i hear the olympics are on again
By diana on Mar 1, 2010 | In capricious bloviations
who to cheer for?
Or maybe they're over now. Dunno.
Lorraine just sent me a sweet condolence email for our hockey loss to Canada last night. As I was responding, I bethought me that this might make an interesting blog post.*
* Plus, I really should be writing a short paper right now, so I'm doubly motivated to blog.
I've never seen a hockey game, by the way. My Canuck friends will no doubt be horrified. The game looks like it would be interesting and engaging to watch, but I've just never gotten around to it.
I'm a sports enthusiast only so far as it extends to my participation in them, generally speaking, but I do have a few exceptions. I enjoy watching the more artistic sports, like gymnastics and figure skating and freestyle frisbee competitions. In these cases, I cheer for the athlete who seems to me to be the best.
I grew up in East Texas not watching sports. No one in the house did. Thus, American football still confuses me; I've never understood much beyond the "four downs or ten yards" rule. When I find myself in a social situation in which there is a football game on the telly, I generally choose the team everyone is rooting against, just to add interest.*
* For myself, anyway. The fact that this annoys the real football fans in the group is only a perk.
So understand, I don't have "a team" I root for. I have never understood this concept, frankly. Perhaps someone can explain why I should care which team wins--short of me having money riding on it, I mean. Most people don't bet on a team. though. They just have a favorite team...year after year after year. I don't get this. I never have.
I remember being in middle school and being required to attend a pep rally for our football team. Each class participated in screaming competitions. I did this the first time (I think I went hoarse), then thought...why? I didn't care about our football team, and what difference did it make if our class "won" the screaming competition?* So I quit playing. My peers weren't happy that I wasn't "helping" the class, but they often weren't happy with me for various reasons** and this particular bit of annoyance on their part barely registered.
* As far as common sense goes, this is as rational as eating competitions, I think.
** Like, I dressed oddly and usually blew the curve on tests.
From there, I entered high school where, I was soon to learn, the pep rallies in middle school were just training wheels. After the first one, I made it a point to slip off to the depths of the library so I could sit and read while everyone else screamed their fool lungs out. The librarians and teachers, however, soon caught on and forced me to go sit with my class during pep rallies.
Let's pause to consider the utter stupidity of this, shall we? I was reading. You know...that thing our government sinks untold amounts of money into, getting celebrities to pose with their favorite books so children will think reading is cool and...try it themselves? Yeah, that's what I was doing. Well, I got away with it (I say this like I was sneaking off behind the barn to smoke a stolen cigarette or something) for a couple of weeks, after which the teachers caught onto my ruse. They'd ferret me out of the library and park me on the lowest step of the bleachers so everyone could see who didn't have "school spirit" and thus increase the peer pressure.* After the first time or two of coming to find me, they clearly instructed the librarians to head me off at the pass, because the librarians began to stop me as I tried to slip off into the stacks so they could redirect me to stop trying to learn something and to please go act like a fool with everyone else.
But I'm not bitter.
* Peer pressure only works if you care what others think, though. As it was, they were merely planting a disgruntled teen into a situation where she was more disgruntled because the screaming hurt my ears.
On a couple of those occasions, I'd stop reading (I learned quickly to just bring my entertainment) and watch everyone screaming, then watch the football players in their outfits run out onto the floor, and--this was the most pathetic display I remember--the principal trying to act like he had school spirit. At such moments, I'd try to understand this weird social phenomenon to which I was clearly immune, and my mother's words would go through my head: "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too?"
No. No, I would not.
But at least the concept of having a favorite team makes slightly more sense than cheering for a team simply because we share geographical coordinates. Where's the logic in that? Maybe it's a selfish thing, but what does it matter to me? The activities of a sports team affects my life not at all (except in school when I was forced to abandon my education for mandatory bonding activities). One's alliance with one or more sports teams has always struck me as artificial, at best: a connection established simply to increase the thrill of watching the game.
I'm in the clear minority here. I know. Maybe someone can make this make sense to me.
Meanwhile, when I do watch sports, I admire the skill and artistry of the athletes, and I don't care what uniforms they wear. I will cheer a beautifully executed play from the "wrong" stands. It's the sport that matters, if anything--not who wins.
d
9 comments
One’s alliance with one or more sports teams has always struck me as artificial, at best: a connection established simply to increase the thrill of watching the game.
Diana,
Current thinking in the social sciences (I know, it’s not real science but it’s all I’ve got right now) is that having a favorite team gives us an opportunity to form a community with other fans, a community which must be defended from other communities who are fans of other teams. After they made it illegal to raid neighboring villages for food and mates, we needed another socially acceptable way to express our us-versus-them-ness. Spectator sports help fill that gap.
Dave
HI Diana,
I too find watching sports boring. This is a problem when one has a child in sports.
