Fan Is Short For Fanatic

Went to a hockey game tonight. Watched my favorite team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, win a game for a change. Went with a group of 8 people and had a really fun time.

I've often tried to think about humankind's obsession with sport from a detached point of view. I see the amount of money people are paid to play sports and when I compare it to what teachers are paid to teach or what cops and firefighters are paid to protect the public and I see the ridiculousness of it. I see what people are willing to pay to watch these athletes play these games and I see the absurdity of it. I see the numerous television channels devoted to breaking down every bit of minutiae related to all sports and I am capable of recognizing the absolute insanity of it. All this money and time and emotion invested in guys running back and forth, carrying and throwing a ball around or guys running back and forth, bouncing a ball and throwing it in a basket or guys skating around on ice shooting a piece of vulcanized rubber into a net. It really is ridiculous.

But even acknowledging this, I still have to admit that I love it. I love the unique skills these sports take and I love watching people who are very good at these things. I love the competition, everything. I love having a home team that I connect with and can root for. But I can't explain why. Why do I invest so much emotion into a sports team? Why does watching that team lose actually put me in a bad mood? Why does watching them win improve my mood? Why do I find the sports to be so compelling?

I don't know where I'm going here. I don't really have any answers to these questions. I suppose it's like any other hobby or pastime that any given person can have. It can be healthy if kept at a certain level or it can become unhealthy if it becomes something close to an obsession. Does the person who spends too much time on sports recognize it as it's happening? Do they see themselves wasting huge portions of their lives on something that at it's core is nothing more than a silly game? Or have they already slipped into denial at that point?

Part of me wonders what people could collectively accomplish if they took the money and energy they spent on sports and put it towards a more noble cause. But at the same time, I can recognize the good that can come from sports. I guess it's just a matter of maintaining the right perspective and keeping a healthy distance.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep spending money to watch guys skate around and hit a rubber puck into a net with a stick. And root for the guys wearing one color uniform to do it more than the guys wearing another color. That doesn't sound dumb at all, right?

RIGHT?