Aaron Johnson – Sports Editor
What’s so great about sports? It’s always about two silly teams just trying to get a silly ball through a hoop, a net, or in some weird section of the field that is deemed “sacred.” All for some trophy or ring that the average person does not even get to see or touch. Not to mention the fact that nine times out of 10, it is the extraordinary humans that are even able to play the sports that we love as a job.
So why are we, as the everyday person, so emotionally invested in this world? A world that we can only look at from the outside as if we are the little kids at the candy store whose mother has decided not to buy us a lollipop, while some other kid gets an entire jar of candy.
But we as a society are not simply drawn to sports because of the players, coaches, or the crowds. We are drawn because sports give us a front page look at our society as it truly is. It gives us chances to not only discuss issues and triumphs in our culture, but also shows us first-hand how we as a nation and culture deal with those issues and triumphs.
In 2001, former Met great Mike Piazza with one swing of a bat, was able to not only uplift a city following the attacks of Sept. 11, but also, he gave the city and a nation a reason to smile.
Most recently the state of the National Football League has been a mess with the rise in domestic abuse issues with players. Once the inside of the elevator tape of Ray Rice surfaced, all hell broke loose about domestic abuse around the country. But it was not just because of Rice, it was Greg Hardy. It was Ray McDonald. It was Jonathan Dwyer.
And although each one of these cases of NFL players and domestic abuse is startling, it has forced us as a society to take a step back and look at the issue of domestic violence and figure out a way to not only stop it in the NFL, but also around the nation. Why do we love sports so much? Maybe it’s because it’s like taking a good, hard look into a mirror.
