There are plenty of crazy sports out there today. It just seems to be getting stranger and weirder. Once you think you’ve witnessed the weirdest sport imaginable, you’ll tune into a sports station one day and see something which takes the cake (probably a cake-eating contest). While not so long ago it looked strange to watch billiards on tv, the extent things have led to in today’s world makes hitting a few spheres around with pool cues look incredibly conservative. Why have things come to this? What is it about the style in which we live that makes us think such crazy sports would be interesting?

One such sport that actually has its own program is that of hot-dog eating. This is absolutely true. The show consists of one man (or woman) standing at a podium with a plate filled with hot-dogs, and trying to eat as many as he can until the time runs out. There’s a crowd cheering the competitor on, and commentators discussing strategies used by the “sportsmen” to achieve their desired goal without getting sick. Half of the challenge tends to land with the viewer, who’ll probably also be battling a case of nausea after watching this show for too long.

Another sport that has gained an ever-increasing amount of popularity is that of poker. While there’s no doubting that it’s more interesting to see and requires more technique and mental prowess than hot-dog eating, it’s still strange to watch an hour-long program purely based on people playing poker. In years to come, will we be watching the solitaire championships? How will we tell who’s winning?

These new games are funny to view, but they’re also a bit disconcerting to see. In ancient times, sport was usually something that was actually a life and death situation for those playing, and the reason sport was created by the elites of a country was to keep people looking away from the problems of their country, such as the corruption of their government. Have sports really gotten any better since then? Okay, so nobody’s getting killed, but people are majorly damaging their health if they’re willing to eat as much as fifteen hotdogs within the space of a few minutes. And mixed-martial arts boxing hasn’t even been talked about.

It may be likely that just like the ancient Romans, governments of today like their people to take a keen interest in games at the cost of taking an interest in the way their country is run. Certainly this is the fact in Brazil, where massive levels of poverty and corruption are rife throughout the political arena. The response by those in power isn’t to fix these problems, but to focus money and attention on getting the soccer team to the World Cup every four years.

Perhaps it’s time we took a step back and looked at the way we treat sport in this society. While a little entertainment can be a good thing, there’s no use gaining an interest in a sport that’s ridiculous, or to lose attention from our lives and start to think sport is the most vital thing of all.