Its All A Part of Something Greater...

First of all, I am as guilty of this as anyone else, so this is not me "calling you out". I've just been thinking a lot recently on why is it that whenever we refer to our favorite sports teams, we refer to ourselves as a part of the team by saying "we"? Whether its in high school, college, or pro sports, we all desire so badly to be a part of the action, we want to live in the moment just like those who are actually participating in the events. When I was a student at Ole Miss, I can remember vividly games on Saturdays, (though my friend Ryan can attest to this, we didn't get to attend many games due to work), and in the spring, sitting up in Section I at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field yelling "throw it in the dirt!" at the top of our lungs. Whenever I'd describe what happened during a game, I would always refer to the team as "we", but I've never realized how often I do that until a couple of weeks ago when I was talking about how the University of Georgia was punished for 60 minutes by Boise State University (who I was cheering for, btw...). Now I've never been to Boise, I've never gotten to see, (outside of a TV screen), the "smurf turf" that serves as the single greatest home-field advantage in collegiate athletics, but when I talked about the game the next day, I used the word "we". Maybe its just that I love cheering for the underdogs and defending their right to be able to play on the national stage, (since they've constantly proven themselves, and believe me, I'll defend them against any of you "SEC supremacists" whenever you want, and I promise, I WILL WIN), or maybe its just that I can choose whoever I want to cheer for whenever I want. But as I watched that game, I felt myself wishing more than ever that I had played football in high school, tried out in college, and was not in the position I am today.

In all that, it still boggles my mind that we all just want to be a part of something so badly that we live in the delusion that in some way, us yelling through the TV at the referees or the coaches really make a difference and that whether we're at the games or not will make the team play harder or even win more often. Now, I've never seen Boise State play live, but I'll tell you, I think they'd still beat any team in the country whether I was there or not, (and I really want to see them play live sometime), and whether they win or lose, I'll still fight for their right to be placed in the same company as the top conferences and not reference them as "the little sisters of the poor". But personal thoughts aside, why do we have to feel like we belong to these teams? Is it our desire to be with like-minded people? Is it our desire for community?

We were meant to live in the company of others. But is this really the way for us to feel like we are a part of something bigger?

These questions can unlock all sorts of doors. But its when our desire to be a part of something bigger becomes who we are, we can destroy ours and the lives of others. (reference to Harvey Updyke, the man who poisoned the trees at Toomer's Corner in Auburn, AL.) We all love our rivalries and the jokes and gloating we get to make, (which still makes it funny, cause we didn't play in any of the games that allow us fans to gloat), but why do we take them so far? Why is a man willing to destroy another school's tradition over a the fact that "his" team lost a game? Its sickening to think that we are a people who are so petty that we're willing to destroy things in the towns of a rival school. The "sickness" of the human condition blows my mind and continues to make me wonder why I love sports so much...oh yeah, I know now...the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.


That says it all.