No one in our house is particularly competitive and we have raised our lad with the mantra that the one who has the most fun in a game is the winner and the other mantra is that it isn’t fun unless it’s fun for everyone.
I too went to the obligatory pep rallies and was bewildered as to their purpose or value.
I too roll my eyes as people get into sports statistics but…..
This was national hockey!
Defeating a powerhouse country that imposes its will on us so often was also part of it, a little like the Czechs defeating Russia in the days of the cold war.
To put this Olympic gold medal game in perspective, Toronto (our New York) had to close streets yesterday because so many people were joyously milling about as the result of our win. It’s 5 thousand miles away from where the game was played. Most boys in Canada, at least those in the cold parts of Canada so that’s most boys, have their own hockey sticks and skates. When I was a child, they played shinny with a friend on their way to school and at recess. At lunch they put their skates on to play hockey at their school’s outdoor rink. It’s like soccer in Italy; it may not be everyone’s cup of tea but when your country’s team is in the world cup final, you watch, you groan, you cheer and you go wild when your team finally wins. Figure skating and hockey are the two Olympic sports that can empty the roads and stores in Canada.
Canada prides itself on not being particularly nationalistic. For the most part, we’re a skinny necklace of people stretched out along our long southern border. While we may have regional loyalties, we don’t have much national identity. We feel lucky to be Canadian, rather than proud. But, for this brief shining moment, you could have walked up to anyone in Canada during that game, just asked what the score was and they’d have told you. This country of private people shed their reticence and acted as a cohesive unit. That’s what’s remarkable, not the game; it’s what it did for us.
Lorraine
Wow. That post is so inspiring it makes me wish I was more of a sports fan. :)
d
Diana, as usual, your sincere playfulness, if I may call it that, is both entertaining and like a cold drink of water on a hot day! Thanks for the insight into “what makes Diana tick"! I don’t remember you as being so definitely AGAINST sports, but I also don’t remember you being FOR them, either!
Your uncle Charles and I go to the Evadale football games, to see old friends and to support our home school team. However, we don’t go to any of the other sports, nor do we go to the academic things. We mainly go to football because he is a die-hard football fan, and I like to visit with old friends. But I also get caught up in the drama of the game, especially since I have someone who can explain it to me when I don’t understand what just happened!
I don’t know about your mom, but your dad rarely went to the games when we were growing up, if I remember correctly. So it is understandable that you grew up without caring about the game.
Thanks for the rant! Keep writing, dear one!
Diana,
To give a “south-of-the-border” side to Lorraine’s remarks, all the sportscasters I’ve heard today have said essentially the same thing: Team USA played well, unexpectedly so, and rightfully earned the silver medal. Team Canada played better, and earned the gold. No regrets, no “what if"s.
Dave
I’m not against sports, Aunt Bann. :) I just don’t get the whole fan thing, is all.
d
I get very much what you say Diana.
That said, I follow a number of sports teams. A lot has to do what with David’s analogy of bringing community together.
When my son was first diagnosed with diabetes (the same disease his Dad passed away from) and at Toronto Sick Kids, it was one of our favourite sports figures who was goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs who came to visit him at the time and it made his (and my) day. So for us, it is very personal.
And as Lorraine mentioned, Canada was brought together because of the win on Sunday..(yes, I live close to Toronto - and even my little block, there was alot of celebrating) That said, I was also supporting the U.S., not just because I have someone important in my life who lives across the border but Team USA played a fine damn game! In other words, it could have gone either way.
Anyway, for me it is about the community and social aspect…nothing can beat it in my humble opinion.
Linda
Hi Almostmajor! I’m with you on all of this, but I did get carried away when SFASU (I put the whole thing there for those who have never heard of SFA) had a decidedly winning team in Basketball, going to and winning state and above several years. But for me, the only reason to watch any sport is for the skill exhibited by the participants. That is why I especially enjoy skiing, ice skating, and what we USA’ens call figure skating.
Figure skating as it is now practiced requires excellence in several disciplines, including music, ballet, weightlifting, and (duhhh!) ice skating. Nothing else really appeals to me, except gymnastics, i think. Any way, I can miss every baseball, football, soccer, hockey, tball, and volleyball game within 1000 miles , or km for some of you, and I will not be disappointed atall. So there. D
Hi, Daddy! :)
I like the big D, btw. That’s cute.
I’ve occasionally described the differences between the sports I enjoy watching and team sports in a similar vein, but I’ve been corrected a few times. Professional team sports (or Olympic-worthy team sports) require just as much skill (or as you say it, excellence in several disciplines). They are also artists. I just don’t enjoy them like I enjoy what I’d consider the more creative sports.
Just…trying to save you from the lions here. :D
Love you much,
d
| « a plug | my bike needs a doctor » |
