I just got finished with a week that was, somewhat productive, but really the calm before the storm. I spent several wonderful days in the the Virginia Piedmont with some friends/colleagues from work and their partners. It was a great time. My closest friends here in Oneonta are big fans of playing, and I tend to feed off of their energy (read: it gets loud and the dirty jokes and innuendo start flying). And I noticed that, there really is a difference between my enjoyment of competition and my currently unhealthy fandom with sports. When I'm playing the games, I do want to win, and I do let the emotions show, but I am actually playing and there's something to wanting to see that investment in time and effort be rewarded with victory. Granted, I do sometimes need to rein in my "need" to win, but it's far better than it was growing up.
With sports, there is this sad added dimension for me. I hate the other team. Which turns into hating the other school, demonizing the other players, growling at the Michigan bumper stickers on cars on the highway, loathing the guy in the Green Bay Packers sweatshirt while visiting Monticello (Allyson caught me clenching my fists). It transcends the competition itself and really makes me feel unbalanced. Especially, say, when I know someone whom I like, and then learn that they are a fan of "the other team". Why does my perception of them change? How can I justify their being my friend and then their not being my friend because their car is blue, and I prefer green.
Sometimes the choices people make matter in the calculus of long-term relationships. Values matter. Groups you support matter. Your actions matter. The deity you worship, if there is one, matters. In the send the sum total of these terms of the equation ought to add up to a positive correlation if you expect the relationship to last. The team you support, the brand of coffee you prefer, or my favorite, if you insist that anything but Heinz Ketchup is ok - these ought to be at best orders of magnitude smaller than the rest. They are for my wife and I, which is why we're together. I know I'm capable of properly valuing sports and sports rivalry properly against the truly important things in life. The fact that it has been such a struggle, is why I still have plenty to write and think and yes, even pray about.
The alarm will go off in 4 hours, so I can hopefully finish some grading before classes start. I guess it's time for sleep.
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About Me
- Todd Ellis
- I'm passionate about educating everyone about weather and the climate. (P.S. Climate change is not a belief, but a documentable scientific phenomenon) Plus, I'm an avid sports fan, who has sworn off sports for the year. That ought to be interesting...
I finally have something to comment. :D I was like this growing up and during my first year at A&M. I really strongly disliked "t-sips" (those who went to University of Texas). I can't say I hated them, because several memebers of my family went there, and I certainly don't dislike them! But, I would get really angry and you know the drill during football season. Then Bonfire fell during my Freshman year at A&M, and 12 Aggies died. When UT students could have come out and said horrible things (like were being said in the media) about bonfire, etc. for the most part, the students at UT didn't do that. They cancelled their equivalent anti-Aggie rally that year, and replaced it with a memorial service. That changed the way I viewed rivalry and sport. It's all about perspective.
ReplyDeleteBut I will have to agree with you about Heinz. I'm not militant about it, but really...so far I've not had anything as good as that! :D