Today I had the opportunity to run a little experiment.
Both the Tour de France bicycle race and the Uruguay-Germany World Cup soccer game were
being broadcast. I have no interest in or knowledge of either sport, and I wondered which would make
the better spectator sport—i.e., which would bore
me less. I spent about two minutes watching each event.
The bicycle race held my interest, but only because
the camera frequently wandered off the cyclists and
showed the surrounding countryside, which was
beautiful. Apart from the bicycles crowding the
country road, it was like a travelogue of Europe.
Athletically, all the riders looked the same, none
making more effort than another, as far as I could
tell. And watching them ride a bike is no more
interesting than watching me ride a bike would be.
In the soccer game, you get a better sense of some
athletic action, as players run around and manipulate
the ball with their feet and heads. So at least soccer
looks like a sport in which one player can obviously
distinguish himself from another. But during the game
there was a constant, headache-inducing drone,
a 440-hertz buzz from musical instruments tuning
up for a vuvuzela concert that never begins.
Overall, the bike race won. Its scenic sights are
easier on the eye than the blare of the soccer game
is on the ear.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 