Sorry Bronwyn

I found your article rather superficial. For me it read like a list of unanswered questions. I could find very little analysis or debate.

Cheers
Kay

Well forty years ago we wouldn't have seen Don Bradman doing underwear ads or for that matter Dawnie Fraser, so advertising has had something to do with how sport defines popular culture these days. By themselves some sports are just plain boring. Hence the need for injecting dramatic pathos.

I reckon athletes are paid to act out this drama as well as be super athletes- it’s an extension of action movies where heroes win or loose. And we are totally addicted to this soap opera of 'sportz'

I think a lot of people do vote with their feet. If there is a player or commentator that annoys me then I just give the whole thing a miss and turn it off. I for one cannot stand Maria Screamapova the tennis player. For me, the constant screaming overwhelms whatever sporting talent or good looks that attracts her to many others.

I suppose we all have our likes and dislikes which turn us against sporting high acheivers and we cannot separate the sporting acheivements from the personal lives of these people. Look at Ian Thorpe. He will go down in history as one of the greatest freestylers of all time but certain sections of the community spend most of their time debating his sexual preferences. What does that have to do with how many world records or Olympic medals he earns.

There was also the famous case of a world champion female surfer from Byron Bay who was short and had red hair and freckles. She could not find a sponsor for love nor money but a later blond tall world champion had sponsors falling at her feet.

Perhaps it reflects our society of busy bodies that need to know all the sordid details of the private lives of famous people - sporty or not. We then judge their sporting prowess on their life outside the sporting arena. Whether or not it is relevant, or even true, doesn't seem to matter. More power to Womans Day and New Idea !