Baltipink reviewed One Game At A Time Why Sports Matter by Matt Hern
Review of 'One Game At A Time Why Sports Matter' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I loved this book so unexpectedly much. It is a delightfully philosophical and down to earth critique of and defense of sports.
Hern pushes back on the idea that sports are a different and lesser kind of cultural product - as opposed to, perhaps, music or painting. Like all of our cultural products, sports both reflect and create our society. And we should take that seriously. He also argues that "a generalized disrespect for sports, athletes, physicality, and even materiality is not just a class thing it's also bound up with race, gender, sexuality, and lots else - creating a clusterfuck of bodily loathing, fear, guilt, shame, distrust, and misapprehension."
The book uses sports to talk about all of those things and more - race, gender, sexuality, capitalism, authenticity, violence, pain, cultural appropriation, the commons. It is amazing how much he managed to pack into a relatively short book.
A …
I loved this book so unexpectedly much. It is a delightfully philosophical and down to earth critique of and defense of sports.
Hern pushes back on the idea that sports are a different and lesser kind of cultural product - as opposed to, perhaps, music or painting. Like all of our cultural products, sports both reflect and create our society. And we should take that seriously. He also argues that "a generalized disrespect for sports, athletes, physicality, and even materiality is not just a class thing it's also bound up with race, gender, sexuality, and lots else - creating a clusterfuck of bodily loathing, fear, guilt, shame, distrust, and misapprehension."
The book uses sports to talk about all of those things and more - race, gender, sexuality, capitalism, authenticity, violence, pain, cultural appropriation, the commons. It is amazing how much he managed to pack into a relatively short book.
A long time ago I had a boss who didn't have a television when her daughter was little. My response was to ask what her kid spoke to the other kids at school about. She answered that that was precisely why they eventually got a television. I think Hern makes a strong case for sports on many levels, not just as a means for communicating with the millions of avid fans and participants out there. But just the opportunity for public discourse alone should convince people to take it seriously.
Read it. Really. It is fantastic.