F ³: Sportsing Language

Help me out here. I’ve seen two words this week that really ticked me off. I’m going to present them to you in context, but first, here are the words:

acquire

product

Take a minute to think about what those words suggest to you.

Ready?

Orioles acquire Jonathan Heasely in trade with Royals.

Maryland safety Beau Brade, a River Hill product, moves closer to NFL goal with Senior Bowl invite

Wait a minute. Don’t the words “acquire” and “product” have to do with inanimate objects? Things?

Humans are hired for a job. They graduate from a school. Humans are not acquired (or they shouldn’t be.) People are not products.

Why is this language acceptable in the world of sports? It comes across as demeaning to me. Do we think of athletes as manufactured goods? Or is this way of thinking rooted in horse-racing terminology? If you are a product that can be acquired, do you have any inborn rights? Or are you merely a thing whose value fluctuates with changes in the market?

Words mean something. Should we be using these words to describe our fellow human beings?

What do you think?

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