The following thoughts have been bouncing around in my head for a couple of years. They have been formed and sculpted with help, direct and indirect, from David Sigler, Jennifer Ladino, and Patty Cady, among others, like French philosopher de Certeau.
Where is the most expensive property in a city? Usually it is near water or, in a city like New York, famous landmarks or parks, like Central Park. Beyond that, it is higher up. A penthouse apartment in a building that is prime real estate can cost more than a ranch. A Russian billionaire's daughter paid $88M for a two story Penthouse with views of Central Park. You can read more here. De Certeau wrote about the walker and the watcher. The everyday people of the world, in his case, the people in New York City, are the walkers. The people who own the penthouse apartments or have offices in the highest high-rises (again, de Certeau was writing about an office in the former World Trade Center towers) are the watchers. We pay premiums for the view. The Smith Tower in Seattle houses just one residence as of right now. The pyramid at the top of the tower is a 3 story penthouse and arguably the most expensive residence in Seattle.
We don't just spend money to see, but also be seen. The Smith Tower is one of the more recognizable buildings in Seattle. Living at the top of it carries recognition in and of itself. It is like renting a limo. Personally, I think town cars are more comfortable, and, while they do attract some attention, they don't attract as much as a limo. Limos have tinted windows. Those of us outside them can't see who is inside. But we see the limo. The person/people who rented the limo get the attention without getting the attention. That is the nature of the watcher--they are seen, but not seen. We see the penthouses and know that someone lives there. We see the Beverly Hills mansions (or parts of them from the road, beyond the gates) but we don't see the owners. Chances are, they can see us, though, if they desire. The riders in the limo can see us if they care to look out the window.
The bottom line is that the see and be seen but not seen usually commands sweeping views. To achieve those views often requires height. The Smith Tower penthouse is located on floors 36-38. The rules of supply and demand apply here. There are only so many buildings with so many views. The wealthy can afford these buildings and these views. The working class may be able to visit the public viewing deck of the Smith Tower on the 35th floor, but without somehow being invited to visit the artist and her family that lives in the Penthouse, they will never see the exact same view. We will never set foot in the $88M New York penthouse that overlooks Central Park. We can sit in Central Park and look up, as can anyone else. We are separated from the wealthy and the views by the security and exclusivity that comes with that wealth.
But this is reversed in sports. The cheapest seats are the highest up. They have views of the city beyond the ball park. They have views of the entire field. They are the best chances to come away from with a souvenir, whether it is a foul ball or a home run. Take, for example, Pafko at the Wall, the story of the Shot Heard Round the World--the game winning homer by Bobby Thomson in the 1951 National League Playoff Series. The story revolves around the home run ball, caught by a poor child, Cotter Martin, who had sneaked into the ball game. It was the poor who took home possibly the ultimate memento for a New York Giants fan just before the team moved across the country.
There is an element of class difference in the story, though. While Cotter gets the ball, the rich, the famous, and the leader are sitting in the lower seats with a supposedly better view of the game. Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Toots Shor, and J. Edgar Hoover are also watching the game. When the ball goes over the wall, Cotter gets it and takes off running for the safety of home. Sinatra et al., however, have garbage showered on them during the celebration. The lower class comes away with an experience and an important memento, while the rich/ruling upper class comes away with garbage.
Even today the cheap seats are the furthest away, the highest up. While the most expensive are the lowest in the stadium. President Bush has permanent box seats in the front row, right next to the home dugout in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Unlike in a limo, we can see former President Bush, but we're not there to see him, so he goes largely unnoticed. We came to watch the players on the field. He came to watch the players on the field, not be seen. However, there is a difference here from other sports and places. Hollywood is all about image and being seen. People go to Lakers games, sometimes to watch the Lakers, sometimes to see who is in the crowd. New York Knicks games aren't exactly the same, but they're not completely different either. Jack Nicholson is a courtside fixture in LA, while Spike Lee is in New York. They get on TV for being at the game. To be sure other celebrities are there and get on television simply for being there, but Nicholson and Lee are the fixtures courtside. Their motivation probably isn't to simply be seen. Spike Lee is famous for yelling at referees and players alike. Reggie Miller, for example. At courtside, he gets to almost participate in the game. Some celebrities do participate with the referees. It's brief, but you may notice that Jack actually is between the Oklahoma City bench and the scoring table. The opposing players have to walk past him to check into the game. Honestly, outside of LA, I've never seen a seating arrangement like that.
