Now More Than Ever, We Need the Wisdom of Sports

Sports have returned for the most part after being shut down due to Covid-19. From International and National Football (soccer) to MLB, NBA, and Golf, games have at least returned for our viewing pleasure on TV. Although there is much that is different due to all of the necessary health protocols, the essence of sports, competition, and what it means to be a part of a team, a fan is back.

It might be helpful to revisit some of those truths for a moment in light of our current culture.

Detachment

I love sports, from competing to watching them as a fan to now being a father of children who participate in sports, I believe that sports can teach lessons to all of us no matter what our relationship is to it. That said, I do think that there might have been some good from the break as well.

There is a beautiful spiritual truth about detachment. Namely, when you fast, or actively give something up, in sports case, forced to give it up, you can see things a bit more clearly. You become rightly ordered if you will.

As a worldwide community that at times can be fanatically attached to sports and our teams, we experienced first hand that our lives could exist without the 24/7 sports news onslaught. More so, especially we American parents were able to take a necessary breather from the crazy sports schedules, leaving our kids to be kids. It doesn’t mean we give up on sports as a whole; instead, we had the time to become rightly ordered more holistically and healthily to our relationship with sports. As a result, the time away from it rekindled and gave us the eyes to see the virtues and great attributes that athletics can provide.

Fans

As a fan, sports provide a healthy escape from our everyday lives. It provides entertainment and fosters a natural connection to others where together, we look with excitement at something outside of ourselves. That is always a great thing.

During these times, when division and tension reign supreme, sports provide common ground. No matter race, creed, political affiliation, or anything else we find to argue with each other about, all of that becomes secondary to the same color jerseys that we wear while we cheer our team on. Boy, do we need sports now more than ever to experience a sense of unity with our fellow neighbor once again.

Player/Team

For most of the first half of my life, playing sports and being a part of a team taught me more about being a part of a community than anything else during my early years.

First, it taught me what it means to be in a healthy relationship or a group. We frequently hear as players we are to play for the name on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back. I believe that is half true. We play for both. We don’t lose ourselves to become in a healthy relationship with others. Instead, by becoming fully who we are, who we are made to be, while in communion with others who are doing the same, a relationship is forged to create a healthy team and/or community. We never should lose ourselves for the sake of others.

Secondly, when I was 17 years old, I walked into my first professional locker room. I was one of 10 Americans or so on a team of 35. I had teammates from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. I had teammates from Australia and Canada. Even my teammates from the USA came from the four corners of this country. What we all brought into that locker room were our differences. We had different races, religions, and languages. We had different socio-economic backgrounds and education. Yet, what I learned throughout my career was that the differences were not what broke any sense of team or community. What broke down our sense of team and community was our ego (pride), which was just a front for our deep insecurities. Insecurities that come from not being able to look into the mirror and love the person looking back. For many of us, we believed that our primary identity and self-worth were rooted in the ability to hit a ball with a bat, not because we were uniquely made and loved. In light of the problems that we face in our communities today, I wonder if those same principals would apply. I believe that they might.

The world seems to be on fire at the moment. Having had the time to become rightly ordered to our relationship with sports, we need the healthy distraction, we are ready to be entertained. We are prepared to be exposed once again to the great virtues and lessons that can heal the divisions that we feel.

One game at a time, we might begin to change our communities for the better, while holding a beer and a hotdog in our hands, on our couches.

As long as it is safe to do so, I say, “Playball!”

(Hopp YB!! The picture above was from a Champions League Match between Manchester United and the Young Boys. It was one of the great memories for me with the boys of our time in Switzerland.)