Monday 8 February 2016

Wolves (x2), Fifa and Incarnation

The news that Wolfsburg had signed one of the UK's best FIFA players grabbed me.  I liked the idea
of playing for a German team, but living in Wolverhampton - a Wolves connection?  I wondered how long before we get transfer fees (maybe we already have)?  And then how long before Wolfsburg pays more for a FIFA player than an on-the-field player?

I guess this highlights changes in what we'll pay to watch; in evolving definitions of entertainment and of sport; and illustrates how we're happy to pay to watch things that would have seemed unusual a couple of generations ago.

More than that, though, it highlights just how pervasive the shift from atoms to bits really is.  There's money to be made from people watching others play a computer game simulating a football match - albeit not yet as much as is to be made from charging to watch the football match itself.  I'm not into knocking computer games either.  I absolutely get that while they may draw us and our children away from physical activity (come in the Daily Mail), that they develop other capabilities wonderfully, and provide access to sporting / gaming excitement to many who would not otherwise gain that, or certainly not at a top level.

Nevertheless, I was struck by a comment made by Bruno Senna on being beaten on a race simulation game by non racing drivers.  He said 'when you’re driving in the simulator ... you are training your eye, and you can never react as fast through what your eye sees than what you feel with your body'.  I think that matters.  It seems to me that we live in a world of wonders, and wonders to be appreciated through five senses, not just our eyes.  Developing all five senses, being aware of my body and the subtle way it interacts with my environment - these are rich, and (I suspect) more key to my quality of life than I appreciated when I was younger.

So, for now, I'll stick with football matches, per se - and be so very glad I'm able to trust in a God who took on a body, and who said his creation was good.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.


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