...but the reason professional sports exists (to my mind) isn't for the sake of just doing a sport. it's the surrounding stuff - the business side - that makes it professional, and that's all about entertaining those watching. that's why they get paid - because they entertain the people watching them. or, in our case, because we get some weird masochistic pleasure out of being miserable watching everton.
with amateur sports, there's not even the money - people participate literally for the love of it. i go bouldering because i enjoy it, and because i like exercising and i like the challenge of it.
so, yeah, for those professional sports people, sure, it's a job. same as actors, musicians, writers, etc. but they have a job because enough people found what they do entertaining or interesting enough to pay to see them do what they do.
i'm not saying it isn't important or a valid career or anything like that - but i am saying it's core purpose is entertainment.
or, well, it should be. i think many of them have become more about the money than about the entertainment side, these days, which is why so many people are falling out of love with (e.g.) the premier league as a non-competitive closed shop.
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