As I sat watching the Dallas Cowboys victoriously triumph over the Cleveland Browns this afternoon, I began to wonder how important sports act as a connector between people across the globe. In such a diverse world we live in, it seems as if sports could be one of the very few universal commonalities we share. As an avid Cowboys fan, the game-day experience has long been one of my favorite weekend traditions. Sitting in the stands, in my navy and silver Tony Romo jersey, I often look around and note the varying people in the crowd. Other than our love of "America's Team", the other thousands of spectators filling the seats have very little else in common. Fans range from the ages 4 to 84, accounting for many religions, economic groups political ideals and localities. Yet we all are drawn together, even for just a few hours, by our love of football.
Of coarse, this concept does not start and end with Dallas football. Secretary-General Kofi Annan describes sports as "the world's universal language." The Olympics held this summer is another showcase of the world coming together to compete and appreciate athletic talent. During the es, the world's most powerful democratic leaders were joined with some of histories most oppressive dictators to rally for their countries athletes. No other world event could ever bring about this type of world unity, even if only shortlived.
Whether its the millions of world-wide soccer World Cup viewers or the Friday night football high school football game of a small Southern town, the love of sports has been and will always continue to be a uniting force.
2 comments:
Nice post. As you say, it is too bad that the spirit of sports is often short-lived or limited to one's own team. One of the great moments of this year's Olympics was the embrace between the woman from Russia and the woman from Georgia during the tense moments when Russian tanks were invading Georgia. I think athletes need to step up more as spokesmen and spokeswomen for world peace. But too often, nations think they have to prove their superiority to the world by having the most medal winners. Recall Hitler's Germany in 1936? And this year, China and the US were vying to be at the top of the medal count. Sports could be an international language and a meeting ground, but some priorities need to change for that to happen.
In my sociology class, recently we have been talking about agents of socialization -- one of which is sports. As you said sports brings people together, but it also instills values in the participants. People learn things like teamwork, work ethic, sportsmanship, and drive to win. I think it is really nice that something as seemingly simple as sports can have such an affect on people's lives.
P.S. I'm not an athlete.
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