It’s a central tension of sports, maybe the central tension of sports. Even in the best of times, it can be hard to escape the fundamental silliness of it all. Grown adults hitting balls with sticks? Bouncing balls and then projecting them into hoops? Kicking spheroids and zinging rubber discs into nets? Come on. Really. What could be less consequential?
At the same time, it’s no less hard to escape the fundamental power of sports. Here’s this cultural force that knits communities—even countries—together. This Knicksian June in New York or July in soccer-mad Spain are just recent examples. Sports provide an opportunity for generations and families to bond; to chart time; to witness human excellence. Especially now, in an age of curation and spin, sports is, truly, reality programming. Here is the raw and unscripted entertainment that is competition, flush with a scoreboard that leaves no room for gloss and spin and subjectivity. And sports provide escapism, a chance to be captivated and invested by something that, ultimately, yields low stakes for humanity.
