From ancient Greece to now, the bravado of athletes transcends centuries

Earthpages.org

January 31

Without the internet, television, radio or any widespread means of communication, ancient Greek athletes had to struggle to make their success known and easily communicated to a broad public.

Source: From ancient Greece to now, the bravado of athletes transcends centuries

Opinion

I'm Canadian so tend to like watching a good hockey game on TV, especially in the middle of winter. It brings back memories of pre-global warming days when natural ice rinks dotted the Toronto neighborhood parks. "The boards are up" we kids used to happily say as soon as the makeshift outdoor shinny rink was ready. Those plywood boards and the lovely little "pleasure skating" rink without boards beside the hockey rink are all but gone now at Moore Park where I used to shoot and skate almost every night. Yes, I believe in climate change, and that's one sad loss. I can't deny it. Toronto has mostly become a drab, drizzly winter endurance test - it's 5º C as I write - whereas it used to be a magical, wintry wonderland.

Azizona born Austin Matthews — California-born / Arizona-raised Auston Matthews is currently the top NHL goal leader in the 2023-2024 season. YES, Americans have learned how to play hockey!

Another reason I still like watching hockey on TV is its sheer athletic excellence, geometry in motion, and speed. The highspeed velocities and angles that hockey players need to navigate would probably impress Sir Isaac Newton, maybe even Einstein!

Forget billiards. This is hyper-math made possible through years of practice and innate skill.

It's that excellence that keeps me watching, even though sometimes I think how weird it is to get excited over a silly game when people are being killed by missiles, wounded, dislocated, and starved in other parts of the world (not to forget freezing to death at night in Trudeau's carbon taxed Canada).

War, poverty, and sports are all ancient. To try to avoid the horrors of social and political injustice while enjoying your favorite sport is no crime.

The ancient Greeks associated sports and war far more than we do today. But still, there is a lot of unnecessary violence in hockey---fights and dangerous weapon attacks (i.e. the hockey stick) that I don't like.

So we've changed but not that much.

To read more about ancient Greek sports in a world before TV and the internet, check out From ancient Greece to now, the bravado of athletes transcends centuries.