Why I Love Sports and Athletes
This is my first post to Midwest Sports Fans, and I was having a little trouble thinking of a subject to write about. I love sports and have since I was a child, and as an adult I constantly notice that sports are not just what you see on the TV: the high paid athletes, the fancy uniforms and crazy fans; but an every day part of life that gives people the chance to test themselves against the odds and see if their effort can overcome talent, or vice-versa. The influence sports have on us come through in our personalities as we try to pump ourselves up for our upcoming office presentation, or try to encourage our co-workers with our favorite pregame cliches and motivating words of wisdom. While there are rarely fans or on-lookers in the office, the effect it has on people is easily noticed.
On the biggest stages, the athletes and teams that compete give everyone the chance to cheer on their favorite on the battlefield, whatever the sport. People sometimes love sports so much, and become so obsessed with the performance or success of their team, that their actions or antics seem outrageous to someone who is not familiar with the game. Across the world, soccer fans have been known to beat their 
opponent’s fans, riot, threaten referees with physical violence, and throw anything that is not bolted down onto the field in outrage or jubilance.
This passion that makes people love sports and their teams in such a zealous way is one of the reasons why sports are one of the biggest businesses in the world today. Many athletes make millions in contracts and endorsements while firemen, policemen, and teachers do the most noble of jobs but are hardly compensated to the extent of the impact they have on all of our lives. While I cannot justify that, I once argued that these brave people should be paid more, and would, if we were able to sell tickets to the next house fire, shootout, or class lecture, or if our kids were begging us to buy them the new Nike Air Professors. Call it crazy, but it is the truth.
In today’s game, as the business of sports becomes bigger and bigger, the athletes are becoming even more of a marketable image than anybody else in the world. More people across the world would probably recognize LeBron James than Barack Obama or John McCain. And while I am not encouraging King James to run for President, it shows that sports are taken more seriously than even politics today. I cannot tell you the difference between either candidate’s ideas for foreign policy, but I can break down the intricacies and beauty of the zone blitz.
And look at the Olympic basketball tournament. The Chinese fans cheered louder and were more enthusiastic for Team USA than they were for their own national team! If that’s not ironic, I don’t know what is. If an ignorant person were to watch a game in China’s basketball stadium, they would tell you that Team USA was the local team, not that of their political rival from halfway across the world. In this regard, I think that’s great news. Sports have always been something that has brought people together, and now the world together, regardless of your national origin, race, or upbringing.
In my opinion, sports are the greatest form of theater. Each athlete is playing a role and their part is not dictated by the next
line of dialogue, but by the action he takes and the impact he has on the competition, or sometime the entire sport itself. Each game is a scene, and each season an act. When the playoffs arrive, we see that this impact sometimes transcends the sport itself. Every time we take to heart the performance of an athlete or the accomplishment of a team we have let sports shape the person we are; as we try to move forward in our own life with the same resolve of, say, an injured quarterback in the fourth quarter, leading his team to a comeback win. I know that sports are not the most important part of life, but when isolated they contain more twists, drama, action, suspense, and even irony that the most well-written movie could not produce. Now that is why we love sports and the athletes who compete in them…
We now live in a time when it’s not very often you see much good news in the newspaper. War, political scandal, economic troubles, and violence take up most of the front page, but I know that I can always turn to the sports page, and read the next chapter of the world’s greatest never-ending story.
[tags]sports, love sports, sports and athletes, business of sports[/tags]
Tags: athletes, business of sports, love of sports, sports
Loading ...
Great first post Mr. WhoHitYa. I love the line about the “Nike Air Professors.” It’s ironic and funny, and it’s very true.
Sports provide a common rallying point for groups of individuals who come from similar backgrounds and have similar values. Fans in Cleveland and Pittsburgh are from hard-working, blue-collar cities and they like their teams to exhibit these same traits. People in Miami and LA are used to glitz and glamour and lives lived in the fast lane, and they too like to see these traits exhibited in their teams. Conversely, sports can also bring people together and form common grounds that might not otherwise be there. Americans of all different backgrounds cheer together for the U.S. National Teams or Michael Phelps, for instance.
This is a topic that we could talk about forever. For so many of us, sports were an intricate part of the fabric of childhoods and it continues into adulthood. So many cherished memories that people have stem from sports events that they participated in or watched.
Thanks for starting a conversation on this topic. A very auspicious and well-written debut.
Reply
Leave your response!