Look, I’m gonna be honest here…
I’ve been in this game for 20+ years. Started as a beat reporter in some godforsaken town in Texas, now I’m editing features for major pubs. And let me tell you, nothing gets people riled up like sports.
It’s not just a game, right? It’s a religion. A lifestyle. A reason to drink at 11:30am on a Sunday. I should know, I’ve done all three.
Last Tuesday, I was at this little sports bar in Austin with my buddy Marcus (let’s call him that, his real name’s kinda ridiculous). We were watching the local team lose spectacularly, and he turns to me, mid-beer, and says, “You know, I hate these guys more than I hate my ex-wife, and that’s sayin’ something.”
Which… yeah. Fair enough.
Why do we do this to ourselves?
I mean, think about it. We commit (committment, whatever) to a team, and then we suffer. We suffer alot. We suffer through bad calls, bad seasons, bad acquisitions (aquisition, shush). We suffer through injuries, through trades, through owners who think they’re running a business than a sports team.
And yet, we come back. Every. Single. Time.
I remember back in ’98, I was covering a high school football game in this tiny town. It was pouring rain, the field was a mud pit, and the home team was down by 21 points. And yet, the stands were packed. People were screaming, cheering, crying. Why? Because that’s what we do.
We show up. We care. We feel it in our guts, in our hearts, in our drunk idiocy at 2am.
But here’s the thing about sports…
It’s not just about the game. It’s about the people. It’s about the shared experience. It’s about the guy who sits next to you every week, the one with the questionable life choices and the even more questionable fashion sense. It’s about the memories you make, the stories you tell.
I’ve got a colleague named Dave. Dave’s a stats guy, all about the numbers, the analytics, the “science” of sports. I told him once that sports isn’t just about the numbers, and he looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “It’s all about the numbers,” he said. “It’s all about what the numbers tell us.”
I asked him, “What about the heart, Dave? What about the soul?”
He just shrugged. “Soul’s not a stat,” he said.
And… yeah. Fair enough. But that’s not the point.
The point is, sports is messy. It’s chaotic. It’s illogical. It’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful mess, and we love it for that.
And yeah, sometimes we hate it too. Sometimes we hate it with a passion that burns hotter than the sun. But that’s okay. That’s part of it too.
Now, let’s talk about the other stuff…
You know, the stuff that’s not about the game. The stuff that’s about the culture. The stuff that’s about the way sports brings people together, the way it creates communities, the way it starts conversations.
I was in Thailand a few years back, covering some international tournament. And let me tell you, the traffic was a nightmare. I’m talking Thailand traffic update today kind of nightmare. But the people? The fans? They were incredible. They were passionate, they were loud, they were alive.
And that’s the thing about sports. It’s not just about the game. It’s about the people. It’s about the shared experience. It’s about the way it connects us, the way it brings us together, the way it makes us feel something.
So yeah, sports is messy. It’s chaotic. It’s illogical. But it’s also beautiful. It’s also meaningful. It’s also important.
And that’s why we love it. That’s why we hate it. That’s why we can’t look away.
But here’s the thing…
We need to remember why we love it. We need to remember the good stuff, the stuff that makes it all worth it. The stuff that makes us show up, week after week, year after year.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not about the wins or the losses. It’s not about the stats or the numbers. It’s about the people. It’s about the shared experience. It’s about the way it makes us feel alive.
So let’s not forget that. Let’s not forget why we love this beautiful mess of a game. Let’s not forget the people, the memories, the moments that make it all worth it.
Because that’s what it’s all about. That’s what makes it beautiful. That’s what makes it us.
About the Author: Jane “Jaz” Carter has been a senior editor for various major publications for over two decades. She’s covered everything from local high school games to international tournaments, and she’s got the stories (and the regrets) to prove it. When she’s not editing features or arguing about stats with Dave, she can be found at her local sports bar, drinking beer and complaining about referees.
