In some societies, sport competitions stand in for military competitions. Unfortunately, not ours. In some societies, sport competitions and betting on the outcomes was pacification of the masses by the emperors and kings of the time. Our sports mostly represent that, with citizens willing to destroy their bodies, searching for glory and in most cases wealth for the entertainment/pacification of others. The days of sports teaching teamwork and good sportsmanship have unfortunately left us in pursuit of the holy dollar.
My children rejected all “organized” sports because they are inevitably organized by adults. They gloried in “disorganized” sports in which participants made up their own rules, played in some unorthodox manner, and had barrels of fun. I never heard quarrels or had consolation chores over some critical championship lost. We had no pulled muscles, no concussions—just healthy exhaustion and a run on lemonade and cookies.
Sports-fan identity is an excellent example of the author Kurt Vonnegut’s “granfalloon”: the mistaken belief that because you share a particular and singular interest, you are part of a meaningful group identity. Screaming and cavorting fans, stuffing their mouths with food and drink instead of being active and exercising themselves, seem like a metaphor for a dystopian future—or perhaps a dystopian present, if you compare their antics with the crowd events on January 6.