I write this article from a spectator standpoint. I could make endless points about the benefits of participation in sports, whether it be the importance of teamwork or the physical health benefits. This article, however, will focus on the effects of widespread viewing of sporting events.
Today’s world is full of all sorts of divisive topics: the election, a topic which almost necessarily splits the country on issues that people feel strongly about, dominates our country’s media and rhetoric. Our country is experiencing some of the worst tension between races that it has seen in years. In this time of divisiveness, sports are one of the few things that can bring everyone together. And it seems that the bigger the event, the greater the unity.
For instance, a Seahawks game brings everyone in my apartment to the couch for the entirety of the three-hour game. But winning the Super Bowl, that brought an estimated 1 million+ people to the city of Seattle to watch a parade in celebration of the team. Winning a sports game caused my high school principal to cancel school so we could all go to that parade. It was a true sports miracle.
More recently, the seventh game of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians drew me to this phenomenon. For those who do not follow sports at all, the Chicago Cubs had not won the World Series in over a century, the longest championship drought in popular professional sports today. But on November 1, 2016, the Cubs finally won the highest honor in Major League Baseball. That night, my entire household gathered around the television to watch a game of baseball, a first for us this year. Check social media, and Twitter is filled not with political slander or hateful speech, but it is full of heartwarming stories of lifelong baseball fans whose dreams finally came true. It’s not all memes – well that’s not true; Twitter stays stocked with memes, but now they all share a unified Cubs theme.
Some might say sport do not matter, that they simply distract us from issues that need our attention. Some people claim professional sports are just pointless games played by overpaid athletes. But I say watching sports has led to one of the most positive nationwide discourses the United States has seen this year. Is watching a sports event simply an excuse to get together? Perhaps. But for me, that’s enough.
