Back to UFC, sport, theater, etc. I was talking last time out about how sport needs possibility to be credible. Unless we believe that everyone out there is trying to win, there's no point to watching. Best is when either side could win, and the outcome is in genuine doubt up to the last moment. Any given Sunday, in short ... which accounts for some of the NFL's popularity.
Truth matters to me in sports. Which is interesting because my taste in books and movies is exactly the opposite. I do not read a lot of non-fiction. I don't watch a lot of documentaries. I like a story because it is exciting -- not because it is true. I'd rather watch the unlikely history of Casablanca than the scary and real Triumph Of The Will. I like Shakespeare's Richard III much more than the historically correct portrait of a talented and unlucky statesman, who may not even have been a hunchback (speaking of which, that is some serious hunch in the picture, eh? Anthony Sher is not messing around).
You'd think, given this predisposition, that I'd prefer WWE over UFC. No question that the drama is higher in wrestling, the personalities larger, the visuals more arresting. And yet I can not watch it. Not for a moment. I'd rather watch curling. Or tiddlywinks. I'd rather watch any sport where the players care more about the result than the process.
One last thing before I shut up about UFC. Somewhat troubling, this is. I only watched a few rounds of one UFC bout, and a few commercials, and I may be wrong, but everything I have seen about the sport indicates that it is mostly filled with white guys. As opposed to boxing, another results-oriented combat sport, where the bodies tend to be darker coloured. Is THIS the reason for the sport's poplarity? (Like NASCAR? Like golf? Yikes! Are these really the most popular sports in America?) I sure hope not.
Enough social comment. The kids are at my place for dinner tonight. There's potato salad to make. Results count here too -- and process not at all.
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