Escapist pioneers

 

[yellow locker among orange ones]

With the Covid crisis and ongoing wars, escapism has become almost a daily need. It seems obvious today that if reality is too depressing (and drugs are not your style), a few minutes or hours of TikTok, YouTube, Netflix or cable television is the perfect way to create the illusion that everything is fine. However, people forget that once, through the 1970’s, in the United States, a few commercial television stations were the only source of home entertainment and were, on the whole, rather vanilla, i.e., directed to the average viewer as the major networks perceived such a creature (genially referred to as the Nielsen family). Today’s varied and potent range of escapism owes much to the earliest commercial TV pioneers that were willing to be different and prepare future generations how much fun it is, among things, to work out, trash athletes and cook gourmet food at home.

Jack LaLanne

Jack LaLanne

At a time when most people stopped exercising after high school or even did not know that they should keep in shape, Jack LaLanne had a morning workout show from 1951 to 1985. American housewives from the privacy of their own home would stretch and work out every morning once the children went off to school. One would think that the instructor was a hunky young man but instead he was rather older looking, quite different from today’s high-energy trainers. Somehow, he showed that you  don’t have to be a “jock” to exercise and that it even helped you feel younger and look better. Jack LaLanne had a significant role in creating the “stay fit” culture that impacts people of all ages today.

[Howard Cosell]

Howard Cosell

Watching sports is an ancient pastime. The ancient Greeks did it. Probably Neanderthal man did it but we admittely have no proof of that. Part of the fun of watching sports is making highly critical remarks about an athlete despite the fact that we may have never even played the sport or, at best, last played it several decades previously. However, through the 1960s, sports announcers were either employees of the team or maintained neutrality and only described the action. Then, Howard Cosell became a commentator in Monday Night Football and “told it like is” despite the fact that he had never played any American football in his life. He was the “average Joe” expressing his opinion on how awful the quarterback or team was, just what many of the viewers were thinking. Viewing Monday Night Football became a sort of a menage á trois, i.e., Team A vs. Team B. vs. Howard Cosell, with the third party being the most interesting. Today, any fan with an opinion can set up a podcast or YouTube channel and express their ignorance to the masses. Howard Cosell helped make that cool.

[Julia Child]

Julia Child

American home cuisine in the 1950’s was rather limited not because of the ingredients but instead due to the general ignorance of cooking. Most American women thought that home cooking and fancy restaurant dishes were two completely different worlds, like oil and water. Julia Child came along and showed them how to cook “fancy” dishes at home, changing their whole approach to cooking. Because the programs were live, she even made mistakes, which created more authenticity. Gradually, both men and women began to try to make new and adventurous food (everything is relative). Today, it is possible to watch “foodie” shows 24 hours a day as well as find recipes and demonstrations on the Internet including video demonstrations for any dish you can or cannot imagine. Some of these gurus actually make money doing so.  Julia Child had a major role in creating that culture.

Most people may have forgotten or never heard of these people now but their belief in their way of living helped create a world of personal freedom. It may feel that there are too many options and that people go too far. Yet, escapism is human too and healthy in moderation. All of today’s public fitness freaks, couch critics and cooking fanatics can thank these pioneers for their broadcasting of the joy of escapist life .

* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet

Masochism or vicarious living?

Is it natural for a person to spend a 3+ hours getting annoyed, cursing, occasionally throwing object at t the floor, punctuating by expressions of joy but mainly those of frustration, but still looking forward to repeating the whole experience the next week? The answer depends on your culture.

To explain, as an expat, I relish watching my American sports, specifically baseball and football (the one with the larger athletes).  So, I reserve Sunday night at 8:00, Israeli time for the 1:00 pm east coast games, for watching sports.  I prepare properly, i.e., do not schedule any work, read the pre-game analysis, make sure there is a bottle of beer and some pistachios in the house and finish my daily telephone duty (calls to parents and daughter) beforehand.  Then, I go into my office, put my feet up, invite the cat to take a long nap on me, which he almost always welcomes, and begin the evening in the most cheerful of moods. My wife has learned to leave me alone for two reasons: I am “away” mentally; and she does not handle my emotional merry-go-round very well, whether voiced or not. Since I am a fan on the Pittsburgh Pirates in baseball and Cincinnati Bengals in football, not exactly elite teams in their sport, they are rather prone to playing poorly at times.

