Why We Love Sports

By: John Frascella

Posted: 4/30/08

"Why do you love sports?"

It's a question that's been posed to me a number of different times during my life, and a question that I've never once taken the time to answer.

Until now.

This is goodbye. This is my final column as a member of The Daily Campus, so what the hell - I'm letting it all hang out.

There's a freedom in sports. It's the freedom to capture a moment, and do something incredible. It's the freedom to leave an impression.

With that freedom comes the hope that someone, somewhere will remember you. They'll remember your time, your play, your triumph.

Not everyone can play in the pros, or college, or even high school - but everyone can play. Whether it's little league, intramurals or even just a pick-up game with friends, everyone can have their moment in sports.

Think about it. We've all heard of "hometown heroes" and "playground legends," and while they may be irrelevant outside of their community, they will always be remembered - perhaps even immortalized - at home. Sports can give people an identity, give them something to look back upon, a memory to be proud of.

That's one of many reasons why I love sports.

A love of sports is like a love of music, or another person - it's about feeling, connection. We feel excited, freed, exhilarated when our favorite player does something spectacular. We have a connection to a team, a uniform, the city they represent and the game itself. When the season ends, we digress, and feel like a kid whose best friend left them for summer camp - betrayed, empty and disappointed.

But we bounce back. There's always another game waiting for us. Whether it's the progression from baseball to football season, or football to basketball season, the next sport always represents a new hope, a new shot at victory, a new chance to see something we've never seen before.

We hope to see something memorable, something that we'll never forget even when we're playing catch with our grandchildren someday - like the first time we saw Michael Jordan elevate, glide and walk on air like a god; like the Red Sox coming back from a 3-0 deficit to shock, stun and dismay the Yankees; like the New York Giants upsetting the seemingly unbeatable New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

We love sports because they provide real-life drama. Everything that's enticing about fictional movies and TV shows - passion, intensity, conflict, heroes, villains, fights, pressure, controversy, success and failure - it's all there in sports.

A sporting event is never "just a game" - it will always be more than that. For those involved, it's their job, it's what allows them to feed their families. For many athletes, their sport is their passion, their craft, their obsession.

These athletes carry the weight of thousands, often millions of fans on their shoulders. There's the weight of young fan's Super Bowl dreams, or an old die-hard's life-long wish - a World Series title.

International soccer fans riot in the stands, and to them, losing to another nation is like losing a battle, or a full-scale war.

Losing a game can disappoint an entire country. Think of the world-renowned Russian hockey team that was upset by the inexperienced Americans in the 1980 Olympics. The Russian government considered it an embarrassing loss in the Cold War.

We love the magnitude. We love sports for the spectacle - the event.

We love the omnipotence, the ubiquity, the dependability. Sports are reliable. They'll never leave us.

Life is about changes, but the presence of sports is constant. We move from elementary school to middle school, middle school to high school, high school to college, college to a 9-to-5, single to married with children, young to middle-aged to old; but when the summer comes, I know - whether I'm 22 and set to graduate from college, or 65 and set to graduate to a retirement home - that I'll be able to find a baseball game.

There's something about a ballgame on a long, summer afternoon that makes life seem so simple, so easy. The pressure of school, work and responsibility - it slowly and quietly disappears. No tension, no anxiety, just the game at hand.

The crack of the bat will always be music to my ears.

We love sports because of the way we felt after our first home run in little league. Floating around the bases, brimming with joy, our heart racing with excitement, vigorously reviving a lifeless cliché - we feel like we're on top of the world.

We love sports because of our first goal in soccer, lacrosse or hockey; our first win in wrestling, gymnastics or dance; our first point in volleyball, basketball or tennis.

We love sports for the friendships, the camaraderie - our teammates.

We love sports for the victories, the triumphs and the championships.

We love sports because they allow us to do things we never thought we could do. They give us the opportunity to prove ourselves.

But most importantly, sports allow us to forget about the perils, hardships and heartbreaks of life - and be a kid again.

John Frascella's column used

to run on Wednesdays. He will

no longer be writing for this paper, but for the time being

he can still be reached at

John.Frascella@UConn.edu.