Sports Don't Matter...Except When They Do

What's the big deal about a team winning a Championship? What does it matter? These are the questions that non-sports fans always ask whenever somebody gets going on about their team. And the answer is of course, it doesn't matter. In the grand scheme of the world, it matters very little. Nothing is going to change, not really. But to fans, it matters on a level that is often far deeper than simply bragging or boasting, or a false sense of pride that you encounter from people. Sports allegiances are typically inherited, or sometimes developed in rebellion, which is still a form of inheritance. Because of this, there is usually a bit of family rolled up into rooting for a sports team. 

The Eagles winning the Super Bowl this past weekend was a moment that my brothers and sisters couldn't help but link with my father who passed away five years ago. My father lived and breathed Philly sports. It was the one thing that we could all bond over even if we were angry at each other about something else. My father and I had a bit of rocky relationship when he married my mother when I was 8, and even more so during my teenage years. But watching Eagles games together was the one thing that we could always do and we could rejoice in victory, and share disappointment in a loss.

When the Eagles went to four consecutive NFC championship games in the 2000's, I went to the first three with my father. The fourth one, he refused to go, and they made the Super Bowl. He, as was his nature, threw a huge viewing party for that game. They lost, but he never gave up hope. The first year after he died, it was Mondays when I missed him most, because we'd always talk on the phone every Monday about the game the day before. Since his death, I've invested much less in sports than I did when he was alive, because the connection with him, the conversations with him, were just as important to me. The one team that my passion for has never waned is the Eagles. So this past Sunday was a great day for me. An Eagles championship was something my Dad never got to witness, but my Dad was the kind of the person who would be just as happy that his children saw it, even if he didn't. So does it matter? No, not really...except that it does.