Great news everybody! Frisbee is now officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a sport!! This, sadly, does not mean it is guaranteed a spot in the olympics, but it does mean that there’s a chance. Is it a slim chance? Sure, but we have to hold out hope. I’ve seen ultimate frisbee and it can get fierce. If you’ve never seen it and are in the mood for some funky music, take a look.
Call me crazy, but I think sports like frisbee are the real spirit of the Olympic creed, which states: “The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well.” Too often in sports winning is the important thing — look at the triumphalism that surrounds World Series or the Superbowl. For a small sport like frisbee, it really is the game. Players are never going to paid lots of money for playing or become superstars.
So if we’re serious about getting Frisbee into the Olympic games, maybe 2020 or 2024, we need to get some momentum going. There are a couple of documentaries about frisbee but I think now is the perfect time for a full length feature film about the sport. I would say comedy would be a good genre, look at what it did for Dodgeball. An origin story would also be good, especially considering Frisbee gets its name from a pie company!
Sadly, it seems like frisbee has been replaced at summer BBQs and college campus by corn hole or quidditch (yes people actually play this sport made famous by Harry Potter). So another great way of building some momentum would be to make it cool again. If you really want this, and I know you do, keep showing up with a frisbee to parties, write a song about it, and keep hope. If handball can make the olympics, so can frisbee!
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Feature Photo: Ultimate Frisbee | Flickr User Matt Deavenport |Flickr Creative Commons, available here.
