As the MLB Playoffs are kicking off, many questions linger around its fans. Are the Chicago Cubs finally going to break their championship dry spell? Will Boston's letting go of Terry Francona come back to haunt them? Is Rookie Corey Seager the leader the Dodgers have been hunting for? And when is the Blue Jays offense going to cool down? All these unanswered questions make MLB fans excited about the uncertainties the postseason has stored for them.
This excitement is not just reserved for baseball. It is mutually shared with all sports. Whether it's the NFL with the Super Bowl, soccer with the World Cup Final, or Nascar with the Daytona 500, sports draw crowds of people looking to have their competitive feelings satisfied. The importance of all this is how it draws groups of people together. Look at any sports fan base in the world and there will be a tremendous variation of people. The fans of a certain team do not care about the gender, ethnicity, age, or political affiliations; they care that their fellow comrade is going to support their team with same enthusiasm as they are.
The unifying power extends downward to non-professional versions of the sport. Things like high school football, pick-up basketball, and adult softball have the strength to erase borders within a community a draw its inhabitants together. It does not matter whether the person is a fan in the stands or a player on the actual field, people look past their social and economic differences to cheer each other on in the name of competition.
The human race has always had this competitive nature. The Greeks had the Olympics, the Mayans had Ullamaliztli, and Ancient Japan had Sumo wrestling. The fact that sports have grown to the extent at which they are now should not surprise us as it something the human race needs to reach a necessary level of satisfaction.
