Sports are one of the greatest social common denominators...

I believe it was Art Modell who once said in a documentary about the history of the NFL that “football is one of the greatest social common denominators amongst people”, I’d take that a step further and say sports are one of the greatest social common denominators amongst people.  If you don’t believe Art or myself, the next time you are at a restaurant or bar where a T.V. has sports on look around and you’ll notice men, women, teen agers and even young kids of all different backgrounds, of all different races, of all different religions cheering for a team.  Now they may not be cheering for the same particular team but none the less they are cheering for one team or another.  Some of them may know each other and others may not, but that doesn’t seem to matter.  As long as the stranger next to you is cheering for the same team you are for those 3 hours you’ve made an instant friend.  It’s interesting that in everyday life you may pass this person on the street and never bother to even say “hi” but in a sports setting you’d probably high-five this same person.   You have to admit it’s a pretty awesome thing that sports can bring all sorts of walks of life together.  If you want an example on an even grander scheme, take a look at the summer or winter Olympics, you have a whole nation cheering for the USA to beat whom ever.  I know there are people out there that think sports are pointless and stupid but to the average sports fan that doesn’t get stupid drunk and make an ass out of themselves by being a loud obnoxious jackass, it can be a pretty strong bonding experience, and I don’t mean just with “your boys”.  I can guarantee you 100% that there are some fathers and sons, father and daughters, mothers and sons, grandparents and grandkids, so on and so forth that may have a hard time talking or relating to one another except for when their favorite sports team is playing.  Sometimes all it takes is a simple common interest like watching sports to open the door to other conversation.  I've played a lot of sports in the past and even nowadays I'll join a pickup game here or there.  I've been able to take a lot of what I've learned from sports and have applied it to my life, just about every single day in one way or another.  I not trying to get all emotional and sappy about it because, let’s get real, most of the time we’re screaming words that would make a sailor blush at the T.V. as if the players can actually hear us.  The next time you’re out at a sporting event or a restaurant or sports bar look around, you’d be amazed at how many people are getting along with each other.  Can you imagine if we acted like this in everyday life?

-Blue Collar Drifter