Green sport? Maybe sitting on a rock in the wilderness?

There's an interesting column about the greenness, or perhaps brownness, of big-time sports over on Slate. The author admits he didn't even bother to tote up the carbon costs of NASCAR racing. But he does give basketball the greeny edge over its indoor competitor, ice hockey. No energy needed to freeze the court inside a heated building. I suggest we move hockey back out into the freezing cold where it's s'posed to be played. Before global wamring does away with frozen water altogether. Cross country footraces may be the greenest sport, requiring very little but a dirt path and scant clothing for the runners.

As often on the Internet, some of the comments are better than the original piece. One comment points to golf, where there are thousands of acres taken out of production so rich guys can chase little white balls into slightly larger holes. I'm talking environment here, not anything Freudian. At least the golf carts are electric so the golfers don't have to actually, say, walk, or sweat.

Tennis with its miles of parking lot-like courts doesn't even get a nod. But NASCAR did garner a few votes as the worst. Tractor pulls? Bowling? Cutting down trees to make the alley, then heating & lighting a building al lnight? One commenter points out the cost of energy for the huge audiences watching the more popular sports. Another comment is headlined "Help! It's people doing things."

He's right. Stop exhaling all that CO2.