Yesterday, Sunday Dec. the 6th, the Carolina Panthers successfully defended their undefeated title against the New Orleans Saints.

All across North and South Carolina, the Panther's fans, also referred to as, "The Panther Nation," are celebrating their team moving onto their twelfth win this season. Beers will be consumed, pizza will be devoured, and love will be made, all in the name of a team owned by the guy who owns every Denny's in the country.

Ever since I was a little kid, I wondered what tied people to being a fan of a professional sports team. Growing up in San Diego, I had friends who were Cowboys fans, Steelers fans, and Patriots fans. I could understand why there weren't any Chargers fans because the Chargers always have, currently do, and will forever suck. I could never wrap my head around why my friends chose the teams that they did. At the end of the day the reason was always "because they're good", but what made someone choose the Steelers as "their" team over the Patriots?

When I moved to North Carolina, I forgot about this question. I was more focused on making friends and using my California origins to pull as many hot 7th grade North Carolina girls as I could (Spoiler alert: 0). And as time went on, so did my apathy towards professional sports.

Until I came to college.

My roommate freshman year could easily win an award for biggest Bills and Mets fan in the nation. He could also probably win an award for most knowledge on professional sports in the nation (ESPN hook him up). When he wasn't watching football, he was discussing the Panther's defense with other guys on my floor. When the other guys on my floor were in class, he was playing Madden.

Freshman year had turned me into a pretentious "intellectual" douchebag who had a pessimistic cynical view on everything. This view translated to professional sports.

"I don't get it," I would tell my roommate and his friends. "These teams have nothing to do with you nor do they care about you. They just want your money."

While it is cynical and pessimistic, it's true. Jerry Richardson doesn't give a shit about you. Ron Rivera doesn't give a shit about you. And Cam Newton is too busy throwing touchdown passes to give a shit about you. Furthermore, none of these men have any ties to you. When you're watching a Panthers game you're not supporting the guys down the block. You're supporting a running back who retired after a year and bought Denny's. You're supporting a Californian whose getting paid four million dollars to tell a group of 25 guys what to do. You're supporting an Atlanta native getting paid 103 million dollars to throw a football.

I thought supporting a corporate machine that feeds off your athletic hopes and dreams was stupid. Until my perspective was widened.

Fall semester freshman year I took a class called "World Empires". Because my professor's area of expertise was China, the class should have been named "Chinese Empires". My one takeaway from that class was a question presented by the professor shortly before finals. "What makes us "Americans" as opposed to "North Carolinians," "Georgians," "Virginians," etc. ?"

Answers ranged from, "We all live in the United States" to, "we all follow the same laws".

After several minutes of incorrect answers, the professor answered his own question.

"Nothing."

Intrinsically, there is nothing that unites a Virginian and a North Carolinian. There's not one thing that unites a resident of Boone with a resident of Raleigh. They're two separate locations with separate people living in them and separate problems. In fact, the entire concept of a nation is a fabrication of our own minds. A nation is a concept, it's not an actual, physical thing like we say it is. Americans are Americans because we declare that we live in the United States of America.

One of the earliest questions posed by mankind has been, "what is the meaning of life?" Throughout history, many different definitions have been proposed. Whether it be "to serve God", "reproduce," or the old favorite, "life has no meaning", everyone has their own interpretation of why we exist. And throughout history everyone has argued, or even killed, over which definition they think is correct.

But here's the Graham Gano. All of these definitions are right.

Just like the 3.8 million square miles between the Rio Grande and the 49th parallel and the 1.56 billion dollar football team based out of Charlotte, life - intrinsically - has no meaning. But what makes life special, just like what makes the Panthers special, or the United States special, is the meaning we place upon it ourselves. Whether that be to serve God, to reproduce, or to be the best damn Panthers fan in the world.

Keep pounding.