Global Warming Illustrated
In the midst of spring training -- and on the cusp of March Madness -- the current issue of Sports Illustrated offers a cover story on ... global warming. A package entitled "Sports and Global Warming: As the Planet Changes, So Do the Games We Play" tackles such issues as dwindling ski venues, the environmental cost of golf courses, the effects of warmer climates on outdoor practice routines and even the threat rising oceans pose for several waterfront football and baseball stadiums, all of which could be underwater by the year 2100.
The story opens:
The next time a ball game gets rained out during the September stretch run, you can curse the momentary worthlessness of those tickets in your pocket. Or you can wonder why it got rained out -- and ask yourself why practice had to be called off last summer on a day when there wasn't a cloud in the sky; and why that Gulf Coast wharf where you used to reel in mackerel and flounder no longer exists; and why it's been more than one winter since you pulled those titanium skis out of the garage.
Global warming is not coming; it is here. Greenhouse gases -- most notably carbon dioxide produced by burning coal, oil and gas -- are trapping solar heat that once escaped from the Earth's atmosphere. As temperatures around the globe increase, oceans are warming, fields are drying up, snow is melting, more rain is falling and sea levels are rising.
All of which is changing the way we play and the sports we watch.
On the cover, a photo illustration of Marlins pitcher Dontrelle Willis, thigh-deep in water at Dolphins Stadium in Miami.
Comments (3)
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From my personal experience most sports writers and many sports media outlets are a little off the deep end to begin with.
However, this nonsense from SI is worthy of a nomination in the best all time "Sports Looney Toon" category.
Posted on March 15, 2007 8:49 AM
I think the article is great. I believe that the seriousness of looking at the effects of global warming is needed since it has been neglected so long...of course people always put things off to the last minute...giggle...but the article at least takes a look at the affects of sports activities on the environment. However, my biggest problem, or what caught my eye, is why is there an African American player on the cover behind the title (that if not truly knowing it was just about environment one could take it as a racial remark). Considering that the sport of baseball was the first to be racially intergraded on the major level. It just seems to make a play on that change from history. Pay attention.
Posted on March 24, 2007 8:13 PM
I'm not an avid reader of Sport Illustrated, but I'll admit that I nodded with approval that it tackled an important issue. Whether I buy the idea that what we're experiencing isn't global warming, well that's rant this comment box couldn't hold.
As for the cover photo it made me think hm...is there a hidden message?
Posted on March 26, 2007 10:44 AM