I really don't like sports. I think it's really weird. The fact that people support and identify with teams really disturbs me. I don't understand the concept. These people on the screen, I mean you'll never meet them, they're probably not even from your area, and there's really no way you can relate to their life, so why do you identify so strongly with them? Why identify at all? The groups they form share no values or ideas of any kind and divisions are essentially arbitrary. Nothing is really gained based on the result of the game. The only value is that of entertainment, and I definitely agree that any sport can be very entertaining to watch. But I don't really understand what sports rivalries and team affiliations contribute to it.
It's considered a ubiquitous, harmless, and entertaining part of American culture. But I think it may be something more sinister. In other countries, and in all the situations discussed in How Soccer Explains the World, there are very real political motivations underlying the rivalries and identities. But in America, the pointlessness shows that something drastically different is going on. It's easy to write it off as "people just want to be part of something/ it's just for fun/ it's just for entertainment", but I think it may be something more sinister. I think that sports rivalries show that America competes and ultimately goes to war not for any real political or even simple material gains, but purely for the sake of competition and violence. And that may not be so harmless.
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