Mia Freedman is copping a lot of flack for comments she made on the Today Show this morning about Cadel Evans’ Tour de France win. I think the levels of abuse and the name-calling she is being subjected to is completely ridiculous (really people, take a long hard look at yourselves!).
I am however a sports fan, and I do get grumpy when people roll their eyes when everyone is getting excited over a sporting victory. Mia has explained herself pretty well here on mamamia.com.au, and asked “If you strongly disagree with me, I would genuinely love to understand how sporting success makes you feel.” I replied in the comments section, but thought I would share it here as well.
“Mia, I didn’t see you this morning, so can’t comment on what you said or how you said it, but I do respect your take on this. A lot of my friends who don’t follow sport feel the same way. I completely agree that it is frustrating to see sports heroes lauded above the other heroes working tirelessly at other jobs that make a difference in our world.
But a world without sport or the arts – two things I consider possibly at the two ends of the spectrum of ‘fairly useless’ human endeavour? Well – I don’t want to live in it. To celebrate the absolute magnificence of what we can achieve is the very essence of what it is to be human. And to have it come from someone as close to home as simply coming from the same country – well, the levels of inspiration just lift that little bit higher.
You ask to understand how sporting success makes me feel – as a sports fan. It may be impossible to describe in any way to make someone who doesn’t feel the same way “get it”. But I’ll take a shot. I am a Novocastrian, In 1997 my hometown was doing it tough. The steelworks – the city’s largest employer, and very much the backbone of this town – closed down, leaving many uncertain as to their future. Not 8 years earlier we had experienced a devastating earthquake, which left emotional scars to match the physical. That same year, the Newcastle Knights pulled off a magical, last second, underdogs victory to secure the premiership. Now looking back – it was just a footy game. It wasn’t even in a full comp as this was the time of Superleague. But that moment (I was at the game, with my Dad and my husband) it lifted spirits, it gave us something to cheer about, there was a party atmosphere that the town needed so desperately.I don’t follow the NRL much anymore, but that moment will live with me forever. I still get a little misty-eyed just thinking about it.
Onto the TDF and Cadel. You know – I just spent three weeks sitting up to stupid o’clock cheering on Cadel and also many other cyclists. I’m not an aficionado of the sport, but my husband rides and it’s easy to get caught up in it. It becomes emotional even when you’re not directly involved. Sure we should be talking about other people as heroes too. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do both. Celebrating the triumph of the human spirit, what some people can do – be it with body, brain or heart – or oftentimes a combination of all three – well, it gives us a lift as we go about our own difficult little lives. And that aint nothing.”
For more on what I think about the “hero” tag, here is what I wrote on Jessica Watson last year.
So, hero or no - did you watch the Tour? All of it or just the last few nights? How did you feel? And most importantly how are you even coherent right now?
Perfect. Spot on. I think Cadel is an out and out champion- a hero, if you will, for the way he has so gutsily and tirelessly chased his goal. The three nights last week of Thursday-Saturday, where he had so much against him, where it looked, once again, that he’d finish on the podium but not where he wanted to be… and then he sucked it up and rode his guts out, rode through the expectations and the pressure, rode in a way that his own team had to leave him because they couldn’t keep up- well, that moved me. It moved me to tears. I agree that sportsmen get far too much credit/glory/status as a general rule in Australia (celebrities do too- waaaaay too much). I agree that doctors and teachers and lifesavers are real heroes. But I also think that a world where we can’t be moved by something as outrageously gusty and resilient as what Cadel pulled off would be a very boring, flat world. It’s not about the actual event, a bike race- it’s about what it represents; what it shows us of the human spirit- and in showing, inspires us.
Brilliantly written. His ride is an inspiration. Gutsy. I can barely manage a 45 minute spin class so I think Cadel’s achievements are awesome…… actually not just Cadel’s but everyone who has the dedication and passion to ride the TdF.
Please tell me that that was the Prime Minister responding to my comment?
lol now you made me re-read it in with her voice in my head!
Well said. As someone who is definitely not a sports fan, I can still see that a significant sporting victory like this can lift the spirits and inspire people to follow their own dreams, no matter how far-fetched they might seem. I also agree that this isn’t an either/or proposition. Lauding Cadel Evans for his impressive achievement doesn’t mean we can’t offer acknowledgement and praise to the many researchers, scientists, charity and aid workers, volunteers, teachers, doctors, nurses, firefighters and other people who make a significant difference in the world. There is plenty of praise to to go around and, by and large, it doesn’t cost us anything, so why not be generous with it?
