the colosseum

the major league baseball all star game was just last night, and it was truly great (non-baseball fans bear with me). 15 innings, winning on a sac-fly with a close play at the plate. both teams down to their last pitcher. the dreaded possibility of another tie hanging over everyones' heads as bud selig looked down on the game. kc's own joakim soria pitched a solid couple innings, giving up no runs and striking out a couple--and making them look bad doing it. the nl still unable to win an all star game since 1996. a young rangers player hitting 28 home runs in the first round of the derby the night before. great story lines.

but the choice story was that this was the all star game played in yankee stadium during its last season. since 1923 it has been "the house the ruth built." a great place of american history and tradition, holding thousands of games and the best players of america's greatest pastime. at one point the announcer referred to it as really our modern day colosseum. and that got me thinking.

you know, yankee stadium probably is our modern day coliseum. except of course that we don't kill the people performing in the arena. no, instead the only people who are put to death are the fans.

like ancient rome the colosseum was used to appease the masses. to keep them happy and distracted. don't get me wrong, i'm quite a big sports fan of course. but sometimes i wonder why, and what it's done to me. i didn't really miss it all that much when i was abroad. it was like being free. as if i am somehow bound to it here and cannot get away. i feel the same way with much of entertainment. what good does it do? tv shows, sports, movies. i am all for art, but it is kind of hard to find sometimes amidst all the entertainment.

sometimes it gets to me, usually while i am watching a baseball game, that i don't think anything really all that good gets accomplished by someone who has burdened themselves with the weight of passing so much time being merely entertained. you can take it to a deeper level analyzing it and breaking it all down, sharing it with friends and much more. and you can probably get some measure of delight from it all. but is it all worth it? all the massive quantities of time it takes?

i guess the question is if you really believe that you have something better to offer with the way you spend your time than just receiving stimulating vicariouness.

i don't mean this to seem condemning or judgmental, and i am saying this to myself as much as to anyone. i think it's good to sometimes take a step back from whatever, from everything we do and just ask ourselves "what is this all about?" we accept far too many things at face value as normal and reasonable.