am looking at this as a worst-case scenario and I hope that this never happens.
I’m sure everyone remembers the movie A League of Their Own, the story of women playing professional baseball. Because of that, baseball survived the war. Can baseball survive this time? It is highly doubtful. I mean, who is going to play? We have tried replacement players and that didn’t work. Remember the cards you got with names you are bound to never hear again. Those guys couldn’t put people in the seats. Women won’t save the game this time because many of them will be trading sports bras for camos. The only suggestion I have for baseball if we go to war is start televising Dominican baseball games.
Baseball is not the only game that will suffer though. Soccer is finally getting a toehold on the national level in the United States. Sending players to war will knock soccer off balance, causing them to lose the grasp they were finally gaining, sending them out of the United States and making it yet again the World’s sport, but not America’s.
To lose sports at any level would be a loss of more than just a game or a fun pastime. Sports bring people together, not just to play, but to watch, to relax and to enjoy. I don’t know if there is a much better feeling than getting home from a stressful day, whether it be work or school, and just sitting down and relaxing in front of a TV watching your favorite team play. Regardless of whether or not my team wins just to be able to relax knowing that for the next couple of hours I can forget about everything else and watch people doing something they love is a great feeling.
Athletes in today’s society are thought of as heroes on the playing field, even moreso than in times past. To lose a major athlete as a casualty of war would be an unthinkably devastating act to many. Could you imagine baseball without the likes of Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. or Mark McGwire? How about women’s tennis without the Williams sisters and Jennifer Capriati? Or even more horrific, what would golf be without Tiger Woods? Woods is the man who made golf cool to play. Without him, the game could return to its previous status as a snobby country club sport. America needs its “heroes” to stay on the field and out of the armed forces. But then again, this is me thinking of war as hand to hand combat, with snipers sitting in trees disposing of enemy troops as they try to sneak around in the jungle. Today war tactics involve the push of a button, not the movement of troops. Why send troops in when we can blow things up from a thousand miles away? So the chance of losing a major athlete to a casualty of war is less, but still possible.

In my honest opinion, if we ever went to war and there was a call to enlist I would do so without thinking twice about it. Serving my country is something I feel I should do. Do I think that a big name athlete should get special treatment because of who they are? Most definitely no. But at the same time, they are what make the games we love to watch so popular.
Don’t get me wrong, I think war is a horrible thing in general and should be avoided at all costs. I don’t think sports are the reason we should avoid war; we should avoid war because there is always a peaceful solution to any conflict. Sports make up one of, if not the, largest pastimes in America. It reaches people at every level and offers enjoyment and relaxation to anyone involved playing or watching. With war we risk the loss of everything sports have ever given us.
This catastrophe, although horrible, has brought us together as a nation. After their postponements, athletic teams are showing support is various ways. In baseball for example, all teams are wearing American flags on their jerseys or hats in remembrance of the day and the events and to honor those who risked and even lost their lives while trying to save others.
In New York, the Yankees and the Mets have taken it one step further, wearing hats of the cities emergency servicess to honor the police, paramedic and fire squads who have been working non-stop in the city trying to restore a sense of calm after last week. Wednesday night in a game between the San Francisco Giants and the Houston Astros, time was taken out to sing “God Bless America.” During the song, tears filled fans’ and players’ eyes as they remembered the events of last week. This is not much, but seeing the flags and the special hats does do one thing for Americans. It gives them a sense of pride in their country. We must pick up and move on, the game must be played, but picking up and moving on does not mean forgetting about the past.