Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Three ways of watching a sports video

Edgar, Andrew Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4556-5147 2016. Three ways of watching a sports video. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 10 (4) , pp. 403-415. 10.1080/17511321.2016.1210208

[thumbnail of EDGAR_93489_post-print.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version
Download (94kB) | Preview

Abstract

It does not typically seem to be worthwhile rewatching a sport match, for example, in a video recording, once the result is known. Sports matches are like detective stories. Once one knows ‘whodunit’, there seems little point in revisiting the tale. By drawing on an argument from musicologist Edward T. Cone, this paper argues that certain sports matches may be revisited with profit. The initial experience of a game may be of a series of events that are often ambiguous or confusing as to their meaning or purpose. The full appreciation of a sport match requires, not just this initial familiarity with the immediately perceived events of the game, but also an awareness of the tactics being deployed by both sides. An understanding of tactics and strategy is akin to the analysis of a piece of music (or other art work). A further (third) viewing of the game, during which one can appreciate how the tactics inform the events naively experienced in the first viewing, will yield, it will be argued, an aesthetic pleasure. This takes the experience of sport beyond the merely entertaining or exciting. In certain games, the third viewing may also transcend an appreciation of the merely formal qualities of the game, and so offer substantial insights into what it is to be human.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords: Detective stories, hermeneutic circle, Kantian aesthetics, musicology
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISSN: 1751-1321
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 4 May 2017
Last Modified: 07 Nov 2023 06:45
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/93489

Citation Data

Cited 2 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics