Read this link and be amazed if you haven't been already following soccer transfer news. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=609872&sec=transfers&cc=4716
A cool £500,000-a-week contract, meaning he'd be a millionare every fortnight in England, (worse a millionare every week in Singapore) the sort of money that man's earning definitely enough to turn many green with envy. (Especially so if you consider the fact that he's being paid to train 5 times a week and to play a game of soccer at most three times a week. Usually once)
After reading about all of these, does one come up with the conclusion that our main character Kaká, moved to Manchester City? He didn't in fact he received a hero's welcome on his decision to stay. This in fact is consistent with Francis Bacon's Idol of the Tribe theory, that abstractions in error arise from common tendencies to exaggerate, distort, and disproportion. It disarms our suspicions and it tends to rush us to conclusions that are based on our perception. Moral of the story's to read and disseminate information properly to ensure that no misunderstandings occur.
With all the soccer jargon such as names of clubs, which countries they belong to, where the player himself is from(both club and country), specialised terms such as transfer fees, domestic leagues, it is a little difficult for people who have no prior knowledge to understand the article fully this converges with the Idols of the Marketplace theory whereby faulty and misleading names such as those above, and the presence of specialised vocabulary and jargon, further heightens the chances of misunderstandings.
2 down 2 more to go, now for something a little more controversial. It is stated in Bacon's Idol of Theatre whereby these Idols are built up in a field of Theology, Philosophy, and Science. Sports is not really considered under these categories, but personally I feel that Bacon himself probably did not envisage sports to become so popular, so entwined with our lives today. They do have their own learned groups(in the form of sports journalists, and analysts) whose views regarding sporting issues are broadcasted in the newspapers, and accepted without questions by the masses. In a way they have accquired a sphere of dominance whereby their on-goings although barren of merit are parading their grandeur on the stage of the world. (ie. world cup, continental cups such as Asian Cup, CONCAF[Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football], Euro Cup etc) People are accepting them without questions in becoming a norm of life, so much so that there are people making a living out of playing professional football, basketball, American football baseball etc, and making mega-bucks out of it. (We are talking about millions here)
Lastly with regards to the Idols of the Cave, there's a new breed of man out there, people who eat sports, breathe sports and worship sports. These people are so to say possessed by their own interests, and interpret all other learnings to colors of his own devotion. A chemist sees chemisty in all things, a poet sees poetry in all things, and similarly, an athlete see sports in all things. This obsession is one of the main reasons for the meteoric rise in sports' fame. As more and more people are being converted due to the availability of sports, (In the newspapers, on television, on the internet, the radio etc.) Are you, the reader one of them?
