To some it can be the reason they wake up every morning, which is usually followed by Sportscenter or surfing the internet to see what you missed from last night. It surrounds every moment of every day. You wait to hear the injury status of your starting running back or who’s going to pitch tonight. What goalie will be in net or is LeBron going to choke again.
It’s in the news, it’s over the airwaves. Even the most casual of fans knows what’s going on from a day-to-day basis in the world of sports. Just walking by a television in a bar, at a hotel or in your living room will usually tell you what today’s top story was in sports.
When faced with an awkward situation with someone you don’t know, all you have to do is mention something about sports and you’ve already gained a common interest with the other person. There aren’t many days that have gone by that I haven’t engaged in a sports conservation with someone. Whether it is soccer, football, hockey, baseball, basketball or the Olympics, almost every person in this world knows a little bit about each of them.
Sports gives us that since of pride that drives us to choose from the day we are born what teams we are going to cheer for. Everyone wants to believe their team/city/college is the best, and because of that reason we wear our teams’ colors every day, spend money to watch people play a sport and spend relentless hours researching meaningless stats.
If you’re one of the lucky fans, you’ve had that great moment with your team when they’ve won the championship or won an exciting game. That moment when the world stops and you don’t care about anything but your team. Those goosebumps crawl up your arm and down your back as that final out is made that just gave your team a world championship. Or when that field goal went through to solidify a great season as the best football team in the country. In one of the more uninteresting sports for three quarters, basketball can almost always provide a thrilling ending with a game winning shot or even with a miss. It’s moments like these that define who we are as sports fans and what we stand for as a person.
People can try to avoid sports and say they don’t care, but it’s unavoidable! Deep down inside every fan has a little passion for the outcome of a game. They might not wear their emotions on their sleeves like some fans, but it still affects them. Even if you have no interest in sports, it has an interest in you. Sports is involved in politics, gambling, weather, scandals, exercise, clothes, etc. Sports is the dominant force in this world and you can either embrace it or learn to deal with it.
To some it can be a means to an end. For others, background noise during dinner. But to some, it’s the driving force that keeps them feeling alive, gives them hope and makes them feel meaningful in this world.
