Growing up in a sports-loving family meant spending countless hours at my brother’s baseball games, watching football with my dad or playing on various sports teams myself. Softball, soccer, volleyball — you name it, I probably played it. I lived almost entirely in that world, especially during my elementary and middle school years. From the moment I could walk, my dad was practically fitting me for cleats. Naturally, you’d think I’d be a sports fan by now. If I’m being honest though, I couldn’t care less.
My father, a die-hard Tennessee Volunteers fan, tried his best to instill his passion into me. Unfortunately for him, I was a tough nut to crack. Even though I enjoy playing sports or watching them with my family, I’ve never understood the infatuation with a bunch of guys tackling each other over a ball. Many evenings watching my dad yelling at the TV as if the players could hear him has left me a bit skeptical.
However, we live in a country where athletic spectacle is a pastime of the utmost importance, either as fan or participant. In order to see some other perspectives, I sat down with a couple of sports fans to get their takes.
“I like watching sports with other people,” said Elise Butcher, junior business marketing major. “When your team wins, it’s a great feeling. It’s like yes, they won!”
For Butcher, sports bring a euphoric feeling that keeps her coming back for more. Like me, she grew up in a family of UT Knoxville fans. The difference? For her, the love of sports stuck.
“There’s something so different and exciting about two rival teams playing,” said Butcher. Especially in football, she loves the excitement and intensity of a close game.
For junior accounting major Bailey McCormick, it’s the relational aspect of sports that intrigues her. “Watching sports makes me feel connected with people,” said McCormick. “I associate it with family bonding more than anything.”
Even though I don’t particularly enjoy watching sports, I can see why so many people do. At the core of anything in which people participate together lies human connection. We delight in community built around a common interest — whether that’s sports, film, theatre, etc. — so much that we’ll drop everything to watch a live event together.
“It’s mostly the emotional connection to it,” said McCormick. “You just want to see your team succeed.”
That’s the heart of it, really — you want to see that thing you’re rooting for, that thing you and your friends rally around despite your differences, succeed. The beautiful thing is that even if your team loses, the community still prospers. Often, losing actually strengthens those bonds.
So even though I’m not likely to lose my mind over a football game anytime soon, I offer no judgement to the people that do. Finding something you love and finding a community of others who love it as you do is a special thing. Hold on to it.
Photo by Union Photo Project
