For Love of the Game

Have you ever stopped and wondered why you like something so much? What is it about the "something" that makes you so passionate about it? I often wonder this about my love for sports. Many people are "sports fans" and enjoy watching games, and possibly even playing some. But not all sports fans have the passion that I am talking about. Crying when your team loses, crying when your team wins, appreciating the fact that hardships come and go, as do winning seasons. Not everyone can say sports effects them this strongly, so what is it about sports that gives the select few of us that "special" feeling?

You know the "special" feeling, maybe you do not get it when watching a basketball game, but you have had the feeling before. It feels like hope, happiness, anxiousness, and excitement all wrapped up into one. If the outcome is good, you feel like you’re on top of the world, if the outcome is bad, your heart breaks with devastation. Either way, the feeling you have comes from within, and cannot be forced or imitated.

This is what sports is like. Watching an exciting game, a championship game, the playoffs, an extra-inning baseball game, or a hockey game come down to a shoot out. All of these are amazing and exciting, and get our adrenaline pumping. We feel like our whole lives come down to the last few moments of the game, as if we were out on the field or court playing the game ourselves.

What gives me that "special feeling" is how easily sports can bring people together. At any given game you will see strangers high-fiving after a great play, friends arguing over their rival teams-then later having a beer, talking about the great time they had, and an entire stadium full of thousands of people coming together as one when a referee makes a bad call or when their home team wins. All of these are reasons why sports give us fans that "special" feeling. One of my favorite things at a game is when all of the fans join together and sing. Many teams have anthems, and true fans know them and sing along. It is such a great feeling knowing that there are thousands of strangers around you that share the love and passion you have for your favorite team.

Another reason why sports gives that "special" feeling is the support that players and coaches have for one another. It is amazing to see how easily sports can bring a group of players together, and how easily it can make each player respect the other, even when the players are as different as night and day. My favorite story is of an autistic high school student in New York that loved basketball. The school's basketball coach allowed Jason to be the team manager, granting him participation in practices, and giving him the chance to sit on the bench with his team during games. However, in the last game of the season he was given the chance to play.



This story sums up every reason I could possibly describe for why sports is such an amazing thing. What is it about sports that gives us fans that "special" feeling? It's the fact that with seemingly little effort it has the ability to turn strangers into best friends, to boost your ego and break your heart, and to bring a tear to your eye.