This will end up being somewhat of a thinking-out-loud post, but why not.
About a year ago I was taking my last German class necessary for me to finish my minor. I don't recall how we got onto the subject, but I remember another student making the comment that he did not understand organized sports, and that essentially they were completely worthless.My professor then remarked that he did not think this was so, because despite the many differences that separate people, only for sports do enormous groups of people come together once or twice a week for a few hours and participate as one.
I thought that that was really an interesting thing to say, and he is absolutely right. Those of us who have our own teams can all recall moments in our lives when we went absolutely crazy with who knows how many other people over a game. Being an Indianapolis Colts fan, I distinctly remember how I felt when the Colts came back from a huge deficit in the second half of the AFC game to beat the New England Patriots and go to the Super Bowl in 2007. A few of us in class who are older than the majority may recall one of the most defining moments in sports history when the US men's hockey team beat the Soviet team in the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in 1980. What I am saying is that these moments are very important for us as a society. Sports have become such a big part of our lives that they have become part of the history of our society and culture.
I am almost surprised then that there are not more museums dedicated to this aspect of our lives. There are quite a number of museums about particular sports, including the various Halls of Fame that go with every collegiate and professional sport, but it seems like the majority of these are more about the teams and the players. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, but I think it would really be interesting to see more exhibits about how sports have affected the people that watch them.
Like I said, just thinking out loud.
This is an interesting post. When I was studying theology in my undergrad, we considered sport as a religion because there are a lot of similarities with sports fans experiences and the experiences of those who have strong religious faith.
ReplyDeleteI think its something that gets ignored because people say, "it's just a game" but to a lot of people it is much more. There was a famous English football manager who, when asked if football was a religion said; "Oh, no. It's much more important than that."
In my undergrad, we had to read an article about sports and magic. I forget the title, but it was about all of the quirky good luck charms/habits that sports players have. It looked at how many sports players follow these ridiculous routines before games. For instance they always eat at the same restaurant before a game, they always wear a certain pair of socks, or they have a special morning routine on each game day. If they switch up their routine in anyway they worry that it will cause them to not have good luck during the game. Performing certain ritual activities is also big part of most traditional religions. For those sports players, their routines are a big deal and they don't take them lightly.
ReplyDeleteSo the article that I read offers additional support for sports being compared to religion in a cultural sense. Interesting!