Be a Sport

I don't understand the appeal of sports. I've written about this on the blog previously, I know, but I'm reminded every day about its relative rarity as a personality trait. Most people seem to love sports, or at least some sports. And I'm not just talking about men here. Of course, the stereotypical sports fan is a big fat guy, possibly from Chicago, mouthing off about the importance of special teams in between bites of Polish sausage, but most of the females I know can at least tolerate watching an entire sporting event. And, of course, some women are huge sports fans.

This is totally lost on me. I'm not going to go off on some silly rant about how dumb sports are, or about how pointless it is for everyone to sit transfixed by some 300 pound meathead bouncing a ball around. I realize that people enjoy the competition and the spectacle, that they admire the physical prowess of athletes, and that sports provides a valuable outlet, hobby and bonding experience. Moreover, I'd theorize that sports fandom itself is an inclusive activity. People follow sports, root for specific teams, and thus join a club, a kind of elite society full of people with common interests and goals, excluding people who don't pay attention to the right statistics or listen to the right columnists.

But it's the sheer amount of time, attention and importance that some people apply to sports that truly boggles my mind. As I sit here, my roommates are watching SportsCenter for what I can only estimate is the third time today. That's naturally in addition to the football that was on all afternoon. Tomorrow will be football as well, and the rest of the week will be dotted by more sports news and, of course, a few Laker games. And I'm not even counting ancillary pseudo-sports like poker, billiards, horse racing and Classic Sports documentaries that may find their way into the televising schedule. These activities are not fleeting entertainments, the way I see reality shows or most people see movies and magazines. This is a passion, a subject about which intense interest is invested. Some people will spend literally all of their waking hours in pursuit of deeper, more nuanced understanding of the nickel defense.

Again, I don't mean to make it sound like I'm complaining. I have a television in my bedroom and can watch whatever I want. But why do these men (and women) want to spend what amounts to the bulk of their leisure time following the athletic exploits of strangers, men who they know only through feats of strength and the occasional 30-second pointless interview? Are our lives (and I include myself here) so empty that any activity with visceral thrills and an unknown ending provide us with a minimal amount of entertainment? Or is there genuinely something deep and awe-inspiring about sports that I've simply missed, despite hours of forced viewership. I honestly don't know.

I do know that it can't be easily dismissed. I am unable to say that sports fans are not smart, as I know a great deal who are. I am unable to say they don't have other cultural passions, as of course, they do. All I can say is that I'm not one of them, and sometimes it makes me feel alone.