With the World Cup coming to a close, and any team I was rooting for done with their games, I am going to take a second and talk about sports in general.
I kept track of baseball, basketball, and football games when I was young. I collected the cards and even had a Dan Marino and Michael Jordan trading card at some point (which dates me, I suppose). I watched the games so I would know who was the best and which teams were doing well. I had my favorites for each sport and I was really happy when they won, even if they were cities I had never been to, even to this day. This all happened around the time I was in the third grade. The cool guys in the class had cards, so I did too. This went on for a while until I realized that I really didn’t care about sports. I loved playing the sports when it was recess time, but watching sports weren’t near as fun to me, especially after we got our first computer. I eventually gave all my cards away and rarely watched a game again. I played soccer in high school, so the only sports I watch now are some select Olympic events and certain games in the World Cup. But even then, watching the games was quite low on my priority list if I had other things to do, which I usually did.
I know many, many people who are sports fanatics in one way or another. I even have a cousin who runs a very widely read sports blog, but don’t expect me to read it any time soon. When I attended BYU, most of what people talked about was how the football, basketball, or volleyball teams were doing. I attended one female gymnastics meet and one football game while there. I understand how all the sports work, what the rules and strategies are, but they still don’t quite interest me. I was always happy for the team when BYU won, but it didn’t ruin my weekend when they didn’t. Ironically, I happened to be at BYU during two of some famously successful seasons. I never considered myself a die-hard cougar… I considered myself a BYU student first before I called myself a cougar. Some might say that they are two in the same, but to me they are worlds apart. BYU exists first for the student body and academics, for furthering the truth, for preparing students for their lives…. lower on the list comes good sports teams and entertainment for the student body.
And sports are just that: entertainment. There’s no question that the athletes are skilled at what they do no matter what the sport. I admire the kind of dedication and hard work that it takes to become good at anything, particularly something as competitive as getting onto some kind of professional sports organization. I also don’t have any problem with some of these athletes getting paid the huge sums that they get. However, it seems to not be about the sport or the teams as much now as it is about some really good individual player. That’s one reason why I like soccer. I still don’t know any individual names of our U.S. soccer team, but I saw that they worked together quite well. It was fun to watch the sport of soccer be carried out skillfully.
I know that teams need support and there are plenty of fans willing to do that. I know that sometimes it’s nice to be able to talk to someone about “what I was doing when X scored the winning Y for team Z”. Having said all this, I’ll never forget when Boise State University beat the Sooners on the last play of the game a few years back. But even the thrill I got in seeing that, or many of the amazing plays I saw BYU make while I was there doesn’t give me near as much thrill as other things like reading, learning, programming, doing yard work, spending time with my family, you know….actually accomplishing something. Also, as right now we only have girls I don’t think I’ll be spending any time teaching them about the ins and outs of football.
If you happened to be a sports fanatic or even to a lesser degree sports follower, I’m not saying you’re stupid and I’m the one who has it all figured out. But my opinion is that in the end it doesn’t matter who won what game when and where (unless you’re betting money, which I don’t do anyway). If you plan to make a career of some kind that revolves around the sporting industry, best of luck to you and I hope you can find the career that you have a passion for. If you’re a sports fanatic, I have nothing but respect for you to put so much thought and emotion into something like that. But, as for me, I’m going to spend my thought and emotion somewhere else.
