Why Should We Care About Sports?
- Sarah Hoylman
- Jan 12, 2022
- 2 min read
Why should we care about sports? Well, ask the die-hard Tom Brady fan you may meet walking down the street of downtown Tampa. Ask the child who's make-a-wish came true after being hoisted in the air by Kobe Bryant. Or you could just ask yourself, "why shouldn't I care about sports?"
It is a loaded question. There are so many aspects of sports that are beneficial not only for the athlete, or the coach, or even the man holding back tears after his hometown team lost the NCAA Football National Championship because their star quarterback threw a pick-six.
Sports unite; they take people from different backgrounds, different sides of the country, different beliefs and values and they bring them together. The person to the left of you at the Superbowl wearing the same colors could potentially become your best friend. Why? Because supporting the same team equates with having something in common; you root for the same cause, you share the same sentiments, you want your team to win.
Now, there is another argument. How can sports bring people together when you're rooting for opposing teams? The answer is simple. Again, you share something in common. While one may be wearing red and the other wearing green, aren't they in the same space, rooting for the same thing, showing their support for the exact same reason? They want their team to win.
Sports have the ability to transcend the seemingly everlasting divide present in the world. For example, in the 23rd Winter Olympic Games, we watched as athletes from South and North Korea marched together, supporting their respective countries, but standing together as a unit. In the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, we watched New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin and America's Abbey D'Agostino finish the race as a unit after taking a fall on the track.
Sure, these barriers can be broken in other facets of the world. We see someone fall walking down a crowded stadium's steps and we pick them up. We buy dinner for the person standing behind us in line at a deli. But there is a difference. In those instances, you may just happen to be in the right place at the right time. In sports, you are there for a common cause; the desire to support your team. You aren't there in the right place at the right time, you're there because you, like the person next to you in an opposing jersey, want to support something bigger than yourself.
In a time when the world is facing extreme division, sports have the ability to ever-so slightly rebuild the broken bridges. So, next time you find yourself screaming over-top of the person next to you in a jersey you absolutely hate, remember that you are both there for the same reason. You both share something in common. You both care about the same thing. And for that reason, we find ourselves more connected to each other than we ever thought we would.
Sarah Grubbs
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