Sports and Religion

In our most recent class discussion, Margaret’s blog concerning the Pistons vs the Bulls was brought up. After discusses this, I read the blog for myself and found it quite interesting. I completely agreed with her comments on how sports are similar to religion for the sports fans, but I also think that sports or other group activities can act as religion for the participants as well as the spectators. I am not involved with a basketball team, and I don’t pretend to have any sort of coordination for sports whatsoever, but I have been involved with many shows and performance groups, and the connections to religion still apply. Being a part of a group gives an obvious sense of identity. Christians can identify themselves as Catholic or Presbyterian, whereas performers and athletes identify themselves as opera singers or football players. While extracurriculars don’t define people, they are certainly influential in life, just as is religion. In addition, in class we discussed that extracurriculars could be used as a form of comfort, but only because they are used in memory of a person, not because of the activity itself. I would tend to disagree with that idea. I believe that feelings of sorrow can be taken out in many ways, and when tragedy strikes, each person handles their emotions differently. Some people immediately go to church or immerse themselves in prayer, while others go off and sing a song of mourning or go for a run to keep their minds occupied. Finally, another way that pastimes such as sports, etc. can act as religion for the participants is that the amount of time and effort put into the activity. For many people, religion is the reason for living. Extracurricular activities should not be anyone’s reason for living, but the participants put huge amounts of time and effort into these activities, which makes them extremely important to the life of each individual. The time and effort put into religion is what makes religion itself important to those who follow.