This year, I attended every University of Iowa football home game and watched almost every away game on TV. I attended wrestling matches, basketball games, and participated in various intramural sports competitions. My sorority’s philanthropy was a three-on-three basketball tournament and I could not have been more excited. However, I hate sports.
A population (of mostly males) exists that is entirely against anyone (mostly anyone female) who does not actually live and breathe football, or whatever sport, coming to the games and enjoying themselves. I say screw the sport, I’m here for the game.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the allure of sports. I even understand all the rules. However, sports aren’t my thing unless I’m playing them. I am as competitive as they come, but I cannot compete vicariously through other players as some people can. Men and women alike can enjoy watching other people play and I respect that. However, when I attend a game, I’m not there for the sport.
In America especially, sports games are so much more than the sport itself. When we are kids, our parents put us in sports to learn teamwork, how to deal with winning and losing, how to make friends, and whatever else that we picked up between whistles. We are required to play sports throughout physical education programs in school. We attend baseball games, football games, or basketball games with parents as a rite of passage.
Then, suddenly, we get older and we’re chastised for attending the games that made up such a large part of our lives just because we don’t have RBIs and NFL draft picks memorized.
Nobody should be excluded from enjoying any aspect of sports culture when sports culture is so engrained in America’s culture. Writer Mark Naison claims that sports history is American history and he highlights instances in which big sports movements and events perfectly paralleled American social movements. Every American has a right to partake in the game in their own way, even if they’re not so interested in the sports.
So, it’s OK to tailgate Iowa football games even if you don’t even know the starting quarterback’s name. It’s OK to go to baseball games just for the peanuts and Crackerjacks. Even back in the day, little league was about making up stupid chants on the bench. Gym class was about commiserating over pacer tests. Baseball games were about wearing matching hats with your parents and holding your mitt out for that one-in-a-million foul ball.
Now, as we get older, tailgating is about getting blisters while walking up and down Melrose and making memories with friends. Viewing parties for games are about gorging on chips, dip, and wings and yelling at the TV with the real fans. It’s all about wearing apparel for a team and having pride in a team that represents where you’re from and the people around you. Who cares if you don’t actually care who wins? Sports are about the game, not the sport.
