America’s Love Affair with Sports

Why are we obsessed with sports?  Why do we pay our athletes millions while teachers and education programs get pennies on their dollar?  Why do we show such loyalty to our favorite team, but rarely hit up the polls to vote?  Why do we turn on ESPN as opposed to CNN?  Are sports stealing our lives?

America is a country fueled by passion. Hell, we decided that the tax on tea was a bit too extreme(I know there were other factors),  and decided to go to war over it, eventually earning our independence from the Cricket loving British.  We have people vandalizing Wikipedia pages when someone beats out their favorite music star for a Grammy, and we have contemplate starting fist fights whenever someone uses the word “pop” instead of “soda.”  Yes, we Americans love to get passionate about things, namely sports, but tend to shy away from other world issues.  Are sports to blame for our indifference?

Sports as Entertainment

Deep down at its core, sports are a form of entertainment.  We pay to visit the ballpark just like we do for a movie or play, we watch them intently on TV just like any other show, and those that entertain us (the athletes) get paid exorbitant salaries, often topping 7 figures per year.  Just like our movie stars, we watch our favorite athletes with an almost creepy tenacity, following them on Twitter, scanning news columns for their name, and spouting off their stats.  I’d be willing to make a wager that more of you can tell me how much money C.C. Sabathia makes than can tell me how many lives were lost during the Civil War.  America’s priorities are quickly shifting towards entertainment and the smaller our attention spans become, the less space there is for anything else.

Are Athlete’s Salaries Justified?

In short – absolutely not.  It is atrocious to think that the average NFL athlete makes more than $700,000/year more than the average teacher.  One person entertains us on Sunday afternoon, the other is in charge of educating the future leaders of America.  Even when we compare the industries as a whole, it is still hard to justify the enormous salaries pocketed by today’s athletes.  According to Plunkett Research LTD, the NFL grossed $7.8 billion in 2010 so the average NFL salary is about 9.87×10-5 of the league total.  The U.S. Government spent $140.4 Billion on education putting the average teacher’s salary at about 2.85×10-7 of the federal budget.  You don’t have to be a math major to figure out that even as a percentage of their own industries, teachers get paid a smaller amount than athletes.

Sports as an Escape

The passion for sports in America is one thing, but the reason for it superseding just about every other real-life event is a little harder to nail down.  As mentioned before, sports are merely a form of entertainment.  It makes us feel good in a way that almost nothing else can.  Sports are the chocolate to our fat kid.  It is easier for us to sit on the couch or attend a game and cheer for our favorite team because we know that deep down inside, our team winning or losing has no impact on the rest of the world.  Voting for President or on some federal proposition is a little scarier because it actually has some real impact on our lives.  We would rather watch ESPN because even if we know that our team lost today’s game, it is still a million times better than earthquakes in Japan and civil unrest in the Middle East.  Our brains believe that a sport on its worst day is better than real life on its best day and we schedule things accordingly.  Nobody wants to come home from a long day of work and hear about more problems in the world.  We’d rather hear about Butler’s chances in the Final Four, or who our team’s fifth starter is going to be now that Spring Training is over – and nobody can blame us.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEVdca9U9LM[/youtube]

Problem?

Is America’s love affair with sports really all that bad?  Quite the opposite.  Sports are an idealistic, shining example of a perfect world.  The athletic arena is a place where athletes give it their best day in and day out.  Sure, there are winners and losers, but in the end, it’s all just ink on a paper and nothing more.  Sports inspire us to do our best, despite being overmatched.  Sports show us that there is a way to succeed outside of book smarts.  Sports teach us to use our minds and our bodies in ways we never thought possible.  Sports give us something to look forward to, aside from all of our everyday problems. Sports are the pause button on the TiVo of life.  A healthy love of sports can help make the rest of real life more manageable and to that, I say kick back, prop your feet up, and enjoy every dunk, touchdown and home run.