04/23/24
November 28, 2006
Accession Notes: In Praise of Athletic Beauty: A review of Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht's In Praise of Athletic Beauty: "Gumbrecht has the ordinary sports fan in mind as an audience. Perhaps the 'educated' sports fan might be more accurate; someone with a passing familiarity with history, and the interest in seeing sports in historical context. One thing is clear: Gumbrecht is not providing an academic defense of the many 'readings' of sports of which he is so critical. Sports, in Gumbrecht's view do not need such a defense; they have the intransitive quality of being 'for themselves'." A good sign: no mention of Huizinga's Homo Ludens.
posted by Uncle Toby to culture at 05:42 PM - 6 comments
I don't have anything to add, other than this looks like an interesting book. Thanks for the tip.
posted by afx237vi at 07:31 AM on November 29, 2006
I have always suggested that my love of sports comes primarily from the aesthetic perspective. Well that and the spandex. Sounds like a cool read.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:08 AM on November 29, 2006
Why is the absence of Homo Ludens a good thing, UncleToby?
posted by smithers at 11:16 AM on November 29, 2006
I think its interesting to see the number of athletes who once excelled at a sport and were as close to perfect form as they were going to come, "let themselves go" after they are done playing. WHen I played soccer in college, one of the things I enjoyed the most was the fitness and the body all that running and lifting gave me. It was a foundation that I've managed not to completely let go to waste in the 10 years since. I've got nothing to brag about, but I'm simply stating that sport was a perfect opportunity to create that body. There are so many former athletes that don't seem to care about keeping the same form after.
posted by Jimbloomberg at 06:18 PM on November 29, 2006
smithers: Oh, I just meant that dwelling on Huizinga would put a dent in any claims Gumbrecht has on a popular (or even semi-academic) audience. Sort of like the old saw about equations in popular science books: each one reduces its readership by half. There's nothing wrong with the old grad-school staple itself. FWIW, David Foster Wallace's essay on Federer might be a nice companion piece to this. I'd like to see McEnroe's game analyzed in the same way--especially his matches back in the wooden-racquet era. Watch a rainy-day replay of one of his old Wimbledon matches sometime. After some of his best shots--the ones where he manipulates pace, angle, depth, and spin in the most unexpected ways--there's often a moment of silence from the crowd before they cheer. They're surprised and delighted by the improvised beauty of it all.
posted by Uncle Toby at 09:14 AM on November 30, 2006
"For a non-American, there is a forgivable bias in Gumbrecht's work, towards those sports that dominate in the US. I hate to say it, but Joe Di Maggio and Babe Ruth are just names to me, along with all those soccer greats who Gumbrecht invokes with admiration." Must be a different US he's talking about, but I'm still interested in the book. If only they had Search Inside This Book turned on so I could use unattributed pull-quotes on Metafilter when someone craps on mere sport.