I love sports.
I remember one of the first NFL games that I watched as a child. I don't recall anything about the game but I loved the team with the "twirly helmets." I became a Los Angeles Rams fan from that day on…until they moved to St. Louis…and I realized that there were better reasons to pick a favorite team than twirly helmets.
Back then I had an LA Lakers plaque on my door, a Los Angeles Rams lamp, a Philadelphia Eagles bean bag, a Miami Dolphins trashcan, Florida State Seminole curtains, baseball and football cards all over my desk, an NFL blanket and pillow case on my bed, and a big Steve Garvey poster on my wall. (Steve Garvey was "the man" in my book…right next to Lee Majors…the 6 Million Dollar Man.)
I played sports, I watched sports, and I kept meticulous stats on all my favorite players. If I would have thought of the concept of fantasy football back then, I would have been a rich man today. My own six million dollar man.
I still love sports but I am finding myself asking the question "why?" a lot more as I get older. (Like why does hair grow less on your head and more on your ears as you age?)
Why do I love sports so much? And what makes them so popular, so obsessive, so addictive?
You can't argue with the fact that sports has become almost like a "god" in our culture. If money equals value, then it is obvious that we value sports and sports stars more than practically anything else. When a college's football coach is paid up to seventy times more than the college's professors (and worth it from a financial standpoint), then it speaks volumes about our passion/addiction for sports.
Let's face it, most people would rather see their favorite university win a national championship than have the highest graduate success rate.
Why?
I know sports can develop character…or at least expose it. Sports are fun, competitive, entertaining. I am not one to get on the bangwagon bashing sports. I have seen the positive effects of sports on my four boys. I have been able to teach valuable life lessons as they have had to deal with winning, losing, long practices, and unfair calls on the field.
And many famous athletes use sports as a platform to glorify God, encourage others, and do good in society.
So I am thankful for sports.
But I am also bothered by how much emotion that they can still evoke in me. Watching my team win (or a hated team lose) produces way too much joy in me and watching my team lose (or a hated team win) produces way too much discouragement. And playing a bad round of golf, especially when I lose to someone, can still make me want to throw my clubs…even if age and maturity have enabled me to not explode in anger but just to be irritable all day instead.
So what is it about sports that makes them so powerful, so emotional, so personal?
Here are my two theories:
1. Our Hunger for Significance.
We crave siginifcance. We hunger to feel important, to feel like our life matters, to be seen as strong and successful in the eyes of others. And sports gives us an arena in which to feel like we are accomplishing something significant.
The obtaining of gold medals, trophies, awards, plaques, and articles in the newspaper validate this sense of significance.
And if you can't feel significant by your own sports accomplishments, then you can pick a favorite team and get a sense of vicarious significance.
In my little world, when my team wins, I win. And I can buy the t-shirt to prove it.
Isn't it funny how serious we take sports? Sportscasters are some of the few people who still wear suits and, as they wax eloquent on the sports stories of the day, they give the air that they are really talking about truly significant events. Interview the sports star and he talks about the heart, courage, and perseverance of his team as if they just won the most significant battle in history.
However, when you step back, you realize that they are talking about a group of men dressed in colored jerseys that carried a little leather ball across a white line more times than another group of men dressed in different colored jerseys…or perhaps someone in that group kicked that little leather ball through the middle of two vertical poles more times than the other group's guy.
Funny indeed.
2. Our Hunger for Order and Meaning.
I think our obsession with sports tends to increase with the deterioration of our world. When life seems out of control, then sports become a nice outlet for a sense of sanity.
I know…sports and sanity do not readily seem to go together…but sports do offer a world in which there are defined rules, specific goals, and clear boundaries. And in the end, we know who the winners and losers are.
In some strange way, I think sports are man's way of trying to create a world of meaning.
Deep down we long to know the boundaries, to know what is right and wrong, to know that those who break the rules will be penalized, and to know that those who play well will win in the end.
In a world that often doesn't make sense, sports does. If even for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.
Maybe that's why Scripture doesn't condemn sports but actually uses them to point to higher truths.
We are runners in a race (Heb. 12:1). We are fighters in a fight (1 Cor. 9:26). We are athletes who need to compete within the rules (2 Tim. 2:5).
There are boundaries in life. There is signficance and meaning. There are winners and losers.
And there is One who has achieved real victory over our real opponents–sin, death, and Satan–through His sacrifice on the cross and the power of His resurrection.
And His name in Jesus Christ.
And I am so glad that I am on His team.
