Bread and Circuses. Used to keep the plebs mentally numb as the republicans encroach further and further on their individual liberties, their land, their businesses and the gold in the money supply back in the Roman Empire days. Keeping food in their belly and stimulating distractions ensured that the lower classes were tuned out or satisfied with just enough so they wouldn’t revolt.
When you begin to think of this in today’s terms–we possess nothing but bread and circuses. We have malls, online shopping, food delivery (of anything you want), online movies, the internet for exotic material, casual dating applications, music playlists on our telephone, the list goes on. It’s far easier to distract the population that it was 2 millennia ago. You may be reading this on a computer device that fits in your pocket!
However, something “clicked” with me recently that I figured it’d be worth writing about–particular aimed at the men out there. But first, please consider the following–>
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I honestly feel strange writing this. Sports were my entire childhood and young adulthood. I played soccer when I was young which later became baseball in the summers and hockey in the winters. Gym class, like most boys, was my fun time outside from the stresses of math & physics. Phys-Ed was even more interesting than normal given that we had a former professional hockey player as our head teacher. I spent nearly every weekend for a decade going to watch hockey games, too. Hockey relationships were strong on one side of my family, so I grew up around it. I even spent time on the Ottawa Senators bench & dressing room with the 2002 team and in the press box in Toronto with some reputable media folks. Perhaps, the small local games were one of the only things you could do in my town, or that I was just totally committed to sport.
Later, I heavily got into squash and would golf for fun (more of a test of patience). Every evening, for the first 27 years of my life, what I did was ‘watch the game’. Whether it be baseball or hockey, I knew the channels, the times, the schedules, the teams, the players even. If I had free time after school, class, the gym, running errands, it was always filled by planting myself in front of a television or sitting my butt in a cold plastic chair in an arena.
What Changed
When I ‘escaped’ the mandates in Canada, I naturally left with as many bags as the airline would allow me and unfortunately for me, I didn’t bring a flat screen TV. Months went on where I found it difficult to distinguish the months [in Mexico] and my life revolved around learning some Spanish, keeping the fridge stocked, writing my thoughts on the world and studying as much as I possibly could. Everyday it was something about markets, finance, the economy, the agendas and goals of those in power, gold and so forth. This forced me to find new like-minded friends and work on new business ideas for income that could support a family one day. Travelling the world is also a time consuming rather stressful process too. After awhile, months became years and strangely, I’ve continued my life without the life-long habit–>Sport.
Checking In
Immersing myself in this new sort of world of discovery–different cuisine, language, currency, habits and constantly listening to successful experts in the world of economics and finance–I’ve become somewhat detached from my old life. I hadn’t even thought about my obsession with ‘the games’ because I was (and still am) in a process of learning and growth. However, whenever I’d check in with old friends back in my former home, I’d realize that they’ve very much stagnated in their drive, curiosity and engagement with the world. I was experiencing the real-life meme I’m sure you’ve seen:
It didn’t matter what I said, where I had been, what I had been working on or not working on… the conversation invariably resorted back to paying your mortgage, showing up to work, and which team was doing better than another during this season. Was I this boring the first part of my life?
It’s worth saying that I didn’t let myself go and develop 100 lbs. of body fat as I bunkered out in some #Latam city. I just hadn’t loss focus on my goals. I’ve realized in retrospect that sports, especially with my adult-life had been a major distraction from the things that matter such as education, healthcare, personal financial responsibility, history, developing useful skills & more. This distraction was obvious when checking back
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Which Tribe Are You In?
When I was applying to university in the UK, I was accepted to the University of Glasgow. I ended up choosing another school, and one reason why I didn’t go to Scotland was the gang crime pertaining to sport; it’s not uncommon that serious violence occurs over wearing the wrong jersey in the wrong neighbourhood. This is true in almost all of Latin America, too. I can speak to those in Mexico and Argentina who become extremely tribal with respect to “their” team. Look at this video of how Argentines in a peaceful park react to seeing a bus-load of their team drive by:
Still most of the world gravitates to form clans, tribes, groups that become militant in their own way–we’re human after all. Instead of pillaging a nearby city, perhaps people throw on a jersey with beer and scream at their opponents?
The Thing That Clicked
Sports are a perfect way to make friends, stay healthy, flexible, preserve brain cells that is–if you’re doing them yourself!
Otherwise, I’ve realized that all the energy that would be (or should be) targeted towards those guilty in the world; either Big Pharma, Big Food, Big Tech, Big Banking and more generally, the global governments, is displaced towards sport teams. Sport serves as a relief valve for the inevitable pressure that builds from the increasingly difficult and unhappy lives people may live. How many people do you know that are unhappy in life but just fail to articulate, why? They’re struggling, but can’t seem to get their act together. There’s only so many hours in a day, and if you can mentally occupy 3-4 of them watching a ball being kicked around, it makes any planning for the future in 1-2-10 years down the road more difficult.
Watching sport can go so far as to serve as a sort of religion whereby the fans worship athletes. Look how Lionel Messi is treated in Argentina for instance. Rather than getting behind leaders and militaries, they support athletes with the same seriousness. A great way to divert focus away from the tyrannical state.
The real game is you vs. the state
As a matter of fact, I don’t know of any very wealthy and successful people who are huge die-hard fans of a given team in any sport. Sure they enjoy it, but they’re busy with other operations to not allow themselves to be distracted for too long or get into tribal sport ‘rivalries’.
Take
I don’t believe it’s far-fetched to suggest that sport exist as a form of brain washing of the masses, the modern-day circus. I’ve completely changed my tone on it after jumping from the rat wheel and having to approach life away from the corporate 9-5 life. So if I had any bit of advice for the gents out there, I’d say consider skipping on the ticket, the game, the event and spending time on yourself and your family. Are you as financially resilient as you could be? Are you as educated as you could be? Are you as healthy as you could be? Are you as close to your neighbours and prepared with food supplies as you could be?
It doesn't mean you have to not enjoy your team anymore, just make sure you look after number 1 (yourself!) first!
#StayOnTheBall
