Why sports?

For as long as I can remember, people have been asking me "Why do you love sports so much?" And after a long college career of successfully convincing every professor I ever had that sports somehow had a valuable connection to whatever term paper they deemed necessary for me to write, I have gotten no closer to discovering a legitimate purpose to my obsession that labeled me as a slacker in the university world. Until now.

Luckily (and unfortunately), ESPN radio personality Mike Greenberg put words in my mouth long before I ever could (meaning, he's quicker and smarter than I am. But I have no problem quoting him on this). In his book "Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad," Greenberg explains why he (we) love sports so much, and should never be ashamed of it.

"Sports are like war without all the dying. Imagine how intriguing war would be as a spectator sport if, when it was over, everyone shook hands and showered together. The strategy, the passion, the courage, the stakes; war is magnificent theater until you start counting bodies. That's where you lose me.

"In sports, you never lose me. You plan your attack, prepare physically and emotionally, attempt to execute your game plan - often in hostile environments - and then it ends and you all have a beer together.

"... I often read about people whose lives are filled with tragedy, civil war, poverty, hunger, and I think about how much better off the world would be if everyone could spend all that energy worrying about football. Maybe I'm on to something with that. Maybe the solution to all our problems can be found in irrelevance. Try it. The next time the mortgage is due and the baby is crying and you're late for work and the car in front of you is taking up both lanes - that is the best time to fret over someone dropping a ball you care too much about. It may not make your troubles disappear but it might make them blurry, distort the focus, at least a little."

Thanks to Mike Greenberg, I think I finally know why I have dedicated everything I do the phenomenon that is sports... They are the most important, unimportant thing we have left.

In the midst of everything going on in the world today, sports mean nothing. And that's why they mean everything.

Look at how the Southeast rallied around the New Orleans Saints after Hurricane Katrina, or how the entire nation pulled for the Yankees (the only time we'll ever do so) after 9-11. Sports unite us. They give us hope for something great. They are an escape from everything that is awful in this world.
  
That's why I love them, You can't take sports too seriously, even though they seem like the most serious thing in the world. Just like you can't take yourself too seriously. Sports are supposed to be fun. And what is life if you can't make it fun? That's what it's all about.

Laugh. Play sports. Cheer on your team. Forget about your troubles. Have Fun!