Sports as a sense of community

There is something that is comforting and familiar about being a fan of a certain football team or basketball team. No matter where you live or where you go, there is sure to be another fan of your favorite team. There is something appealing about being part of a select group of fans. You always have something in common with even a perfect stranger if you are wearing the same color jersey. It’s like visiting another country and seeing someone with an American flag sticker on their car or a Yankees t-shirt. There’s a built in bond that goes without saying. You don’t even have to know the other person or like the other person, but you have something you can rally around and agree on. Sometimes, sports is all you have in common with somebody else, and that’s okay. Talking sports with a like-minded person is great. Even talking sports with someone that you disagree with is great; sometimes it’s even better because there’s something to argue about. Debating sports has been a past-time in America for almost as long as there has been an America to have a past-time in. So many great moments, so much bonding between dads and sons and brothers and sisters and friends. I’m sure that there are many, many people that have a single event that stands out in their minds as a great moment in their life that revolves around a sporting event. Sports can help give meaning and identity to a person or even a city. Boston lives and dies with the Red Sox. No matter where you go in the world, there will be a Boston fan waiting for the opportunity to tell you that they are a Boston fan and how much the Yankees suck. This doesn’t stop with the Red Sox; this is something that is in every city and every community that has a team to rally around.

Now, there can be such a deep, unrealistic identity associated with a particular team, that it can be unhealthy. These are normally called Philly fans, but it can happen in other cities. It’s just not as prevalent. The problem is that when you are so invested in the winning and losing of a team, it can affect the rest of your life. Sports are supposed to be fun and entertaining, but if you take them too seriously, you can run into the problem of having them dictate how you live your life. Plus, when your team is doing badly, you make everybody around you miserable. Again, sports are supposed to make you feel good, entertain you, not rule your life. This can also cause problems in the way winning is celebrated and expressed. You see it every year, when a team wins the big game in college; the fans take it as an opportunity to act like hooligans and common criminals. It happens in pro sports too, and not just in the US, but all over the world. It is embarrassing when it happens in the States, but what happens here is nothing compared to other countries. The rioting in South America or Europe after a big soccer game is unbelievable and sometime is just downright frightening. You almost never hear about people getting hurt or killed in the US at sporting events, but it seems to happen daily in foreign countries. This I don’t understand.