I Just Don't Get It

I just don't get it. What is the big deal about the Super Bowl? Once your regional team is out of the running, how do you decide who to be for? Who do you decide to be for in the first place? For some it is a regional identity, but most teams aren't made up of people from that region. They move from team to team. Their loyalty isn't to a city or a region. Their loyalty is to whomever pays them the most money. Historically, did the teams have regional and ethnic identity like the Vikings or the Celtics (I know, that's basketball)? If they did, that has long since past.

While I don't get the big deal about sports in general, I can understand the affinity one would have for one's school team. You know those people. You go to school with them. I can even see a loyalty to one's alma mater. That makes some sense. How can you choose to be a Cowboys fan or a 49ers fan if you have never even been to Dallas or San Francisco? My husband says he was for the Redskins and the Colts when he was a kid because he liked horses and Indians. I don't even know how to respond to that.

What drives the urge to compete with one another in such an arbitrary way? This part has nothing to do with the teams. Of course the teams compete, but why do the fans feel the need to compete with one another for completely baseless reasons? It gets crazy and people actually form their opinion of others based on the team they root for.

I realize that I am in the vast minority here. I don't like sports in general, but most people do. Millions of dollars will be spent on this and other annual rituals. This is not limited to football or to the United States. The rest of the world is just as crazy for soccer.

I do admit that I actually kind of like The Olympics, but not really because of the sports, but because of the stories of the people and the stories about the different areas of the world. So what's my point? My husband says I don't have one, and that I am not making sense. I guess we're both confused. (He says he's not.) I am so glad we have more than one TV.