But in the grand scheme of the game, the audience doesn't directly impact individual games. However, as a democratic voting class we are all, in a way, Marx's proletariat. Our work (buying tickets, watching games on TV) supports our teams and our players. Our approval or disapproval influences roster moves and performance. While it is true that the athletes' performance also influences these moves, the public does have a certain play in it. Last season, Kansas City Chiefs fans started attending home games in black until Quarterback Matt Cassel was benched. When he was injured, the home fans cheered (I, myself, offered to by everyone in the sports bar a drink if it was career ending). We have opinions of and support for our favorite players. We have derision for those we don't like whether on our team or someone else's. We get to voice our opinions in blogs like this one or in radio call in shows. The owners, or at least the general managers, pay attention to us because we are the money source. While it is true that when teams are winning, the bandwagon and fair-weather fans fill stadiums, this isn't always true. The Tampa Bay Rays won the division crown in 2010. They also finished 22nd out of the 30 MLB teams in average attendance (according to baseball-reference.com). The San Antonio Spurs have proven that you don't have to have popularity to win championships and that winning championships won't make people watch you. The Spurs have been the team of the decade from 1999 to 2009 with championships in 99, 03, 05, and 07. However, those finals were also some of the lowest in television ratings. Of course they are popular in San Antonio. San Antonio doesn't have any other major league sports. The sports life in the town revolves around Tim Duncan and company. The point is, that we do have opinions on our sports teams and the opinions of the fans do matter.
And that is the problem. Sports is another juxtaposition of Marxism in that we care more about our sports and entertainment than we do in those who we select to rule us. Ask your average sports fan to name as many teams as they can and I'll bet you 10-1 odds that most people you find (outside of politics) will be able to name more pro and college teams than they will be able to name senators and representatives, probably even their own. One of the trick to ruling is if you can keep the proletariat entertained (distracted) then you can do whatever you want as a ruler. If you can keep them entertained and uneducated, then you can rule completely at will.
I picked up the paper today and across the top of the page was the booming teaser about Alex Rodriguez's suspension/appeal and Johnny Manziel's trouble with the NCAA for taking money for an autograph (a big no-no for college athletes). What was the main headline? Don't remember. What was the main story in the politics section? Didn't even look. Did you? Can you remember either? Kudos if you can. One of my main concerns in writing about politics and distraction is that I'm projecting my feelings on the rest of the populace. Looking at the popularity of keeping an eye on whatever celebrities are doing (especially when they aren't really doing anything), I don't think I'm the only one not really paying attention to politics.
But that is one of the things that sports do. The Sports Wife once told me (and still does, quite often) that if I spent as much time on my Master's studies as I do on sports statistics and articles, then I'd be done with both my TESL and literature degrees and probably done with the PhD's as well. Now, I am kind of a stat head, but I've found that I'm at the lower end of the stat fanatic spectrum. I know some of the weird trivia. I know some of the record holders and league leaders in the major sports. Again, in applying this to politics, and the decisions that really affect our lives, I don't know nearly as much as I probably should to make informed decisions about my votes. It is easy in presidential elections, they're fairly open with their ideas. Whether they actually follow through on those ideas/promises is a matter of debate. Doing some research on essentially 2 guys every 4 years isn't all that difficult. But paying attention to the daily operations of our government is a) difficult and b) frightening. The more I do learn about politics and the U.S. government, the more I want to know about sports. Our congress has just attempted for the 40th time to repeal Obamacare. They have also let the student loans protection lapse. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results. 40 times would count as over and over, I would think. My loans are coming due shortly. I've watched my interest rates. When congress in their in-fighting allowed the student loan protections to lapse, my loans went from 4.5% to 6.8% interest. 2.3% may not seem like much, but when you owe $100,000+ in loans, 2.3% is substantial. That got my attention because it finally affected my bottom line. It was like Safeco's change to flexible pricing last summer. Suddenly, ticket prices that had been the same no matter who the Mariners were playing started jumping and dropping based on the other team. Back when I was a Yankees fan, this affected my ballpark experience because, suddenly, they were the most expensive tickets.
We police our players more closely than our politicians as well. I mentioned that Johnny Football is in trouble for accepting money for autographs. Ohio State University is on probation for some of their team trading game memorabilia for tattoos. Other schools are in trouble for recruiting violations. And then there is the clusterfuck that is Penn State. But the NCAA comes down hard on these offenders. Penn State is crippled for 5 years (4 remaining). Southern Methodist University football got the 2-year death penalty for repeat offenses in the 80s. Conversely, our politicians on either side of the aisle have started even denying corruption. When they have been accused of wrong-doings, especially during an election, they question the timing of the accusation. They don't even bother denying the corruption, they attack their accusers for sitting on the evidence until it could hurt them more!
The idiocy we see in both places is what unites them, unfortunately. The 40 times congress has taken a vote to repeal Obamacare compares with Rodriguez's thinking that by appealing his suspension, he'll a) keep playing (a loophole that needs to be dealt with) and b) possibly have the suspension overturned. Only one player has had a suspension overturned in MLB, Ryan Braun. Turns out it was on a technicality that has been closed...and Braun is currently serving a season ending suspension for the very same offense as Rodriguez. It is turning out that our sports players are receiving the justice that they need to receive to keep the game pure--to a point that they are starting to police their own; there have been reports of pitchers headhunting known "juicers." What would we say if politicians started policing themselves? I doubt any of us would take it seriously, for one. And what is more important to our everyday lives, the purity of college and professional sports, or the purity of a political office? And that is why the more I learn about politics, the less I want to learn about politics.
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