Why I Started Caring About Football

Image Courtesy: Los Angeles Times

My relationship with watching sports has always been a bit one-sided. Sports have been there for me when I’m bored and desperate for entertainment, but I would never call myself a longtime or consistent fan. However, my first college football season completely changed my understanding of the practice that has confused me since I was a kid.

Growing up in Chicago, I supported my local teams just  because everyone else did. Over middle school lunches, I joined heated Cubs vs. Sox debates. I picked my favorite basketball players, basing my choices on numbers I liked or the sound of their names. In the summer, I went to baseball games without knowing the rules, usually without paying attention to the field. For me, it was more about the people around me. Sports were just quality time  with friends and family. I could marvel at players’ athletic ability and the scale of the matches, but I wondered if I was missing something that made games so attractive to my peers. I couldn’t see the appeal of a pastime that, for me, held no meaning deeper than arbitrarily siding with a team and hoping they could outrun, outthrow, or outshoot the other side.

In sixth grade, I joined the three teams that were available at my school: basketball, volleyball and track. Even though I gained an understanding of the rules, I preferred playing to watching and could never sit in front of the TV for an entire March Madness game.

When I chose to attend a “football school” for college, I knew the sport would become part of my life. People asked me if I was ready for the season, and I would grin and tell them that I couldn’t wait because I knew they expected such anticipation from me. I could never have predicted that now, in my second semester of college, I would be counting down the days until the next home game (211, if you were wondering).

Why has football become important to me when, before, it was uninteresting? How could I ever come to enjoy men just running at each other in mysterious but altogether inconsequential patterns?

Image Courtesy: Gov.uk

It must have been the first game day that something changed. As I stepped into the stadium, students swirling around me and jostling for the best seats, there was so much noise. A triumphant melody rose from the marching band far below. The enormous crowd chattered and shouted and cheered. I shivered as I realized that I was part of it – not just the school, but the entire cause. I started to understand that when I cheered for my team, I was really cheering for my new friends, my school, and my life here.

I’ve read that sports, especially football, function as a modern outlet for the human need to wage war. It never quite made sense to me. Teams do not aim to induce casualties, and the cities and colleges that play one another are typically from the same country and are, therefore, in terms of the world order, on the same “side.”

Image Courtesy: USA Today

I do think, however, that the basic sentiment behind this comparison is correct. Although it does provide an opportunity to engage in (and watch) societally appropriate aggression, football more importantly creates a means of affirming collective identity. It allows people to say “this is who I am and “this is the community that I have chosen.” Spectators can express their pride in their values, the institution, and the people around them. They take part in something much larger than any individual. They concentrate their pride in their community into support for the athletes on the field who represent collective values in the face of external opposition.

That’s not to say that there is no value in watching sports in appreciation of the game.  But these aspects of watching sports have never been attractive to me unless they represent some greater cause. I’m not just interested in the immaterial values represented by football. I can throw a mean spiral. But I will be watching the upcoming Super Bowl partly because I am excited about the deeper ideas of what it means to be from Philadelphia and Kansas City and how these will come into contact with one another on February 12th.

And I have learned that maybe sports fans and I have more in common than I’ve previously  thought.

Strike out,
Olivia Schmitt

University of Notre Dame

Editors: Jane Miller, Shane Stanton