Sports

As humans, I think we all realize how temporary we are whether we consciously think about it or not. It looms over us. In the grand scheme of things, we are nothing - just a few decades in the world. Lately, I've been getting into watching sports, supporting people that I've never met, probably will never meet, have only seen through the lens of the this black box I call my TV. I mean really, the winning or losing of a team has absolutely nothing to do with my well-being, nothing to do with the way I live my life from day to day, nothing to do with what I will eat for dinner tomorrow. I'm not going to eat green eggs and ham tomorrow just because the Celtics happen to win. Nor am I going to eat beets because the Lakers are winning. These things will really not affect our lives. I suppose it could a little by promoting the economy in your area, but if you look at the bigger picture of your life, I am doubtful that it will change anything big.

That being said, I think we watch sports and support things that really have no bearing on our lives because we want to become a part of something larger than ourselves, larger than we will ever become on our own. 10 years from now, people will still be talking about which team they supported for the 2010 World Cup and we will be there and say "I saw that happen! Wasn't that ridiculous when Green let in that stupid goal?" Cheering for the U.S. team involves us in something bigger, nationalism, saying "Here we are, alongside all of our people. I was there, I was a part of this (...however indirect that may be)." This is something that we all long to be a part of... something great, epic as some may say, monumental. Nevertheless, we are temporary and will fade. Thus, we grasp at the things we can to say we're more than just a speck of history and to attempt to attain this certain immortality you could say.

Perhaps this quote is a little off-topic, but I think it pertains. I love it.

"I have been told that it is common for people to mark exactly where they are when they learn of death on a grand scale. I have met Americans, for example, who can tell me in detail which suit they were putting on or what highway they were driving down at the time of the suicide jet attacks on the World Trade Centre.Perhaps it is a way to link our own small presence to the great bloodstained currents of history for just a moment. I suppose this is also a way of feeling a part of an overwhelming fatal event, a slight flirtation with the finality that awaits us all – a rehearsal for our own deaths, you might say" - Paul Rusesabagina