GrumpyOldGuy:
Maybe I missed this stated somplace else... It seems to me the lure of sports (defined here by some as competitive sports) is the ability to show off who has the biggest manhood in front of a crowd of people or on TV. This seems to be rather hard to do most scuba situations.
It also seems with the increase in competition and the number of fans in a sport, there is a decrease in the actual number of people doing the sport. I mean, of the 10s of millions of American football fans, how many actually play the sport after graduating from school?
Huh?
If this theory is correct, then a) there would be no women playing sports and b) no one playing sports at all unless there is a TV camera or at least a large crowd present.
I play tennis and golf because they are fun, but it is competition that makes them fun...that's why more people go to the course and not to the driving range. That's why people hit tennis balls against other people and not against a wall.
How easy is it to get 21 other guys and play football like we did in high school. In general, team sports don't carry well into adulthood because of logistics. Organizing even a simple softball league is harder than getting a foursome in golf.
Some here think that scuba "sports" would denigrate "true" diving. I say no... the existence of skiing competitions doesn't affect a skiierwho just does it alone for fun.
EXCEPT, of course, that the money drawn in by sport skiing means more research into the sport, which means better equipment for the "fun" skiier, probably more and better slopes too.
I am sure that the wide availability of, say, skateboarding facilities or snowboarding facilities has NOTHING to do at ALL with these activities are now being widely televised as competitive events. I am sure that the wide availability of superb golf courses has NOTHING to do with the popularity of televised golf contests. Of course, this is nonsense. Before skateboarding became competitive, the boards were crappy and you got to ride them on the sidewalk. Wow.
If scuba became like skateboarding, with a massive influx of interest and cash leading to more and better dive facilities and better equipment, what's wrong with that?
This is not a question of morality (are sports a good thing, is America too competitive?), it's a matter of reality --- when a recreational activity becomes a popular televised sport, the subsequent benefits for even the "recreational" enthusiast are enormous. If golf were just about the joy of hitting the ball, not about beating the stuffing out of someone else, we would still be using niblicks.