It's Not Just Tribalism!

Hi Reader,

Welcome to ShineTime Sports, a new publication meant for both die-hard sports fans and those curious why a global obsession over sports exists.

This publication takes a deeper dive into the abstract meanings embedded in sports fandom. Perhaps you’re a fan willing to reflect on decades of your life by the thousands - as in dollars spent on team merch, miles commuting to watch your team, and athletes entering and exiting your life.

Through all these years, your favorite teams have provoked some outlandish behavior. You’ve cried for joy when surprised with Opening Day tickets, wore the same socks all week to keep a win streak intact, or snuck out of a wedding to watch your team clinch a playoff berth.

Within these particular moments, you’ve felt the most volatile of emotions; Encountering awe through the divine feats of the best players as well as being perplexed by the incompetencies of our so called “heroes”.

If I ask “why do we watch sports?”, I expect many will give a surface level, albeit logical reason. Sure, it’s tribalism. It brings friends and family together. Builds community….blah, blah, blah. But like this and other cliche reasons, we’re missing the greater essence of what we gain from be a fan. I ask you a second time to answer more deeply, “No, really. Why do we watch sports?”

If you identify with a player’s career, team’s season, or important game with championship implications, then your interpretation of sports projects your interpretation of yourself.

Perhaps you’ve seen parallels between your sports life and personal life; How tropes within your career, friendships, and romantic relationships parallel the grandeur and mayhem your favorite teams display on a regular basis.

In this publication, I speak about the attraction behind the spectacle of sport... when watching games and following teams, what values are we maintaining and what complexities are we evolving?

I believe in two camps to approach meaning: 1) nothing has to mean anything and 2) the meaning of life is to give life meaning.

To you, some of these topics may fall in the former camp. You may think that some of the stuff I discuss might seem lofty and that my sports metaphors are a stretch (see, a sports metaphor!). But I argue that if we spend more time consuming sports than any other domain we get pleasure from, then we must be intaking lessons, values, and a more transcendent significance along our journey of fanhood.

I’m excited to share with you personal stories, essays, and think pieces about what’s been described as the most important of the unimportant things in life. Sports.