September 27, 2007: The Decline of Physical Fitness in Our Nation
For the last few years, I've made monthly visits to Washington for a week at a time, working during the day and walking around my favorite monuments in the evening.
My route takes me past the Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt Memorials as well as the White House. Upon the huge swaths of grass in the middle of the National Mall, there are almost always people playing team sports and I have to dodge their errant sports equipment as I scurry through.
See, all of the local offices get together into leagues to compete--mostly from contractors, law firms, congressional offices, non-profits, lobbying groups, and other white-collar businesses. They buy t-shirts, meet up on the Mall, and prove their supremacy.
In watching the character of their sports change, I think we can pretty easily measure the downfall of physical fitness in America.
Back in the day, they played touch football or baseball.
When that proved too strenuous, they moved to softball.
Then frisbee.
Now, the rage among competitive Washingtonians is...kickball.
Yes, that game you played as a kid like baseball but with a big red ball. Most of the game, like our national sport, involves standing still while other people lumber clumsily after a slowly-rolling sphere. From time to time, you are expected to move your leg thirty degrees to kick it. You might even have to gallop from one base to the next.
Now, I'm no chiseled physical specimen myself, and I certainly don't propose that DC offices engage each other in gladiator combat. Though maybe that would make things better in our nation.
I'm just saying that maybe kickball is a little undignified.
Latino and eastern European men gather near the White House for soccer. At least that requires some running. Sheesh.
