Many times, people have come up to me and said, "Maddy, why are you such a big Steelers fan? Why is football so important to you?" Many people are under the impression that sports aren't important and just involve someone throwing or catching a ball. This is simply not true. Sports are just as much a part of our culture as language and television.
I'm a people person. I love talking. I'll talk to pretty much anyone. (That is what gets me in trouble.) I notice that some people don't like to talk as much as I do, which annoys me to no end. However, one of the first things I look for when bringing up a conversation, I look to see if they are wearing any football gear. If they are, I have an instant connection with them. Football (And sports in general) connect people.
For me, if someone brings up the Steelers, I can talk to them for hours. For that short period, we relate to each other. That's why I love Pittsburgh so much: I can go there and everyone is a Steelers fan and I connect with all of these people. I can even relate to people who aren't Steeler fans. As long as people can hold a standard football conversation, we are connected. A little competition never hurt anyone.
Religion, music, and politics divide people. A lot of times, people say that religion unites us, but it doesn't. Just look at the Middle East. Sports are different. I'm Catholic, a Republican, and I love my country music. But I could care less if the Steeler fan next to me is a democrat and an atheist who loves rap music. It doesn't matter. That's the beauty of sports.
The reason I got into football is because I wanted to be a part of something. My Dad lived in Pittsburgh, so he is a huge Steelers fan. I wanted a special bond with him, so I studied football. Now, my Dad and I are so close. When we fight — which is usually rare — we make up fast. One of us just says, "So, did you hear that Bryant McFadden is a Cardinals?" And then it's all better.
Can you imagine if politics was like sports? When I go to Steelers games, I end up hugging random strangers. Can you just imagine, being on Capitol Hill, the Republicans and Democrats are hugging? Economy, a crisis? No problem. The war on terror? Not even an issue. It's amazing the emotions sports bring out in people. I've never seen any other part of culture that unites people as much as sports. That's why sports are important.
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Article comments
1 - Idi
I agree with this
Tks
2 - hillary tylor
well, i agree with this
thx
3 - Martiniano
I think that games are mini wars. As long as we say we aspire to a peaceful world yet encourage sports we are hypocrites. The hard work we need to do is to overcome our need, our obsession with competition, with beating someone else. I think that a few uncomfortable moments of silence with a stranger are preferable to creating hatred.
If you think sports are all fun ask one of the many victims of Raider Nation.
4 - Tanner Ames
You know I was trying to find an article i can relate to on Google, one that bashes sports for the monkey pee they are in an efort to get over my anger of a stupid baseball game going over two hours over its alloted time, cutting into terra nova the only reason i roll myself out of bed on mondays. I mean before this show came out i just layed in bed wallowing in my own urine until i realized that mondays pale in comparison to the iron bowl. Something my family looks forward to as much as a cancer patient looks forward to wigs and a cure for cancer. sorry im going a bit off topic but its all relevent. In my opinion sports are ruining this country in the same way smoking ruins the human body. The body cant get enough of it, ignoring the fact that it will kill you and give you the aforementioned cancer, until your spending all your resources on it and completely ignoring important things like food, water, sleep. I suppose i should probably make my points more clear instead of using metaphors so lets just jump right in. Since i live in alabama and my families and auburn fan i will use auburn as the generic sports team. Auburn like most colleges offer scholarships when your able to throw a football farther than 10 feet, or run... farther than 10 feet. Now for those who dont know a scholarship is the opportunity for an extremely smart kid who comes from a poor, or middle class background to get into a college for free in the hopes that he will not be one of those kids that spends there college days snorting meth binge drinking and having sex 24/7, and actually become a productive part of society. I mean thats what it was up until about 30 years ago whne the colleges decided that physically tough people whos mentally capacity cant exend upon see that guy over there youve got to be better than him so go and try to break him. These are the people who work as janitors as soon as they get out of highschool, or at least that should be the case if america wasnt stupid enough to beleive that people who have the aforementioned strengths and brain capacities should be paid millions of dollars to do what they do, and do it well. So i guess my point is if america started focusing on nurturing the mental capacity to not pick there favorite teams coleros and then stick them on everything as if they might get distracted by a butterfly and forget which color they chose. Now the guidelines for comments on this random site I found say no personal attacks. So let me just say this im not insulting anyone personally when i say this. If thej guy that wrote this article would like to have an intellegent conversation about the intellegence of the this country and how its going down the road of ancient Rome with the gladiators can contact me at vgam3srule@aol.com.
5 - Joe
You're assuming that students that are gifted in athletics are mentally inadequate? Poor argument, just poor.
6 - noor
what ever