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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Why We Love Sports

"Three times he charged in with the force of the running war god, screaming a terrible cry, and three times he cut down nine men; but as for the fourth time he swept in, like something greater than human, there, Patroklos, the end of your life was shown forth."
- Homer, Iliad, 16.784-7, translated by Lattimore

I have thought long about where athletics fit into the curricula of schools. On one hand, in most cases, modern universities supply the opportunity for advanced education to those who may not otherwise afford it. It makes little logical sense to award money to those athletes to follow academic study when, in reality, the university pays them for their physical gifts. And most of us know of the numerous abuses of this system: cheating, double standards between athletes and non-athletes, countless instances of bad behavior from driving under the influence to rape. On the other hand, the athletic team delivers valuable instruction where the classroom cannot: collaborative effort, loyalty to a common cause, and collective triumph over or shared defeat by a clearly defined adversary. These lessons make successful athletes into successful leaders and citizens.

I have also wondered why athletics captures such a major portion of our time. From water cooler talk about Monday night football to the awe inspired by Tiger Woods from the innumerable sports "talk" shows on TeeVee and radio to the ubiquity of televised satellite packages, we live in a nation voraciously consuming sports. So why, in a nation apparently overworked, stressed-out, obese, and beholden to Total Entertainment with its infinite choices, do we spend so much time watching others perform physical acts? While many Americans engage in physical activity every day, far more prefer to prop up the loafers on the ottoman than tie up the running shoes.

After witnessing the triumph of the Washington Redskins at FedEx stadium in a thrilling overtime game on Sunday, I found part of the answer: the tribe. Despite numerous admonitions from social moralists about the ever increasing introversion of our citizenry (see iPod earphones everywhere and no one talking to each other?), we still live in regionalized tribes. We have some connection to the teams we worship, whether it be because we attended the university or we have lived just miles from home field or a grandparent once rooted for that team, and doggoneit we are going to preserve our memory of Grandma by loving the Fighting Irish with equivalent zeal. The tribe sends its warriors out to battle the neighboring enemy, and when the warriors return, the tribe knows they have done their best to protect those who did not fight. Naturally, Santana Moss's touchdown in overtime doesn't mean that I won't have trouble with those pesky people from Jacksonville, but in a subconscious way, I know he has saved me. He has saved me from defeat, and therefore, I am preserved. He does what I don't have to do: train for hours and compete in the physical arena. I share his victory.

In Iliad Patroklos abuts his own mortality, and we can rejoice in his teetering walk on the cliff of his humanity for he has both courage and aplomb. Sadly, in this moment of horrific dramatic irony, we know more than the warrior. While Patroklos plunges headlong into the chaos, we know he will soon perish. In this moment we celebrate his triumph, his brutality, and his raw aggression, and we celebrate it because we do not need to confront it in ourselves. He dies so we don't have to, and we laud him for his courage. We share his sacrifice.

Reality TeeVee has always humored me with its paradox. How can anything be real on TeeVee, especially when contrived by Hollywood/NYC executives who value only shock value to generate revenue? The popularity of these shows reveal that we crave something spectacular to divorce us from the mundane of life, but in order for it to work, it must be somewhat real. Sports provide just the panacea for our lives confined by cubicles and air-conditioning. It returns us to the tribe; it gives us that moment when we struggle against our enemy and save our kinsmen. And we don't need hours in the weightroom to feel good. Someone else will plunge headlong into the chaos for us.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

More than just relying on the “warrior” to “plunge headlong into the chaos for us,” there is a basic primal instinct which causes us all to gravitate to a “tribe” for comfort and security in all aspects of life. And, because I can not match the elegance of Dr. Henry Plantagenet, I will leave you with two quotes which so wisely touch on this basic human desire. The first is by the Dalai Lama. I am still unsure from where the second quote came. Judging by the tone and writing style, my guess is that it came from William James, Emanuel Kant, or possibly even the great #89 Santana Moss. Regardless, it is right on the money.

#1 “We human beings are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason, it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.”

#2 "Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.…whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."

2:40 PM  

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