This is where culture comes in.  When I return to reality around 11:00 pm, generally disgusted with what I have seen, my wife looks at me and wonders why I insist on going through this seemingly unpleasant drama every week. It is clear to her to them that my behavior is irrational and possibly connected to some stupid American ingrained behavior. Granted, I have not conducted a study of attitudes among Israeli women to sport but I strongly suspect that this bafflement is the general rule among Israeli females. By contrast, if I had married an American woman, the odds are that not only would she understand my vicarious living, she might join me. To be perfectly clear, I am glad that I married an Israeli woman but still culturally mixed marriages bring out cultural differences, small and big.  In this case, my wife has no problem racking it up to background, not insanity.

So, I will continue to enjoy my Sunday nights, granted in an irrational manner, while my wife will knit away and try not to hear my mumbled curses. As we agree to disagree, the answer to the question whether it is natural or not is completely irrelevant.

Special oops

Sports are complex, leading to a constant series of errors. In fact, success in many sports is the exception.  For example, in baseball, a good hitter makes a hit only 30% of the time, meaning that most of the time the batter fails.  Of course, the reason for a given lack of success is often hard to identify since the interaction of a large number of players creates a complex interplay of forces. In the above example, the hitter can fail to get to first base because of good pitches, poor swing, heavy shifting of the defense, a great play by an opposing player and sheer bad luck, to name just a few.  Occasionally, a player makes a mistake that he can only look at himself and wonder how he did such a thing.  The fans, even the most sympathetic ones, often react to such mishaps in the most direct way – boos.  The less understanding ones want the head of the offending player.

Continuing with our first example, American baseball, players are faced with numerous situations where they are face to face with the ball, all by themselves. A loss of concentration can lead to the ball rolling between their legs, leaving the poor player looking really stupid.  Sometimes, a player forgets to touch all four bags after he hits the ball out of the park, nullifying the hit. A very rare example of being spacey is thinking there are two outs when there isn’t or vice versa. That will lead to a lot of kidding and even a fine on some teams.

Basketball is fast paced, team game, which leads to many mistakes of circumstances. However, there are some moments of individual ridiculousness.  The most common example is the player standing by the net with no opposing player around him and slamming the ball on the ring instead of the net. The only that goes higher than the ball is the blood pressure of the player.  Ball handling skills are taken for granted, especially for guards.  Yet, from time to time, the ball handler forgets that he has already dribbled but does it again in full view of the referees, who have no choice but to call double dribble. On a more ridiculous level, last minute confusion sometimes leads the player holding the ball outside the court to pass it quite accurately to a player of the other team.  Try and explain that to the coach and fans.

American football combines speed, violence and complexity, also leading to a large number of mistakes and penalties. Most can be explained by the interaction of the large number of players but some cannot. An example is the player called for lining up behind the line of scrimmage when the rules require that the offense have at least seven players on the line of scrimmage. As the commentators so sarcastically note, it is not hard to look left and right to see where you are located. Another infrequent error is the poor pass between the center and quarterback, leading to a fumble.  The two players practice this transfer tens of thousands of times. It should be automatic, right?  On the defensive side, cornerbacks and safeties are supposedly taught to look for the ball.  Unfortunately, under the pressure of the situation, a few forget to do so and get in the head with a flying football.  If they didn’t have a helmet, they would have a red welt on the back of their head.  Instead, they are merely very red-faced.

My discussion is limited is American sports with which I am most familiar.  I would happily love to hear about unforgivable errors in other sports.  For example, in European football, aside from a self-goal, are there other WTF moments?