by David D. Horowitz
“We won today,” I smiled. “11-7. Edmonds hit two home runs in the same inning.”
“Yes, the fourth,” he smiled back. “Great.”
He sauntered to a different crafts booth. We were among thousands at a Seattle community arts festival. I had never met this man. Yet, the red, white-bordered letters atop the back of his blue jersey read: “Fukudome.” As in: Kosuke Fukudome, Chicago Cubs outfielder. Here was a short, bearded black man in Seattle wearing a Cubs jersey featuring the name of a Japanese player, and I, of Russian Jewish ancestry, felt an immediate bond with the fellow. We are both Cub fans. We implicitly understand the joys and worries, the history and hope, that represents.
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The newspaper blog related readers’ comments supporting the sportswriter’s online rant about the Seattle Mariners’ heretofore disastrous season. Only one voice among a dozen complained: sports do not merit such intense concern or despair.
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Shared sports fan loyalty, of course, can link diverse people. Together fans can celebrate and commiserate, admire and admonish. Indeed, sports at their best represent skill, courage, suspense, and spectacle, and they can excite shared passion about minute detail. Here someone understands why it matters this reserve catcher batted .264 in 1971 and that relief pitcher went 4 and 3 in 1985. Understanding, belonging at last!
Yet, that dissenting blog respondent has his point. Athletes and their fans often focus obsessively on winning. No bullying cheat who “wins” merits more admiration than an honest competitor who “loses” or a considerate person who ignores athletics. The paradigm of victory is inherently limited, then, and it can corrupt individuals and cultures. Sports can offer legitimate, though not always ideal, social linkage.
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“We won last night. Dempster allowed four hits, and Kerry picked up another save.”
“Number 20,” grinned my co-worker and fellow Cub fan.
Smiles at the work place? Connection between diverse people without resort to compulsion, bribes, speeches? Common ground between liberals and conservatives? Serious folk would do well to appreciate rather than denigrate links between sports fans—who themselves should not forget that the sufferings in Darfur and Myanmar, or often their own neighborhood or heart, are more important than any athletic victory.