Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Why do we care about Sports so much? Washington Post 2016


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/03/14/why-do-we-care-about-sports-so-much/?utm_term=.adba5ec28402

2 comments:

  1. I think the neuroscientist is on the right track. Co-fandom "gives us a sense of togetherness, a sense of communion with others, a sense of belonging to a larger entity than ourselves that reminds us of ancient rituals that have disappeared in our society. Thus, sports help fill the need we have to connect with others, the desire for a transient but thrilling moment."

    And more specifically, for many of us sports connect(ed) us with our dads. In the late spring and summer of '71 my dad took me to every Cardinals Friday night homegame. We didn't commune about a lot else, in my pre-adolescence. Special memories. (And then the trip to Chicago the next summer, Sox one night and Cubs-Cards the next day... and the memory of hearing on the radio, as we drove down Lake Shore Drive, that McGovern was dropping Eagleton from his ticket due to the latter's emotional history... we then had politics to commune over, and more to talk about at the games...

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    Replies
    1. Jennifer Michael Hecht has an interesting perspective on this, in her book "The Happiness Myth"--

      "Shopping, watching television shows, and following sports teams are all ways that people today take part in an otherwise painfully heterodox culture. That is to
      say, we do not share religion, politics, or ethnicity with the people we work with. We are in need of a common culture that allows for some personal expression, but one that is basically safe..."

      https://books.google.com/books?id=EJUbNOMPO90C&lpg=PP1&dq=happiness%20myth%20hecht&pg=PT14#v=snippet&q=sports&f=false

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