More Than A Dumb Game: Why Hobbies Hold Meaning

It happens every year: the guy that you reluctantly invited to your Super Bowl party arrives and immediately starts sarcastically saying things like, “Oh have there been any home runs yet?” You laugh to be polite, but secretly hope he’ll just let everyone enjoy the game. 

As the party continues, he changes from faking ignorance about the sport for laughs, to expressing his true criticism: he just doesn’t see any value in “Watching a bunch of guys run around after a ball.” And while that’s an obvious oversimplification, maybe that criticism deserves some real thought. I mean, shouldn’t we give these questions the time of day?

Is there any value in watching people run around after a ball?

Are all sports just glorified child’s play? 

If so, is that okay? Is it okay that so many people devote so much of their time and energy to watching something so trivial? 

Before I give my own take on these questions, I think it’s only fair that I admit my own bias: I’m a huge sports fan. I love watching and playing sports, and I have my own reasons for that. But more on that later. 

With that said though (and this might surprise you), I actually agree with that obnoxious Super Bowl party guest, in a sense. Let me explain. 

I don’t believe there is any inherent value in watching people chase after a ball. I do think sports are just glorified child’s play — though to be fair, it’s child’s play that requires an incredible amount of skill. And at the end of the day, it’s trivial. It’s meaningless. 

The thing is, though, so is painting a picture or taking a trip to the Grand Canyon or sitting down and playing monopoly with your friends. The only thing that gives these activities value is that we see value in them. 

The truth is, humans are expert meaning-prescribers. We’re brilliant at it. We see meaning and value in all sorts of things, and, in my opinion, that’s beautiful. If you choose to see your 11 p.m. Taco Bell run as an adventure, it becomes an adventure. If you choose to see your first attempt at painting as art, then it becomes art. How you approach your friendly game of monopoly will most likely determine the value of that experience as well. 

Now don’t get me wrong — I’m not saying that nothing in this life has inherent meaning. I wholeheartedly believe some things have value just because of what they are. It’s intrinsic. But I’m also interested in that other realm — those things that vary greatly in value depending solely on how we view them in our minds and our hearts. I believe sports (and really, almost all free-time activities) belong in that realm. 

I said earlier that I’d reveal my own reasons for loving sports. The truth is, it’s simple. My dad and older brother love sports, and they’re both full of knowledge about them. My dad taught me how to swing a bat and throw a football and shoot a free throw. Some of my favorite moments are the ones I’ve spent watching games with my dad and brother on TV or, even better, watching them in person. 

I remember how it felt when I caught a fly game ball at an Augusta Green Jackets (the local minor league team back home) game with the two of them. I couldn’t even tell you if our team won that game or what the score was or any of the players’ names. But I caught the game ball, and my dad told me that catching a game ball was awesome. So it became awesome to me. It still is. 

I don’t know how you feel about sports. I have no idea what things you’ve prescribed meaning to in your own life, but whatever your things are, I hope you love them dearly — like I do my sports memories. 

My dad barely uses his Instagram page, but he’ll check his Direct Messages if he sees I sent him a SportsCenter or ESPN post; we’ll most likely talk about it too. Don’t get me wrong, sports isn’t the only thing I talk about with him, but that doesn’t change that I do love to talk sports with him. 

I have countless inside jokes with my brother, but some of our best are the ones we’ve come up with while watching football together. 

So maybe you hate football. That’s fine with me. You might have absolutely zero interest in it and see it as completely meaningless. I just have one request: if you’re ever with a person who loves football, try to keep in mind how much it might mean to them, the place it might hold in their life. That really goes for everything. 

For you, maybe it’s birdwatching or making TikToks or making stop-motion animation videos or something else I haven’t even heard about. Whatever it is, if it means something to you because of the memories you’ve made surrounding it with people who are important to you, I hope you know: it is the furthest thing from meaningless. 

Truth be told, I don’t hope for a world where more people love sports, but I do hope for a world where more people love something and let that something bring them closer to those around them. And to be fully honest, I also hope for a world with less obnoxious Super Bowl party guys. 

Graphic by Toby Forehand