Why I Love Sports

Sports. A simple, yet transcendental concept that has spanned centuries throughout human history and has evolved into this massive money-making, job-creating, life-altering business of frauds, legends, men, women, and those who bear responsibility for everything it is currently worth. Sports has allowed men and women of all race, religion, and creed to come together under one roof, or in one stadium, and share the most epic moments of their lifetimes with people who just love the same team that they do. And it is the simplicity of this passion, and unbridled emotion that sports can evoke, that makes me love sports as much as I do. 

Sports provide a source of comfort, combined with the utmost intensity and is simply unparalleled by anything on this Earth. Only sports can induce this passion that can result in blind rage, tears of joy, or any otherwise crippling emotions that can take days, weeks, or months to eventually move past. Most times, this passion is tied directly to whichever team we root for, regardless of sport. Sometimes it is tied to a particular player or athlete that you have developed a fondness for over the course of their career. To see your team or your favorite player lose is heartbreaking. And however narrow-minded, naive, or ignorant it may sound, it feels as if they have let you down. Maybe because it is part of your money that pays their enormously inconceivable salaries, and you want a return on your investment. Maybe it is just because you feel the team works under your control, and to see them fail in their efforts makes you feel like an employer who has watched those under his wing collectively sabotage your efforts. Regardless, the outcome of a sporting event is the only thing that evoke such a wide range of emotions. And the beauty of it is that regardless of how you feel, there is always someone who is feeling the exact opposite. There is always a winner, and there is always a loser. You just hope and pray that you are not on the side that breeds the hateful, spiteful, sit-in-your-room-in-silence-for-12-hours emotion. 

Take the high profile story of the 1986 Red Sox. A team with 4 All-Stars, the AL batting champion, the AL MVP in the form of a 24 game winner, Roger Clemens. Matched up against the powerhouse, 108 win New York Mets of the NL. The Red Sox stand with a 2-run lead in the 10th inning, one out away from securing their first title since 1918. Following two base hits, and a wild pitch to tie the game, Mookie Wilson steps in to send a little dribbler down the first base line, a play Bill Buckner surely makes 99 times out of 100. This was that one time. As we all know, it goes through his legs, the Mets win Game 6 and go on to the win the Series in Game 7. Heartbreak City resides in Boston. 

That same moment had haunted Boston until 2004 when they finally made some magic of their own and went on to win the World Series in one of the more memorable postseasons in recent memory. In short, nothing other than sports can make a collective population wake up with night terrors over the course of nearly 20 years. As horrific as this was for the city of Boston and it's fans, it made 2004 that much sweeter. 

But it's not all agonizing pain and suicide watches. Sports allow you to see moments of unadulterated joy and has the ability to send chills down your spine just by being a viewer. You see moments of boys turning into men, grown men turning into boys, and these adults showing sheer emotion that can only be found within competition. They've worked their entire lives to get to this point, and to watch it pay off by culminating in a championship is certainly chilling. Ray Bourque lifting the Cup over his head in his final year after being granted a trade from his beloved Boston Bruins so he could finally have his moment, Michael Jordan crying while clutching his first Larry O'Brien trophy, Tiger Woods crying into the arms of his caddie after winning his first Major since the passing of his father. These are all moments that make you realize what sports do.


Sports give people a stage to showcase their otherworldly talents, and allows us as viewers to simply be in awe of what we are witnessing. You may hate some teams and some players, while you love others, but to deny the greatness of these athletes and to deny what they do for those of us who love sports to our deepest core, is in poor judgement. This isn't to say sports has its ugly moments where it can elicit the worst behavior in humans, but these moments tend to be few and far between luckily. 

I love sports because it has always been there for me in times of need. When I need to relax, or get my mind right, I know I can always turn on the TV and potentially be a witness to something historical. This sense of the unexpected and the unpredictable makes watching that much more enticing. You never know what can happen at any given moment, or in any given game. All of this culminates onto the field of competition, and for all of this, I am most humbly thankful.