Every time a sports team I'm supporting suffers a heartbreaking loss, I ask myself, "Why the flip am I even putting myself through this?" Am I really getting so much value from sports that I'm willing to waste 5-10 hours every week watching them and putting myself through agonizing defeat after agonizing defeat in the hope that some theoretical day my team will win it all? Being a Chicago sports fan doesn't help this equation since our theoretical day is often more theoretical than most, but I think the net heartbreak still outweighs the net euphoria in most cases. Why are we as humans so passionate about something that by nature will break your heart more often than not?
I guess that's the American dream, isn't it? Rooting for something that is statistically very improbable but being blindly optimistic enough to pursue it anyways time and time again, only to watch last year's champion win this year's championship too, and realizing the entire season was just a formality to get to the exact same outcome? Maybe sports are more reflective of society than I thought.
Comments