I did watch the Mia Freedman segment on her blog and read her article. I am a fan of Mia’s and I think she brings up some great issues that otherwise would not get such publicity or discussion. I don’t always agree with her but most of the time I do – which I guess is why I still read much of what she writes. In this case I agree with her general sentiment – that there are plenty of people who deserve recognition in society that don’t get the publicity or public applause that is merited. I also think we are a sport-obsessed nation. But I think that’s a characteristic of our nation that is fine to celebrate.
However, even the non-sport-obsessed can see that Cadel Evans and many other Aussie sporting legends have given up a lot to excel in their chosen field. And it is part of sport to have an audience (in this case a world wide audience) that applauds those achievements – I think that’s okay – more than okay really – that audience leads to sponsorships which in turn allows Cadel or other sportspeople to pursue their passions and earn well for it. And I think that’s a good thing.
What I do not think is a good thing is that amazing scientists here in Australia (just to choose one example) are not given the media attention they need to get government and private funding for their research – so many of them end up overseas because they can not get funded anywhere else. They are also people who are passionate and work hard and deserve our support – they don’t get the $ because there is not an audience for their work. You could say this is not the media’s responsibility – but it is an area where the media could make a difference – and raise the interest of the Australian audiences.
But still the fact that science is underfunded and undervalued and not covered much by the media is not an argument against celebrating sporting achievements – or, say, artistic achievements. Mia rightly covers on her site the kind of artistic acheivements that are recognised at the Academy Awards for example – the word “hero” is not used but it’s still a celebration.
The word “hero” is just a red herring – it’s semantics and does not matter one way or the other.
The kind of negative comments made against Mia for expressing her opinion are pretty ridiculous if they are attacking her personally. I think she went a bit overboard this morning emphasising where Cadel lives (for his training) and (perhaps unitentionally expressing herself in a way that was ) minimising his achievement – but it’s a hard gig to appear on TV and think on your feet and say exactly what you want to say at the right time. Mia was asked what she thought and she said it, perhaps not how you or I would have said it but she was not setting out to demonise Cadel.
What I would love to see is Mia now celebrating on her site the achievements of some of the other amazing people in this country and encouraging the media to do the same – she has done a great job bringing body image and the role of the media to the attention of many people so this could be another area where she could do great stuff. Mia is an articulate and passionate and good person – I’ve never met her – but I would love to! It’s a shame about the context in which her comments were made but I can see how she felt forced to state her opinion on the spot – and it just came out in a way that did not, in my opinion, express the point in the best way possible.
Still, we are talking about it now aren’t we?!! So for that, Mia deserves more respect than she is getting.
By the way, loved what you wrote above.
Completely agree Meredith. I am not and never have been a sports fan – could not care less about footy, hardly watched any of the Olympics. But I can still appreciate a story of determination, resilience, and guts. And I understand what it gives people. I found myself being sucked in to the lure of the Tour by hubby’s enthusiasm – and I even watched the last two nights. Having a bit of Cadel’s back-story made it even more amazing to watch what he has achieved given where he’s come from.
I understand the sentiment of wondering why scientists and unsung heroes don’t get more recognition, but as Kylie said, it doesn’t have to be an either/or. Surely we can keep appreciating our sportspeople and artists while building up recognition for people who excel in other areas as well?
If I were to criticise overexposure I would rather point the finger at the recent royal wedding – broadcast live on ALL channels! What have those two done to deserve it other than be born into a certain family and fall in love with a prince? Even then I don’t think it’s a black-and-white issue – it’s a story that for whatever reason captures people’s imagination and lifts people up and out of their ordinary lives. Personally I understand that fascination far less than a story of sporting achievement – but yes I watched it just to get an insight into why people were so into it. I digress! Great post.
I love sport. Not all sport, but I just love it generally. I don’t love cycling, yet I stayed up for the past two nights and watched Cadel win the Tour de France. I reflected on the amount of guts and determination required for him to win and just marvelled. Even our much maligned footballers who seem to have the world at their feet and people dribbling all over them, have to work extremely hard to get where they are. Chris Judd isn’t that good just on natural talent. For me, it’s an escape. For me, I can marvel at what it takes to get to the top. I marvelled at the mighty Pies winnning the AFL premiership last year and I marvel at my oldest kids under 10s team which haven’t lost a match, but I’d marvel at them anyway. The effort…I think that’s what gets me. My mum, who seriously hates sport, woke me up at around 6am on a day in 1983 to watch Australia 2 bring it home at the America’s Cup. I stayed awake last night to watch Cadel and even though my eyes feel like they’ve been injected with botox they’re so puffy, I’m glad I did.