Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sports Fanatics

As I write some of the topics on my blog, I’m noticing how often my preferences and my lifestyle are so different from the way many other people live their lives. I hope that readers won’t interpret my observations as judgments or criticisms of other people. I admit, it’s a fine line as I try to be objective and simply ponder the questions of “why?”, “how?”, and the “isn’t that interesting?” parts of life. Anyway, on the topic of sports fans and the often over-the-top obsessions of fans, I know I’m way off to the side observing the proceedings with wonder. On game days, people go through so many of the same routines – dressing in the appointed team colors, starting the drinking and bratwurst eating around 7 or 8 am, and for a lot of fans, it’s important to be drunk before the kickoff. Many years ago, watching sports was primarily the domain of men, but these days, there are lots of women who get equally jazzed to tailgate, watch the game, and get swept up in the fervor. Football is probably the most popular spectator sport among Americans, but is barely followed in other cultures. Wouldn’t it be great if a majority of the spectators would spend the same amount of their time participating in sporting events in addition to watching them? We’d have a much healthier society.